Actual journalism

The Benghazi Scandal Grows

Given the national media's consistently wretched performance on multiple fronts, it's all too easy to forget what journalism is supposed to be and do.  Below is a reminder. (Warning: Those requiring that their news reference Kate Middleton's baby bump will be disappointed and lose interest after a few paragraphs. They should proceed immediately to the comfort zone provided by Today, Good Morning America, and the video version of People Magazine known as NBC News.)

Back here in the real world, further investigation must determine:

(1) Who was responsible for the US Embassy being left unguarded in the first place, despite warnings of trouble from Embassy staff and the precautionary withdrawal of personnel from other foreign installations in Benghazi; and

(2) Once the attack was underway, who decided not to send help, supposedly because none could possibly arrive in time, despite the fact that there was no way to predict how long the attackers could be held off, and therefore the time-window available to save our people was not known.

Also, given the narrative of document revisions described below, Gen. Patraeus and other CIA leadership should be asked to testify in defense of their rather facile compliance with demands from the Obama Administration to alter their report of what took place at Benghazi. What are the limits, if any, on the CIA's willingness to re-write its reports for the political purposes of an incumbent administration? And in that light, what kind of document, exactly, is a CIA assessment?  

Byron