How the White House Changed Rice's CIA Talking Points

Spokesman admits to one revision

Republicans have alleged that Susan Rice's talking points were doctored by the White House to eliminate a reference to Al Qaeda. Now that the talking points have been published in full, it transpires that the White House DID edit them.

Copy-editors made perhaps the most unglamorous bureaucratic tweak imaginable. They replaced the word "consulate" with the technically-more-correct "diplomatic facility," revealed Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes.

"The only edit...made by the White House was the factual edit as to how to refer to the facility," said Rhodes. He added that the intelligence community would have made their own edits, which the White House was not privy to.

You can read a full transcript of Susan Rice's talking points at Politico.

Via the Atlantic Wire, Yahoo News, and Politico.

What evidence do you think would dispel suspicions about a Benghazi coverup by the White House?

[Fishbone345]

A smoking gun, which we've yet to see. I guess its easier to post about lies existing than it is to actually expose them.

[MBernard]

Actually nothing really. There's nothing the White House can say to satisfy those vultures.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

I'm tired of trying to explain to my kids why we have 4 dead Americans and the president is spinning like a top to keep from addressing the situation. Couple this with the president's Fast and Furious program that ended up getting a Border Patrol Agent brutally murdered, along with the president targeting a U.S. citizen for execution without even being charged with a crime, and you can understand why a young child finds today's America a little scary.

My kids can't sleep good at night sometimes because they believe they may even become targets. It's sad. You'd think our leader would be working to protect citizens, not target them. Yet liberals still stand steadfast in support and defense of this man.

Do they know something I do not? Do they know why Ambassador Stevens had to sacrifice his life for his country? Do they know why Border Patrol Agent Jaime Zapata had to lay down his life for his country? Do liberals have an explanation for how an American can be casually targeted for elimination overseas by an over zealous overlord?

Quiet as it's kept, I'm a little afraid too. I can't tell my children that, they depend on daddy to be strong. However, daddy sees a radical tyrant running rampant in America and he's not too sure of where that leads. Even more scary is a media that won't expose the truth and liberals who are dedicated to helping carry out an unholy agenda.

I want to get to the bottom of this and I wish people would stop dismissing the concerns of fellow Americans just because they don't agree. I don't know if there is a smoking gun or not, but I do see a serious coverup. This tells me there is probably something that is not being told to the media that is worth pursuing.

[Fishbone345]

@Neo_NtheMatrix Maybe you should take your kids to Canada. Or is that still just you blowing hot air?
I'd love it if you actually went, but we just keep getting more and more "Waaaaaahhhh" posts.

[VCP]

@Neo_NtheMatrix how did the feel when 3000 died on American soil under Republican rule. You do know that 9/11 happened even though the republican ran House, Senate, and Whitehouse had 33 warnings before hand that they chose to ignore. How did they sleep then?? How do you sleep being so scared all the time?

[Lorth]

@Neo_NtheMatrix - Maybe you should shut off the news and cancel the paper. If your kids really can't sleep at night because they fear danger from people half way across the world I can't help but feel you are doing something wrong. More Americans are killed by fellow Americans than are killed by our enemies. By and large we are still safer and more comfortable than most people. Maybe you should show them documentaries of poor people in Africa starving or Palestinians who have lived their entire lives in refugee camps so they can see how great they have it. The poorest in America live better than over half the world - a family like yours (who has a father with enough free time to post jibberish on the Internet) should feel lucky - not frightened.

[PNWest]

The right wing nut cases don't care about the facts. They have been trying to make political hay out of the tragic deaths since before the bodies were warm. This won't stop them.

[Thomas_Paine]

And of course we can expect the truth from David Patreus; a guy that that bribed Iraqi war lords to give the illusion that he had routed out the insurgents...

You are correct that the right is really trying to turn this into another John Bircher Legend. The thing is nobody cares. The ambassador was in harms way and he was killed. I'm sure he understood the risks he was taking.

[Zazziness]

None. Since the birthers are *still* caught up in their birther conspiracies and the truthers *still* insist Bush bombed New York and since The Flat Earth Society *still* thinks the Earth isn't round ... it proves that people cannot be persuaded -- even with facts -- unless they want to be persuaded.

[Zazziness]

@mimi57 OK, Mimi, since you know a fact when you see one, you're aware there was not one fact in your post. So why bother?

[Zazziness]

@mimi57 Still no facts, I see. All sound and fury signifying nothing.

[woodtick57]

None. these politically motivated partisans would be totally willing to waste million$ of our taxes and time for a pointless investigation that has no basis in fact.

Look how well it worked with Whitewater!

[Sonny]

"Smoking gun"? Oh Please...Shouldn't we be MORE interested in going after the killers who did this? Why forward-looking purpose could any of this right wing witch-hunt serve? They are looking to find out "literally who said what when". And not trying to find the assholes who killed four Americans..This is just pure politics. And that's fine...but I sure hope that at least someone on the right, is also trying to work with the Administration to get do what is needed to find and arrest (or kill, if necessary) the people who did this.

[Denizen_Kate]

Sonny, I'm with you. Fixing the problem is always more productive than fixing the blame. I'm sure we'll get as much of the whole story as possible sans anything that is still deemed classified, but let's go get the bastids that killed our people first.

[NO-BAMA]

All evidence proves that Barry and his administration LIED and continued to LIE to the American people. Trying to hide any and all information until after the election. With the lib media helping him hide the truth and continually blaming a video that maybe 20 people saw BEFORE the terrorist attack, they succeeded at the cover up.
Americans are dead, and the facts are distorted/white washed/hidden because Barry needed the election to happen first. The media helped, and the liberal supporters AGAIN just let him get away with it because they love the propaganda filled dung sandwich that he feeds them on a daily basis.

[Zazziness]

"All evidence proves..." Conspiracy theorists keep using that phrase. I think it does not mean what you think it means.

[FFX_VA]

Easy, release the complete document trail to the Intel Oversight Committee. There is a clear chain of custody and audit trail so it should be easy to do if there's nothing to hide.

[woodtick57]

trail of which documents? why? wouldn't you want to hhave a reason to even look at them? a politically motivated investigation is not a good reason.

[FFX_VA]

@woodtick57 And dragging it out helps? Address it openly & honestly and let's get it over with. We're talking about documents here, it should be easy to put this one behind us.

[woodtick57]

@FFX_VA Again, which documents? what don't they have?

[FFX_VA]

@woodtick57 According to the official record the intel report was changed between the CIA version approved for release and what the WH received. They have the documents, thats not the issue. It's a matter of understanding how this very sensitive information wound up being modified. It may be completely innocent, but as custodians of the info they need to understand what happened.

[woodtick57]

@FFX_VA would it have even mattered? without any credible, verfiable proof of a terrorist group doing te attack, no sane statesman would have promulgated that statement, would they have? maybe it was the person in the CIA that fact checks what they put out...

Remember patreaus said he suspected from the begining it was from a terrorist group but i have yet to see where he had credible proof of it then.

[mimi57]

How sweet, two of the biggest liars in White House history sitting side by side...both lied for their boss, both are
involved in the biggest cover up in History and both are socialist/ communists that hate this country worse than
the Mid East hates it... What a sad sack of sh*t those two ding bats are!!!

[Zazziness]

Facts only, please, Mimi. Do you have any?

[woodtick57]

Again, if you just had one shred of fact to back up that statement. just one....

[woodtick57]

@Zazziness Funny when people like Mimi say one thing in one post and then do just the opposite in the next post...

[Zazziness]

@mimi57 You're going to get banned at this rate. You do know that, right?

[Bobolinsky]

And the Orwellian Odyssey sails on...

[MRMacrum]

This actually more of an Anthony Burgess odyssey I think. His writing was about cultures that were more insane than Orwell wrote about.

[Dan_Tien]

This point will never be dropped by some people, regardless of what is revealed. Just look at the stubborn "birthers" who refuse to admit they are wrong. It is ironic that those who call themselves "real American patriots" are intent on bringing down an American President, but seem to have no interest in making the Libyans who actually killed the Americans in Benghazi pay for what they did.

[Sharpshooter]

Dispelling suspicion of absolute fact is very difficult. Simply put, Axleshaft, his boy and the crew of thugs working for the re-election knew it was terrorism, they knew Petreaus knew and they were willing to anything and everything, fair, legal, unfair and illegal to get their boy reelected, even over the blood of FOUR MURDERED AMERICANS.... Anyone want their ballot back?

[DARSB]

Hi, I'm wondering if you can help me? I'm looking for the Low-Information Voter Support Group. I understand they meet somewhere around the intersection of Rice and Benghazi...

[MRMacrum]

I'm pretty sure their meeting is here. If not could somebody direct them to the right room?

[Jeff_Woehrle]

The report was changed. The question remains: Who changed it? At the hearings, everyone involved save for one party testified that they did not make the change...deleting the reference to terrorism that the White House finds so troubling.

So, we know the report was changed. The White House seems to want everyone to believe that the report changed itself, or perhaps the tooth fairy did it.

America wants answers, not more waffling from a president more concerned about his election than being honest with the American people.

[erbmrb]

You mean like people wanted answers and retribution when 3,000 people died on AMERICAN soil and lie after lie was piled one atop another to take us into an unfunded unfounded war? Something like that you mean?

[woodtick57]

But it was changed to show what the verifiable facts to date sowed, so what is your problem?

[Jeff_Woehrle]

@woodtick57 Notwithstanding the mindless rant about war in the post above, the change was that the reference to terrorism was removed. Nobody's owning up to the removal of the term. Yet, that one word is what deflate's Obumble's claim of having 'solved' the terror problem.

Questions, questions!

The truth will come out, and I doubt that Obumble will look very good in the end.

[EL_Guapo]

No one deleted a reference to terrorism. I'm almost certain that as the info arrived through a Zulu transmission, the s.o.p. states the appropriate language for a press release. As far as UN Amb Rice given the report, she was more than likely the senior official on deck.

Giving a report has nothing to do with confirming the info. When there are tons of military grade weapons, laying about for any and all to access; it's unfair to assert that the attack couldn't have been waged by Khadafi loyalists. A desired action but spontaneous crime of opportunity. It's very rare for a terrorist group to make such an attack. Congressional members are far from an intelligence source, separated by atleast 5 levels.

[EL_Guapo]

@Jeff_Woehrle an act of terror doesn't imply that a terrorist organization was involved. That's what republicans are insinuating was and is the case. Nowhere is there any credible evidence that a terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attack. It could've easily been a deceased combatant's family members. It isn't difficult to obtain an rpg, a few weapons and enough rounds to wage a crime of opportunity.

I understand your need for Obama's administration to be at fault but there are just too many possibilities and the lack of sustained combat indicates that it wasn't an organization. The lack of info released probably has to do with the origin of the weaponry used; which may be American. It's not uncommon to leave the weapons at the point of engagement and just walk away.

[Zoe2012]

Resignations!

[woodtick57]

Oh, i don't thhink they should resign for being hyper-partisan. they'll get voted out when people realize this 'investigations was politically motivated...

[TenFeet2Hands]

When extremists stop politicizing the issue and allow the agencies to do their work and file a final report.

[hertz_doughnut]

One more supplicant takes the sword for their demigod Obama.

[FollowTheMoney]

Smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors... ;-\

[Buggsy888]

This is all a deflection. Fodder at best. Who told Rice to make a statement?? Obama. Did he not read the statement she was about to make-of course. Did Patreaus tell him that it was a terrorist attack. Then why in the hell would the president allow this women (he so fakely gallantly protects now) to go out and make a stupid false statement??? Please, if Patreaus knew from the get go that it was not a movie then so did Obama.

[hertz_doughnut]

@hertz_doughnut Him hurts when I speak truth. Hurts don't it?

[commonsense51]

Well in order to remove your brain and believe what the President was saying for weeks after the killing of our Ambassador, you must first get a brain surgeon. Not cheap! Then you must bow down to the Socialist manifesto every day as the sun comes up over the Snowy Owl's roost. Finally take away all rational thought, bury your head in the sand, watch only the major networks where you will be sure to see only footage of Obama hugging Christey while he digs out an old lady from a collapsed home. Then maybe, just maybe you can still somehow believe what the left is telling you. One thing for sure, do not watch Fox news, the highest rated news show for the past decade. If you do, your brain will not be able to balance fact with the liberal brainwashing you have endured for four years.

[hertz_doughnut]

I realize that fox news is also controlled.

[commonsense51]

@hertz_doughnut Fox news is the only GOP biased news show on air. The democrats control ALL THE OTHERS! We are controlled by a corrupt media in bed with Democrats.

[hertz_doughnut]

@commonsense51 i MEANT THEY PLAY THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM AND NEVER MENTION THE SECRET ORGANIZATION KENNEDY GOT SHOT OVER
http://www.youtube.com/watch... The last time we had a president and not a puppet for the Illuminati. You got your rocky republicans and your rocky democrats since that time. Even Reagan said "Why would they shoot me?" not, "why did that crazy guy shoot me?". Reagan was playing their game; he to was a puppet of the all seeing eye on your dollar bill.

[commonsense51]

@hertz_doughnut Regardless who is pulling the strings, it is the liberal media that elected Obama. never saw the Liberal media fawning all over Bush but Bush won in spite of that fact. The Liberal media has always been on the side of democrats.