Book Description

The events that took place in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012, were an American tragedy that ended in the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. No one could have imagined at the start of that evening how quickly the Republican right would politicize the murder of four Americans. Or how the most basic facts would be twisted, confused, and even invented out of thin air to manufacture false charges - first to suggest that President Obama, then seeking re-election, was disengaged, feckless, or even sympathetic to terror, and then, when that faltered, to tarnish the reputation of Hillary Clinton as she mulled a 2016 presidential bid. What has been called the "Benghazi scandal" by Republican investigators, the Fox News Channel, and right-wing radio talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity is better described as the Benghazi hoax. What should have been an investigation into the protection of U.S. diplomatic posts and our policy in Libya has been hijacked by unfounded and sometimes wild conspiracy theories, many of them centered on Hillary Clinton and her top aides in the State Department, that have not only wasted considerable time and money but distracted attention from real issues that affect American voters. The Benghazi Hoax tells in intimate detail the story of the deception created by those who fill airtime with savage punditry and pseudo-journalism and how the Republicans in charge of the investigative committees were empowered but ultimately failed to find a scandal - any kind of scandal - to tar a Democratic White House. "This book is a must read for anyone interested in how the attack on Benghazi has been hijacked by unfounded and wild conspiracy theories and has therefore remained at the forefront of political conversation for over a year" -Dr. Larry Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress "Mr. Brock and Mr. Rabin-Havt do a great service to Ambassador Stevens and his team, the 4th estate and the brave men and women serving our country in and out of uniform by his thorough analysis of the Benghazi tragedy and its treatment by conservative American media. By dissecting the conservative press reaction to the Benghazi attack through his vehicle of the fifteen conservative movement perpetuated hoaxes, the authors at once validate the results of the Accountability Review Board and defend the reputations of the men and women involved in the events that lead to the deaths of four great Americans." - Major General Paul Eaton (US Army, ret) "Benghazi was not a hoax but a tragedy that has recurred too frequently under all presidents. Benghazi has been much more politicized, however, as this book describes in fascinating detail. Of course, only Ambassador Chris Stevens could tell us the real truth. Meanwhile his and his colleagues' untimely death is being exploited by partisans for political gain. If this is the way America handles foreign policy in the future, U.S. politics won't stop at the water's edge but will start boiling the oceans." - Rep Jim Cooper (TN-5)