Word came today that CBS News Correspondent Lara Logan, and producer Max McClellan, have been placed on “forced leave of absence” over the report of findings about the 60 Minutes feature on the Benghazi incident of September 11, 2012. The segment detailed the events leading up to the brutal murder of Ambassador Christopher Stephens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. All of the networks, as well as the cable news outlets, have reported on Logan’s suspension (errrr) “leave.”
In the days and weeks following the terrorist attack, by radical groups tied to Al Quaeda, the Obama Administration purported the wild tale that the murders were the result of a spontaneous protest, which escalated into the attack, due to anger over a video critical of the Prophet Muhammad. Of course, we all know that the story was a complete and utter fabrication, coordinated by the Administration, and gleefully pollinated by the main stream media.
In the CBS 60 Minutes feature on Benghazi, Logan relied on the “eyewitness account” of security contractor Dylan Davies. Davies’ account has since been discredited, after it was revealed that he had told the security firm, for whom he worked, a different version of his whereabouts that evening. The powers that be at CBS News have determined that the information – the discrepancies in Davies’ story – were “knowable.” Based on that standard, the standard of what should have been known, Logan and McClellan have been placed on leave.
Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and executive producer of 60 Minutes, said in an email to the staff, “There is a lot to learn from this mistake for the entire organization.”
Which leads to the question:
What could we learn from CBS’s determination that forced leave was in order?
What if CBS ran the State Department, and, dare we say the White House?
Who would have been placed on forced leave, for what happened in the weeks before and after the attack on the consulate in Benghazi?
Hillary Clinton? For approving reductions in security at the compound, then testifying before Congress that the requests never came to her?
First, the committees’ Republicans conclude that Clinton approved security reductions at the consulate, pointing to evidence such as an April 2012 State Department cable bearing her signature.
Leon Panetta? For failing to send an FBI team to the crime scene in any remote sense of a timely manner to secure the site, gather evidence and collect testimony.
Susan Rice? For parroting “talking points,” which were already being proved outrageously false?
Dare we say it? President Obama? For promoting the video story, and for lying in the debate with Mitt Romney about it?
But I do say this – if “knowable” is the standard for forced leave of absence, there would have been some stunning news coming out of the administration about this time last year.
From now on, perhaps we should demand the Logan Standard be applied.