WASHINGTON DC – There is only one certainty surrounding the terrorist attack that occurred in Benghazi, Libya last September 11th: seven months later, the American people and the families of the victims and wounded still do not know all the facts and specifics that resulted in the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American heroes. However, I am cautiously optimistic that momentum is building this week in the quest for the truth.

In separate letters to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the groups Special Operations Speaks and Operational Security (OpSec), along with 700 retired military special operations personnel, urged support for House Resolution 36 which is being sponsored by senior Republican Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA). House Resolution 36, if passed, would create a select congressional committee to thoroughly investigate the terrorist attacks in Benghazi and what the Obama Administration did and didn’t do. (more…)

(via Mediaite)  On Friday, Sean Hannity brought Pat Smith, mother of the late Sean Smith, on his radio program. The 34-year-old information management officer was one of four Americans murdered in the Benghazi embassy attack on September 11, 2012.

In the chilling interview, a distraught Ms. Smith, in tears, pleaded for answers and spoke of the efforts to silence her.

Ms. Smith first relayed how her son, prior to the attack, requested additional security in advance and warned the State Department:

He did tell them, ahead of time, he typed it into his little typewriter over there, that they were going to be attacked, ‘please they needed more security,’ and they were ignored. And I don’t appreciate everybody going to bed and going to sleep and not taking care of the guys that they put in harm’s way, one of them being my son. (more…)

(Hat Tip WeaselZippers)   The ideology of what Egypt has become continues to play out on the world stage…  An Egypt fully supported by President Obama.

CAIRO (AP) — A mob threw rocks and fired birdshot Sunday at several hundred Christians marching in a protest against Egypt’s Islamist government after the funeral of four Christians killed in sectarian clashes over the weekend.

The Christians were chanting slogans against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, just as several thousand did earlier during the funeral service nearby in the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo.

The attacking mob, described by witnesses as residents of the area, forced the marchers to take shelter inside the sprawling cathedral complex. They also showered the protesters with rocks from the roofs of nearby buildings, according to witness Ibrahim el-Shareef. (more…)

That noise you hear from the State Dept and White House?….  Yep, it’s the sound of crickets chirping....

Cairo: Egypt’s prosecutor general on Monday ordered the arrest of five prominent political activists accused of inciting violence against President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, a step the opposition decried as a reversal for democracy.

The move seemed certain to deepen mistrust in an already polarised political landscape, further complicating Mursi’s efforts to build bridges with his opponents before parliamentary polls the opposition has threatened to boycott.

Those ordered arrested included Ahmed Douma and Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a leading blogger who became a symbol of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Also ordered arrested were Karim al-Shaer, Hazem Abdel Azeem and Ahmed al-Sahafi. (more…)

EGYPT – Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case of violent persecution that experts fear will only get worse.

Such stories have become increasingly common as tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Copts mount, but in the latest case, mosque officials corroborated much of the account and even filed a police report. Demonstrators say they were taken from the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in suburban Cairo to a nearby mosque on Friday and tortured for hours by hard-line militia members.

“They accompanied me to one of the mosques in the area and I discovered the mosque was being used to imprison demonstrators and torture them,” Amir Ayad, a Coptic who has been a vocal protester against the regime, told MidEast Christian News from a hospital bed. (more…)

EGYPT – Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi warned Sunday of taking unspecified measures to “protect the nation” following violent clashes two days earlier between opposition demonstrators and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo.

“I am president of all Egyptians and I will not allow anyone to tamper with the nation,” President Mursi said in statement posted on Twitter, adding:

“If I am obliged to do what is necessary to protect this nation, I will do, and I fear I am about to do that.”

(more…)

The author of this Telegraph article erroneously calls President Obama’s Arafat speech a mistake and an untentional gaffe.    No.   This was not a mistake – the President delivered his speech exactly where he wanted to, with the exact optic he wanted to express.

(UK Telegraph)  It is simply astonishing that the leader of the free world would agree to speak against a backdrop of a murderous terrorist with American and Israeli blood on his hands. What kind of message does this send to America’s enemies when the president of the United States gives a press conference standing in front of a banner celebrating one of the most brutal terrorists in history? It projects a clear signal that Washington is weak in the face of terrorism, and it is an insult to the memory of those who died at the hands of Arafat’s terror network.

While the Obama White House prides itself on having an extremely slick campaign operation, its ineptness and insensitivity in government, not least on the world stage, can be staggering. President Obama, for example, could not even pronounce the name of Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi on his recent visit to Rangoon, referring to her several times as Aung YAN Suu Kyi. He also famously called the Falkland Islands “the Maldives”, and succeeded in offending the whole of Poland when he referred to a ”Polish death camp” in World War Two.  (more…)

File this under the “B” folder for more insufferably “Bad” ideas….

WASHINGTON DC – Senate Armed Services Committee chief Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) joined with Senate Republicans on Thursday to demand that President Obama take military action to end the Syrian civil war.

Levin and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) sent a letter to the White House urging Obama to consider “limited military options,” including airstrikes, to topple the regime of embattled Syrian president Bashar Assad. (more…)

Will the grown-ups please report to the White House…..

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is postponing an award for an Egyptian activist who rallied worldwide attention against forced “virginity tests” on female protesters because of anti-American and anti-Semitic comments discovered on her Twitter account.

The State Department announced earlier this week that Samira Ibrahim would be among 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage award presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and first lady Michelle Obama on Friday.

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday the U.S. would hold off on awarding Ibrahim while officials investigate the tweets, which include support for attacks against U.S. diplomatic installations and praise for a terrorist assault against Israeli citizens in Bulgaria. (more…)

Sharyl Attkisson