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PRESS RELEASE


Obama Administration Support
for Jihadis Raised in Benghazi Hearings

Dec. 21, 2012 (EIRNS)—In a significant broadening of the Congressional focus on the Obama Administration policies which led to the murder of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three U.S. military personnel, two U.S. Congressmen took the occasion of the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the Benghazi disaster, to raise the question of the Obama Administration's support for jihadi terrorists. In addition, the question of whether the same disastrous policy was being applied in Syria came to the floor.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) was the first to raise the question of the terrorist groups running rampant in Libya, which he noted were tolerated by the provisional Libyan government during the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime. The rebels in Syria include elements just as bad as those who attacked the U.S. in Benghazi, he added—both with the clear implication that the U.S. government itself, which is supporting the Libyan government and the Syrian rebels, is responsible for the disaster.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) took the question of Administration on more directly, noting that policy choices by the Administration had led to the fact that Libya is a cauldron of weapons, jihadists, and violent ideology. He then cited a recent New York Times article on how the Obama Administration had approved arms shipments from Qatar to the "most hardcore jihadist elements" in Libya—and that these weapons were now being shipped to other locations, including Mali and Syria.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) took up the same theme, asking again about the Administration's authorization of Qatari arms being sent to the Libyan rebel forces which the U.S. was supporting with air strike. Poe pressed the issue in the face of Deputy Secretary of State William Burns' non-committal response: Was the U.S. involved in providing the weapons used in the Benghazi attack? Have these weapons now been sent to Syria?

These Congressional inquiries begin to strike in crucial policy area raised by Lyndon LaRouche PAC in its recent updated fact sheet on the Obama Administration's alliance with the British and Saudis in support of putting their terrorist assets in power in the Middle East, as part of a confrontation with Russia and China. That dossier has saturated Capitol Hill over the last days.

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