Benghazi? What about 9/11 and Iraq?

"Benghazi!  Benghazi!  BENGHAZI!!!  Aaaaarrrrggghhhhh!!!"

Damn, Republicans must be absolutely terrified of Hillary Clinton.  They're grasping at straws with this Benghazi thing.  They're not even making sense.

When measured in terms of American lives, four Americans killed in Benghazi pales in comparison to what happened when a Republican was last in charge of the national security of the United States.  If Republicans want to blame Hillary Clinton for Benghazi and have us hold it against her now, then why aren't they angry about the performance of a Republican president whose failures cost the United States many, many more American lives?

We had 2,977 victims killed in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, and 4,489 Americans were killed for the corrupt and botched war in Iraq. President Bush was in the lifeguard chair when those things happened.

He was even warned ahead of time about 9/11. One month before the attacks, he was given a CIA briefing called "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." After the briefing was presented, Bush told the speaker, "All right. You've covered your ass now."

He blew it off.  No urgency.  No nothing.  Remember, this is after almost a decade of persistent, small-bore al-Qaeda attacks against the United States.  Al-Qaeda had a track record and a trajectory to take seriously.  Bush didn't care.

President Bush also had plenty of intelligence to inform him that Saddam Hussein was no threat to the United States.  He chose to ignore it.  The evidence that Saddam Hussein was disarmed was in the hands of high-ranking, cabinet-level officials in the Bush White House, and they made public statements saying exactly that. They said: "He has not developed any capacity with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is not even a threat to his neighbors." That was Colin Powell in early 2001. In mid-2001, Condoleezza Rice said pretty much the same thing.

So Bush's record is (rounding up only slightly) 3,000 dead on 9/11, for which he had a warning ahead of time, and 4,500 armed services members dead in Iraq for no good reason in terms of the national security of the United States.

Let's see: 3000 + 4,500 = 7,500 Americans dead for the appallingly bad judgment and personal corruption of President Bush. Let's divide that number by 4 dead in Benghazi over riots prompted by an anti-Islamic video.

7,500 / 4 = 1,875

Bush's record is 1,875 times worse than for what Republican and Republican-leaning rightists want to blame Hillary Clinton. So where are their pitchforks, torches and lynching ropes for him?  If they're so upset about Benghazi, then they must be apoplectic about Bush's record.  Their heads should be exploding.

But they're not.  They don't care that much about four dead Americans.  They just hate Hillary Clinton for persisting as a successful Democrat even though they've tried for decades to destroy her.  The Benghazi baloney is just more of the same.

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PS:  I said above that an anti-Islamic video prompted the attack.  It's true.  Just look at the timing: All around the Muslim world, at the very same time as the Benghazi attack, there were riots and arson attacks to protest the video, "The Innocence of Muslims."  The Benghazi attack happens at the very same time as all that, and yet somehow the event is unconnected?  Don't bet your kid's lives on it.  The New York Times recently did an in-depth investigative report, "A Deadly Mix in Benghazi," which discovered exactly that.

And then there's supposed to be evidence of wrongdoing: Where is it?  It's now a year and a half later and all we have is accusations and a lot of huffing and puffing.  Beyond that, nothing.  Republicans control the House of Representatives.  Where is the dog and pony show?  There is no dog and pony show because there is no dog or pony.  But a bull keeps passing through - at least, there's evidence that one has.