Benghazi: A Modern Day Alamo

Benghazi-ObamaPolitiChicks.tv will never allow the importance of Benghazi or Fast and Furious to be pushed aside and forgotten. We will continue to write articles on both important stories, about the people who are pushing for answers just and the people who are trying to sweep the story under the proverbial rug.

This administration will do whatever it takes to make sure the truth never comes out, but the facts we do know are chilling.  Eight hours of bullets and relentless attacks from the enemy is what these 4 Americans endured, including the realization by Ambassador Stevens that he was going to die once he knew no help was coming. We are never supposed to leave our people behind–but this Administration surely did just that.

In the first part of the Benghazi hearings then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that “to understand Benghazi you have to go back several years”.  With that statement she mentioned the hostages from 1979 in Iran, the Embassy and Marine barracks attacked in Beirut in 1983, and the Khobar Towers bombing in 1986.  Yet we also know about the attacks we faced in the 90’s—during her husband’s years as president–as well as the largest and most barbaric attack on American soil on September 11, 2001. So Clinton’s statement begs to question: if she had the “understanding” of these attacks, why did she not provide the security needed for the consulate in Benghazi?

What follows is a timeline of events leading up to Benghazi because it does make a difference.

  • March 28, 2011 President Obama gave a speech at the National Defense University explaining why he felt America should intervene in the attacks against the people of Benghazi by Moammar Gadhafi. NATO airstrikes and no-fly zones were implemented in March and throughout that year thousands of civilians were killed during those strikes at the ultimate cost to the United States.
  • October 11, 2011 Gadhafi is captured and killed by his own people. Unrest and attacks in Tripoli continued so the Embassy was moved from Tripoli to Benghazi.  Five (5) diplomatic security officers and an Islamic militia group became the only “security force” for the consulate in Benghazi
  • Spring of 2012 uptick of attacks against Westerners began.
  • March 28, 2012 a cable sent to Secretary of State Clinton by then Ambassador Gene Cretz was received requesting more security due to these constant attacks.
  • April 6, 2012 a bomb was thrown over the wall of the compound in Benghazi, no one injured.
  • April 8, 2012 a return cable from Secretary of State Clinton answered the request for further security. She “denied” further security and actually stated in the cable that security would be “scaled back”. Clinton would later deny seeing the request for added security during her appearance in the Congressional hearings.
  • June 6, 2012 an IED explodes on the north gate of the Benghazi compound. No one was injured.
  • June 8, 2012 Ambassador Stevens is named to take over at the Benghazi Embassy and he immediately requested the two security teams be kept that were on tap to be removed. His request was denied.
  • June 11, 2012 a convoy including the United Kingdom’s Ambassador was attacked with bombs in Benghazi. The British pull out of Benghazi after this attack.
  • June 25, 2012 Stevens sends another cable to the State Department warning the attacks were increasing and conditions were deteriorating. Libyan extremists were targeting international organizations and foreign interests.
  • July 6, 2012 Concerns grow over the deteriorating conditions in Benghazi. Deputy Assistant of Diplomatic Security Charlene Lamb tells the Ambassador and others to NOT make a formal request for more security. (Scared of a paper trail maybe?) Matter of fact she was very critical of those continuing to request security.
  • August 8, 2012 Ambassador Stevens sends another cable warning of targeted and criminal attacks occurring. Within a week Lt. Col. Wood and his sight security team then left the country. Instead Hillary Clinton as per whistleblower Hicks was pushing for more diplomats to be sent instead.
  • Sept. 6, 2012 during the Democratic National Convention John Kerry comes on stage and touts the success of the killing of Moammar Gadhafi with no single American casualty and the freedom for Libya. During the same convention many of the speakers would celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden.
  • Sept. 8, 2012 Cairo, Egypt a link to the infamous YouTube video is aired by a popular Islamic broadcaster.
  • Sept. 9, 2012 Stevens leaves Tripoli for Benghazi and is warned that the Islamic militia group that is part of the security team for the consulate cannot be trusted.
  • Sept. 10, 2012 Although Stevens movements were supposed to be secret, someone alerted the local media and they filmed his arrival.
  • Sept. 11, 2012 6:43 A.M Benghazi time a Libyan cop was seen by Sean Smith photographing the compound. That was odd to Smith and he sent an email message to a friend suggesting that he felt they might die that evening and wanted to alert someone about the police taking pictures of the compound.
  • 12:11 p.m. Cairo State Embassy staffers released a statement condemning the YouTube video shown on Egyptian television in response to protests in Cairo. Many in the protests were brandishing Al Qaeda flags and chanting “Obama, Obama there are a million Osamas (this writer feels it was in response to the DNC where the OBL killing was constantly used as a political spiking of the football.
  • 6:45 p.m. Egyptian crowd storms Embassy. Greg Hicks alerts Am. Stevens of the storming of the Embassy.
  • 9:00 p.m. Am. Stevens and Sean Smith retire for the evening with 4 security officers.
  • 9:42 p.m. Agent Henderson hears shots and alerts the Quick Reaction security team. The Islamic militia security team that Stevens was warned not to trust did NOTHING to warn of the attacks or to fight back.
  • 9:59 p.m. An unarmed drone heads to compound and Gregory Hicks report to Washington of the attacks (it was 4 p.m. in Washington).  Hillary Clinton was also told of the attack.  Mark Thompson wants to immediately send out the FEST team. The CIA team in the ANNEX was told to stand down twice.
  • 10:07 p.m. the CIA team leaves headed for the compound. Greg Hicks was told by the State Department that no assistance was coming to help.
  • 10:54 p.m. the 6 man response team from the Annex drives the attackers out of the compound. Sean Smith is confirmed dead.
  • 5:00 p.m. Washington time Leon Panetta attends weekly meeting with Obama. Alerts him of the attacks in Benghazi and the nearest team to help is in Tripoli. Gregory Hicks realized they have no plane to access in Tripoli and will have to charter a plane instead if they want to get help to the consulate under attack.
  • 11:05 p.m. Benghazi time a second wave of attackers arrives in the annex.  Sec. Panetta claims despite the attack lasting for 8 hours that his agency felt that after the first attack on the consulate it would have ended there. Panetta leaves the White House and attends a two hour meeting with AFRICON General Carter Ham and  Joint Chief member General Martin Dempsey discuss Benghazi while Gregory Hicks realizes again there is no help coming while the second phase attacks continue. Finally after an hour the plane is chartered and former SEAL Team member Glenn Doherty boards the plane.
  • State Dept. counter terrorist office Lt. Thompson wants to know why the FEST team he ordered was not deployed. He states in the hearings in front of Congress the reason he was given of why the FEST team was not deployed because it was too “unsafe” for them.
  • 12:07 a.m. Libya time an Ansari Al Sharia linked al Qaeda group claims responsibility of the attacks (Washington was sent the cable at 6:07 p.m. Washington time)
  • 12:30 a.m. Twitter postings call for further attacks this time on the Embassy in Tripoli where Gregory Hicks resided.  Someone alerts Hicks that Ambassador Stevens was taken to the Benghazi Medical Center, which is known to be controlled by Ansari Al Sharia. Gregory Hicks feels it is nothing more than a trap.
  • 1:15 a.m. Libya charter plane arrives at Benina International Airport in Benghazi, but the Tripoli team had to stay at the airport because the Libyans refused to transport the team. It would cost almost an hour delay.
  • 2:00 a.m. Libya (8:00 p.m. in Washington) Sec. of State Clinton called Gregory Hicks. Clinton asked Hicks what was going on.  Sec. of Defense Panetta wraps up meeting with Ham and Dempsey (Five hours into the attack) and orders help to be PREPARED to deploy. Three different teams only told to PREPARE but never deployed.
  • 3:00 a.m. Tripoli Hicks receives a call from the Prime Minister of Libya that Ambassador Stevens was dead. Hicks telephones Washington.
  • 4:00 a.m. Libya time (10 p.m. Washington) Clinton calls Obama telling him of the events to that point and the death of Stevens. This was the ONLY call between Clinton and Obama that would occur.  Less than 10 minutes after this phone call to Obama Clinton issues a statement blaming the YouTube video despite being told of the al Qaeda ties to the attacks. The 7-man Tripoli team sent to assist the Benghazi consulate finally gets to leave the airport.  The 7-man team immediately came under attack once they arrived at the CIA annex.  Glenn Doherty and Tyrone Woods were killed in this attack.  Gregory Hicks deploys another team from Tripoli made up of Special Forces Team led by Col. Steve Hoot Gibson. Hicks receives a call from Gibson that despite he and his team packing into the calls he receives orders to stand down and that he was not authorized to deploy the team to help. Col. Gibson would then tell Hicks that this was the first time in his military career that a diplomat has more balls than the military.
  • Sept. 12, 2012 the NSA intercepts calls by two al Qaeda groups claiming participation in the Benghazi consulate attacks.  Assistant to Sec. of State Clinton, Beth Jones tells both Victoria Nuland and Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills that Alsar-al-Sharia was affiliated with Islamic terrorists. No mention of the YouTube video was included.
  • Sept. 12, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama hold a press conference in the rose garden and mention the YouTube video linking it to the deaths of the four Americans.
  • Sept. 13, 2012 10:00 a.m. in Washington Hillary Clinton holds a press conference again promoting the notion of the YouTube video as the reason for the attacks.
  • Sept. 14, 2012 2:30 p.m. Washington Bodies of the four Americans arrived home. Sec. of State Clinton again mentions the YouTube video and tells Tyrone Woods’s father that she will make sure they have the person arrested and prosecuted that made that video. Later that day Nakoula B. Nakoula is arrested in California.
  • Sept. 15, 2012 Talking points were drafted and all the links to the al Qaeda terrorists were scrapped.  CIA Director General Petrous states the talking points should be scrubbed and not used.
  • Sept. 16, 2012 President of Libyans General National Congress goes on Face the Nation and says the Benghazi attacks were anything but spontaneous. On the same day Ambassador Susan Rice goes on 5 talk shows including Face the Nation and rejects the story given by the President and instead blames the “hateful” YouTube video and calls the attacks “spontaneous”. President
  • Sept. 25, 2012 President Obama addresses the United Nations and again brings up the YouTube video. Two days later Nakoula B. Nakoula is arrested held without bond and charged of violating his probation. The media goes on to scrap all stories of Benghazi during the final stages of the campaign for Obama’s re-election. Obama is successfully re-elected.
  • Nov. 7, 2012 Nakoula B. Nakoula goes in front of a Judge for his violation of probation and remains in jail to this day.

During the congressional hearings we heard many excuses, deflection and downright arrogance from Secretary of State Clinton.  In her famous words “at this point what difference does it make” seems fitting when you consider the timeline above.  It seems clear that she and the Obama administration–including the President himself–knew exactly what took place in Benghazi.  It would appear that what the American people witnessed on September 11, 2012 was a modern day Alamo.

Michele Toth

South Carolina PolitiChick Michele Toth served as producer and co-host of a popular Fox News affiliate station WNRR1380 and still fills in regularly as guest host for the Austin Rhodes Show on WGAC 95.1 FM in Augusta, Ga. Michele has interviewed such guests as Ambassador John Bolton, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, Economist Peter Schift, and many more. Michele also has assisted as a social media strategist for political campaigns in both South Carolina and Georgia. Michele holds a Masters Degree in Management and Leadership and currently works as an Administrator for a large healthcare entity in Augusta, Georgia. Her articles have been seen on the Daily Caller and several other conservative media sites. You can follow Michele on Facebook and also on Twitter @mychel and see more of her writing/articles on her website chelholt.com.

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