Hey Look...The State Department is Lying

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A State Department document shows the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya requested that a 16-member security team remain in the country four months beyond the end of its scheduled deployment.

A department official says the request made in February was granted.

The commander of the security team that made the request told AB

C News that slain U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens wanted the team to stay even longer, past the end of its deployment in August. Stevens and three others Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11.

A State Department official said, however, that it never received any request for a post-August extension. The official added the team was replaced without any reduction in personnel or loss of skill sets.
 

And now...the truth from the head of the security detail directly as interviewed by one of the few journalists left in the US, Sharyl Attkisson:

ATTKISSON: Do you feel like there was a disconnect between what you saw on the ground and what the State Dept. folks thought was going on in Libya?

WOOD: There was certainly no disconnect in our transfer of information to them. They were getting the information on the situation on the ground. We sent it up through State Dept. cables and I sent it up to the military side on the D.O.D. side. So, there was awareness of what the situation in Libya was about.

ATTKISSON: How did you get the word that your team would not be allowed to stay?

WOOD: We knew that was coming through the cables and the draft cables that were going back and forth. The requests were being modified to say ‘don’t even request for D.O.D. support’.

ATTKISSON: So State Dept. was telling the folks on the ground in Libya ‘don’t continue to ask for this help’?

WOOD: Correct
 

How, exactly, does Hillary Clinton still have a job...huh? 

Interesting observations:

1.  The AP piece uses an unidentified State Department official for its information.  In other words, it could be made up, non-existent, or colluding with the AP to create the desired story. 

2.  Lt. Col. Wood, however, exists and provided comments that directly oppose the AP’s and USA Today's unidentified source.

3.  The DOD doesn’t usually allow their charges to go before the media’s microphone unless something is at stake.  This is unusual.  It could be a turf war.  It could be that the military is tired of the State Department fouling up, and then running for cover.  It could be that the military, in general, is just tired of the incompetence coming out of the State Department (which has been given seniority by the White House).  It could be a lot of things.  My guess is that it is a combination of all of them and more.

4.  Here’s a thought.  What if the military knows that the weapons used to gain access to, and kill the American’s in Benghazi were provided to the Libyan rebels by the Presidential Finding decision that circumvented  Congress back in March 2011.  Therefore, the White House (under the advice of the State Department) armed the rebels, who turned out to be terrorists.  Essentially,  the White House and State Department provided  the means and opportunity for terrorists to attack our Embassy and now they are focusing everyone on the opportunity to turn everyone away from the means (weapons).

There has to be a reason that the Associated Press, USA Today and the State Department would provide a bold faced lie this late in the game.  It’s not to discard blame, because they are caught with their pants down due to Lt. Col. Wood’s very words.  The alternative is they want you looking there so that you aren’t looking elsewhere at something even more egregious.

Our State Department Just Keeps Stumbling Along...

Each year, millions across the globe hope for a chance to win permanent residency in the U.S. by entering their names into the U.S. State Department’s Diversity Visa program, the official name of the so-called lottery.

The program is designed to bring immigrants into the U.S. from countries that have been historically underrepresented in terms of U.S. immigration, so nationals from countries with high immigration are not eligible to enter.

Among the countries not eligible this year are Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, Haiti, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The 2014 lottery, which began Tuesday, allows natives of Guatemala to enter the lottery for the first time. Nearly eight million people applied to the Green Card lottery last year and just as many could enter this time.

Lottery entrants are vying for only 50,000 slots chosen randomly by a computer, as well as 5,000 more visas allocated by Congress to Nicaraguan nationals.
 

Common sense time...why in God's name are we going through with this "lottery" at this time?  We have way too many Americans on the public dole.  We have record numbers of unemployed, and our Goverment entitlement programs are stretched beyond their limit.  Adding 50,000 more people into the pot makes no sense, and it is unlikely that more than a handlful have any sort of gainful employment lined up upon receiving a green card. 

This makes no sense.   Then again, I don't understand the whole philosophy of diversity in the first place.  The lottery is called "The US State Department's Diversity Visa Program."  So, essentially, the State Department is categorizing people by the amount of melanin in their skin, the shape of their eyes, place of origin, or whatever.    I rather have a "lottery" program that only allows the applicant to qualify when sufficient verified documentation shows that they will be self-sufficient, and an added benefit to the United States, not a drag on its economy and lawfulness.