That's Chris Stevens. He was a living, breathing person. He has friends and family still grieving for him.
He died September 11, 2012 in the attack in Benghazi which also claimed the lives of Glen Doherty, Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods.
The media's been appalling on this forever. Marcia and I called out the media back in September over the refusal to mention the names of all four. It's not that difficult and four names do not take up a great deal of space or airtime.
But here's where Glen Doherty, Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods got lucky. The people dismissing Benghazi insisting it's no story, battling any calls for information?
The people never bothered to learn all four names but go around insisting everything's known and this is all a partisan attack -- you know, the partisans?
Since they didn't learn all four names, Chris Stevens is the only one they know. So he begins part of their talking points.
As a feminist, I know the battles that had to be fought to change the ludicrous and insane notion that a rape victim 'had it coming' or 'asked for it.'
As a feminist, I reject and have spent my life rejecting it.
The offensive talking point is, nothing happened in Benghazi that was shocking, it was a war zone and, Chris Stevens should have known better.
I'm really getting offended by the press' refusal to call this talking point out. It is offensive and it is beyond grotesque.
As I noted in the "Report on Congress" that Dona moderated at Third, Friday saw Diane Rehm entertain this smear yet again. It was the third time I'd heard the smear on her show and I don't listen to it every day or even once a week. Only the Washington Post's Anne Gearen had the good sense and class to push back on that notion. Diane was entertaining it as usual and the idiot Jonathan S. Landay (McClatchy) who presented as an expert on Wednesday's hearing 'forgot' to note that the testimony in the hearing noted that the Benghazi visit was known in August in DC and that Stevens was going to be in Benghazi a great deal because the plan was for the State Dept to have a consulate open and running in Benghazi by the end of 2012. It was planned. Why did he stay over that night? As Gearen noted he had meeting there the next day.
I'm not big on gate keepers. But after the first time of entertaining that offensive notion, Diane should have stopped it. She has no problem playing a gatekeeper on everything else.
For example, a woman wrote the public account about how she tried to call in to the second hour of Diane's show last Friday to inform Diane and her guest Jonathan S. Landay that her husband is still stationed in Iraq. That Diane will play gatekeeper on. The woman was very clear about why she was calling. She didn't get put on the air.
Diane and her guests have been allowed to lie repeatedly about Iraq. NPR doesn't discipline them, there's no check on them. They get public money and they use it to lie.
What's the point here?
Yesterday, Diane and her screeners again decided it was time to blame Chris Stevens for his own death. This is the fourth call she's taken on this that I've heard. There have probably been many more.
The caller starts out saying he doesn't want to "blame the victim," so you know he's going to and he does.
And strange thing is no one knows anything to say. If there's anything more outrageous than Diane taking that insulting topic on air again, it was this 'answer' by Eleanor Clift: "Thing is he spoke the language, he'd live there for some time, he considered that area -- he thought they were his friends. I think he understood the risk but maybe felt that he was insulated from it."
Oh, so it was his fault.
Okay, well why don't we get his parents and charge them? Why don't we charge them as accessories since they raised him and why don't we also send them the bill for all the damages to installations in Benghazi?
If you're going to continue to blame Chris Stevens for being murdered by terrorists, walk it through. Don't shy away from what you're saying. If he's responsible, he's culpable.
Of course, they won't do that because doing that would reveal how idiotic, insane and cruel there charges are.
Diane Rehm has now entertained that nutty conspiracy theory four times on the air -- at least four times. She needs to stop taking those calls and she needs to stop entertaining the notion that any victim of a terrorist attack is responsible for their own death.
Chris Stevens was appointed the US Ambassador to Libya. That's why he was in the country. He was in Benghazi not for fun or personal pleasure. He was killed. Barack Obama talks about 'dishonoring the dead' and I can't think of anything more dishonoring than Diane Rehm repeatedly entertaining the notion that Chris Stevens is responsible for his own death.
The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com, Chocolate City, Susan's On the Edge, Adam Kokesh, Pacifica Evening News, and PBS' The NewsHour -- updated last night and this morning:
Senator Patty Murray serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Chairs the Senate Budget Committee and she and Senator Kelly Ayotte have cosponsored "Combating Military Sexual Assault (MSA) Act of 2013." In her remarks, which you can view video of here,. Her office issued the following last night:
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE CONTACT:
Murray Press Office
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
202-224-2834
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement in response to reports that a sexual assault prevention officer at Fort Hood has been charged with sexual misconduct:
"This is sickening. Twice now, in a matter of as many weeks, we've seen the very people charged with protecting victims of sexual assault being charged as perpetrators. It's an astonishing reminder that the Pentagon has both a major problem on its hands and a tremendous amount of work to do to assure victims - who already only report a small fraction of sexual assaults - that they are changing the culture around these heinous crimes. Secretary Hagel needs to act swiftly to reexamine sexual assault services across the Department to ensure that these disturbing betrayals of trust are ended. Its also time for Congress to move on legislation like the bipartisan bill that Senator Ayotte and I introduced last week that gives victims the protections they deserve to seek justice and that gives the Pentagon tools to deal with this growing crisis."
###
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq npr the diane rehm show eleanor clift iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraqiraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
