What are the odds that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who introduced our work on Egypt’s involvement – under Mursi – in the Benghazi attack into the Congressional record, didn’t broach the subject with Egypt’s General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi when the former visited Egypt this weekend? What are the odds that the subject of the charges against Malik Obama didn’t come up either?
Rep. Rohrabacher with General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi in Egypt.
At this point, the answers to those questions are not known. However, we do know that one congressman who both expressed interest in the Malik Obama case and conceded the claims were “spot on” back in August is clamming up. Rep. Mike Kelly is avoiding questions about Malik Obama like the plague. Considering how pervasive the Malik Obama case is in Egyptian media, Rohrabacher likely heard something through osmosis, at the very least.
The congressional delegation that Rohrabacher led included himself, three other Republicans, and one Democrat – Loretta Sanchez of the Armed Services Committee.
The meeting included Loretta Sanchez, member of the Armed Services Committee; Paul Cook and Steve Stockman, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee; and Cynthia Lummis, member of the subcommittee on national security.
What’s noteworthy here is that at least two of those congressmen – Rohrabacher and Lummis – have expressed interest in evidence that Mohammed Mursi and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood had involvement in the Benghazi attack on 9/11/12. Rohrabacher expressed that interest in a July 10, 2013 House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing and Lummis at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on September 19, 2013, in which she asked Accountability Review Board (ARB) Chairman Thomas Pickering about the possibility of Brotherhood involvement. Both Rohrabacher and Lummis asked about Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (the “Blind Sheikh”) at those hearings as well.
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX), who is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas that is currently held by John Cornyn, is one of the leading voices in Congress who is demanding answers on Benghazi. On the first anniversary of the attack, Stockman presented the discharge petition to Congress that demanded a Select Committee be formed to investigate what happened.
The stated reason for the delegation’s visit to Egypt was rather boilerplate. Again, via DNE:
Defence Minister General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi met on Sunday with United States Representative Dana Rohrabacher, head of the subcommittee of European and Asian Affairs in the Foreign Affairs Committee, who led an official congressional delegation to Egypt.
The delegation congratulated the armed forces and the Egyptian people on the success of the referendum and the founding of a new democratic phase in Egypt, according to a statement by a military spokesman.
The statement added that the meeting covered the developing situation and its implication on the security and stability of the region. The meeting also discussed means of military cooperation between the two countries.
It’s not likely that the only reason a congressional delegation went to visit al-Sisi was to congratulate him on his country’s formation of a new government.
The case involving Malik Obama, coupled with the possibility of Egyptian involvement in the Benghazi attacks, would constitute an astronomical bit of leverage against the Obama administration. That is why two paragraphs from the news report could provide the blueprint for a deal that shouldn’t be made:
Since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, relations between the United States and the post-3 July regime in Egypt have been tense especially after the temporary suspension of the US aid, a move which led to the reestablishment of Egyptian-Russian ties through different top-level conversations.
Since December, the tension has gradually eased following Chuck Hagel’s statement supporting the Egyptian road map, and now has all but disappeared with the arrival of the congressional delegation along with a recent legislative bill allowing for the return of military aid to the Egyptian government.
As much as the Obama administration has shown that it supports the Muslim Brotherhood, it may be willing to back off propping it up in Egypt or sowing further chaos there in order to prevent the truth about Egyptian involvement in Benghazi and the case against Malik Obama from coming out.
Clearly, details of the meetings with the delegation have not been revealed and they no doubt dealt with far more than a constitutional christening party. To what end, we do not know. We do know that Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and Steve King (R-IA) visited Egypt and Libya last month and that none of them has publicly discussed Malik / Benghazi relative to Egypt in any detail, if at all.
Reps. Gohmert, Bachmann, and King in Libya (visited Egypt during same trip).
These three congressmen played their trip to Egypt and Libya very close to the vest. The Washington Post reported the following about Bachmann, Gohmert, and King at the time:
…as best we can figure, they even flew commercial, not only to the region but even within the region. They even went to embassy briefings and such. So this is hardly a boondoggle. Still, their offices declined to give out any information on the trip as it progressed.
Fortunately, local media and the BBC were on the spot, so everyone in the Middle East knew just where they were.
As long as congressmen like Kelly, Rohrabacher, et. al. don’t address these charges publicly, leverage against the Obama administration still exists. Whether this explains their inexplicable silence remains to be seen.
That leverage should in no way mean such a deal with the Obama administration is advisable (Obama would support current Egyptian government in exchange for Malik / Benghazi truth remaining officially suppressed).
On the contrary, if the truth about Benghazi involves Egypt’s Mursi, it should be told. Period. If the truth about Malik Obama is an issue that is dangerous to U.S. national security, it should be told as well.
Many of the Republicans who went to Egypt and/or Libya are supposed to be conservative firebrands. Let’s hope they live up to that billing.