Benghazi Lies and More Questions than Answers

944132_10151575004669481_1497502466_nFrom a March 22, 2011 speech on Libya, Obama promised, “I want to be clear about what we will not be doing. The United States is not going to deploy ground troops into Libya and we are not going to use force to go beyond a well-defined goal.”

It was reported however on October 30th that a unit of eight special operators was in Tripoli the night of the attack in Benghazi, on a counterterrorism mission.  When calls for help came, two members volunteered to be sent with five private security contractors from Tripoli to Benghazi.  Sources claimed, “Yes, we had Special Forces in Tripoli, and two in fact did volunteer and engaged heroically in the efforts to save Americans… The others were asked to stay behind to help protect Tripoli in case there was a coordinated attack on our main embassy.”

Obama lied about putting forces on the ground in Libya, and then lied by omitting the fact that there were Special Operations Forces in Tripoli that night.   It’s standard procedure when dealing with our Special Ops to maintain secrecy for their protection, yet it’s unlikely that this would be the case of why this was kept secret since Obama and his administration never cared about maintaining secrecy when it came to Navy SEAL Team 6 involvement in bringing down Osama Bin Laden.

Obama gave information that should have been classified to Hollywood producers, and Joe Biden outed the Team at a press event May 3, 2011 about the raid.  That information and more questions which have not been answered concern the 17 members of SEAL Team 6 who were killed in Afghanistan in August 2011 when their Chinook Helicopter was shot down killing all 35 on board.   Some believe it was not an accident and again, there are more questions than answers, such as, why were the members of our most elite force riding all together in a cargo Helicopter which is not known for its maneuverability and not a MH-47 or MH-60 Black Hawk which are designed for special missions?   How was it that the Taliban who carried out the attack knew where the Helicopter was going to come in, and were positioned about 100 yards away– well within range to shoot the copter down?

The fact that Obama and others in his administration leaked information about a classified mission proves that they do not care about protecting our Special Forces. Therefore, there must be some other reason for keeping secret the fact that there were Special Forces on the ground in Libya the night of September 11, 2012.

On October 27th 2012, a little over a month after the attack, Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte wrote to the defense secretary, CIA director and attorney general demanding that the drone video from Sept. 11 and 12 be declassified.

Former Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta on February 7th of this year testified that, “These were actually two short-duration attacks that occurred some six hours apart… We were not dealing with a prolonged assault that could have been brought to an end by a U.S. military response.” He argued that an effective counterstrike or rescue attempt would have been impossible. This is the same story that was repeated by Hillary Clinton and others after the attack. Congress has asked for the drone footage to be declassified so it can be viewed by members of the Committees. As of the latest date, it has not been provided.  Why?

In May of this year, CBS Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson wondered the same. She says in a C-SPAN interview, “Additionally CBS has repeatedly requested the promised surveillance video, but it has not been provided… We’ve also filed a freedom of information act request for that which hasn’t been responded to, so.” She alluded to the fact that Gen. David Patraeus had promised to release the video, but never did because he was fired shortly thereafter.

There have been other requests made through the FOIA to release photos and video from that night, the State Dept. without any announcement has released some photos.  According to the Washington Times November 30th report, The State Department said it had forwarded the photographs to the FBI for its investigation and to the accountability review board, the independent panel that conducted the State Department’s probe of the Benghazi incident and events leading up to it and with members of Congress looking into the Obama administration’s response to the attack. The report also quoted Rep. Frank Wolf who has been calling for a Select Committee to investigate Benghazi as saying; “It’s inexcusable that members of Congress and the press who want to learn the truth about what happened in Benghazi have had to use FOIA requests to obtain answers. Absent the creation of a House select committee that will hold public hearings and have cross-jurisdictional subpoena authority, I don’t think the American people will ever learn the truth.”

News has come out in the past week which some of the CIA witness’ claim that the fighting never stopped that night. If this is true it certainly makes the questions about denied requests for military help and air support even more crucial. Conflicting claims still leave this unresolved but the points still show that the Obama administration did nothing, sent nothing but a drone with a camera, someone ordered forces to stand down, and Obama never gave a CBA.  The photos that have been released make it clear that the attack was well-organized and not just some demonstration gone wrong over a video.

Going back to September 13th, 2012, at a daily presser, State Dept. Spokesperson Victoria Nuland when asked about the nature of the attack, replied, “Well, as we said yesterday when we were on background, we are very cautious about drawing any conclusions with regard to who the perpetrators were, what their motivations were, whether it was premeditated, whether they had any external contacts, whether there was any link, until we have a chance to investigate along with the Libyans…That said, obviously, there are plenty of people around the region citing this disgusting video as something that has been motivating.”

On November 20th, FOX news correspondent Catherine Herridge reported that the State Dept. employees at the compound made a series of radio distress calls to the CIA annex during the attack. When the CIA team arrived from the annex about a mile away, they found the State Department employees without guns that could adequately protect them.  When CIA witnesses were asked what their take was on the ground, from their perspective, it showed this was a premeditated attack.

Back in May of this year, NewsMax reported that the Libyan militia group that the State Department hired to defend the mission had clear al-Qaida sympathies, and had prominently displayed the al-Qaida flag on a Facebook page some months before the attack.  It has been reported since last October that from June 2011 to July 2012, Eric Nordstrom, the regional security officer for Libya at the time, documented more than 200 security threats and violent incidents threatening to U.S. personnel in Libya including about 50 which happened in Benghazi, and that he along with Ambassador Stevens and others had repeatedly requested more security yet were denied.

On November 15th, it was reported that Florida Congressman Bill Young (now deceased) met with a witness at Walter Reed where it was confirmed that the terrorists knew the location of the safe room where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his security team sought safety.  Diplomatic security agent David Ubben reportedly told Rep. Young that it was a “very, very military type of operation they had knowledge of almost everything in the compound… They knew where the gasoline was, they knew where the generators were, they knew where the safe room was, they knew more than they should have about that compound.”  A cable had gone out less than a month before the attack which warned Hillary Clinton’s office that the consulate could not sustain a coordinated assault and showed the concern of those on the ground that the Libyan militia who was in charge of protecting the consulate had been compromised and may have been infiltrated by extremists.

Now, about the witnesses who are finally testifying before closed committee hearings, it’s been reported that not only were they intimidated and ordered to sign non-disclosure agreements, but at least two members of the team on the ground that night were given new non-disclosure agreements at a CIA ceremony on May 21, 2013, honoring CIA officials killed in those attacks. Some of these CIA officials were asked to sign the new NDAs despite the fact that they were leaving government service and despite the fact that they were still bound by previous NDAs and despite John Brennan’s pledge back in September to make witnesses available to testify. Brennan lied and claimed that the witnesses were never ordered to sign NDAs.

It was reported recently that the witness who had talked to correspondent Lara Logan for the 60 Minutes expose a few weeks ago has disappeared. Dylan Davies has, since been discredited, and CBS issued an apology for “being duped” by the main witness used for the show.  Some are now wondering whether Davies is a fraud or if he’s been silenced. No one knows because he’s gone into hiding.  The claims he made on the 60 Minutes broadcast included the facts that proved the Obama Administration and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew that security was severely lacking and that terrorists were preparing for an attack.

It’s been 14 months since the attack on Benghazi, which left 4 Americans dead.  Now the witnesses who were on the ground have begun to testify before a closed Congressional committee.

It also now appears that our government plans to help Libya train between 5,000- 7,000 members of their forces to fight against growing unrest and terrorism in the country, which would include both conventional forces and special operations training. According to Adm. William McRaven, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, “we have to say there is probably some risk that some of the people we will be training with do not have the most clean records, but at the end of the day it is the best solution we can find to train them to deal with their own problems.”  In other words, much like our government arming known terrorists in Syria, our forces will have to train men who potentially could be terrorists, members of the same terrorist organizations who have been fighting against our military in Iraq and Afghanistan, the same who helped plan the September 11, 2001 attack on America.

It has been clear from the day of the attacks that the Obama administration, including Hillary Clinton, have blatantly lied.  While groups such as Special Operations Speak and OPSEC Team have been trying over a year now to demand full inquires, a very few in our houses of Congress seem to want to get to the bottom of Benghazi.

Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf put forth a resolution back in February calling for a Select Committee. So far about half of Congress has signed on, despite the public’s efforts to demand a Committee. Now Sen. Ted Cruz is pushing for an independent bipartisan joint investigation in the Senate, which 25 members so far have supported Senate Res 225, to create Joint Select Committee to investigate Benghazi attacks.  We need this investigation to go forward.  The families of the 4 Americans who died that night deserve more than the lies they have received from this Administration.

Carolyn Elkins

Carolyn Elkins' PolitiChicks articles have been shared by Mark Levin, NewsBusters and New Media Journal. She writes about everything from military issues, the Middle East, Islam, politics to the Founding Fathers. Carolyn is a guest writer on The Right Scoop and PolitiBrew under the name American Duckie. Born in Canada, but now a proud U.S. citizen, Florida PolitiChick Carolyn is an unapologetic Christian and Constitutional Conservative. She studies the Founders and their writings, and uses what she learns to try and educate others. Carolyn is the founder of the Constitutional Freedom Party, a completely grass roots organization whose foundation is on God and the Founder's intent for a Constitutional Republic. Carolyn is married with one child and has taught American Government and Constitution to her home school co-op group of 12- 14 year olds. You can visit her via the Constitutional Freedom Party blog or on twitter @ABiCduckie and @CFP4US

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