What Happened in Benghazi?

On September 11, 2012 a terrorist attack was launched against the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans, (U.S Ambassador Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and retired Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty) were killed. Four Americans were killed. On American territory and nothing happened.

A lot of stuff has been thrown around since the attack. But you have to sift through it all to get as close to the facts as possible. So let’s try.

The attacks began at around 9:40 pm local time and lasted about seven hours, including a second attack on the CIA compound. Seven hours and no help came for these people except what was locally available (Libyan security and some CIA). Seven hours and no help?

Moving on, what sparked the attacks? For nearly two weeks our administration pushed the idea that it, and the protests occurring around the globe, was the result of an anti-Muslim video that had surfaced on YouTube. The facts surrounding that video: It had been out for months before the attacks, so it was not a spontaneous reaction to an inflammatory video. It’s the internet, new travels fast so there’s no way it took months to cross an ocean. Also, I think it should be evident by now that these so-called radicals don’t need a reason to kill us and hate us. They’ve been doing fine coming up with their own reasons.

Is it possible the attacks were planned? Well, Libyan President Mohammed Magarief seemed to think so. "It's a preplanned act of terrorism directed at American citizens. Reaction should have been, if it was genuine, should have been six months earlier. So it was postponed until the 11th of September. They chose this date, 11th of September, to carry a certain message." Those are his words five days after the attack. Our president took nearly two weeks to come out and say it was a terrorist attack, (in the Rose Garden speech everyone references he does not directly link the Benghazi attack with acts of terrorism).

Earlier this year, in May, Obama said Al Qaeda’s defeat was “within reach”. Well, it turns out that inside hours of the attack evidence surfaced that implicated Al Qaeda in the attacks. Two days after the attack officials from the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center gave briefings on Capitol Hill confirming evidence pointed towards Al Qaeda’s involvement. With those in his own government and the leader of the country in which the attack took place saying it was preplanned why did it take so long for Obama to jump on board?

Let us also take a look at why practically no help came to those under attack. The attack began at 9:40 pm local time and ended shortly after a secondary attack on the CIA complex at around 2:00 am. That’s more than four hours and we pretty much sent no one to help them. Why? Did the President not know about it in time? According to the sources of retired Army Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer, the entire White House knew it was happening and that they saw a live feed from a drone hat had been already over that area. It was 3:40 pm in the US when the attack started, the middle of the administrations work day, so they were awake for it. And the CIA made three, three, requests for assistance after the attack began. They were all denied and were ordered to “stand down”. Well, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty courageously defied those orders in order to help those trapped in the consulate and they paid with their lives.

Also, radical Islamic group Ansar al-Sharia used twitter to claim responsibility for the attack two hours after it began. That would place their Tweet in the middle of the attacks. In addition, 300 to 400 national security officials received emails about the attack as it was happening. And, there had been repeated requests in the weeks prior to the attack for increased security, all were denied. So yes, the White House knew and Americans are dead.

Maybe they couldn’t get help there in time? I will grant that it is possible that sending reinforcements may not have arrived in time to save those who were killed. But, not sending any help at all? Not really. The United States has the most powerful and technologically advanced military on the planet, hands down. It has also been revealed that due to our assets in the area we could have had fighters in the air in twenty minutes and troops on the ground in two hours. Where were they? I can’t really buy the excuse that we weren’t sure what was happening or that we couldn’t violate a nation’s sovereignty by sending in our military. If memory serves me, we did just that on May 6, 2011 when we flew into “allied” Pakistan and killed the most wanted man on the planet, Osama bin Laden. So there’s that.

But I think one of the worst things to come out of this entire mess is the reaction of our government’s administration. Instead of truly condemning the attackers, Obama and Clinton repeatedly apologized to the world. For what? A video? Look, I agree the video was out of taste and morally wrong to produce, but here’s the deal: that guy had every right to make that movie. This is America and we have the right to say whatever we want. Whatever we want. That being said, it doesn’t mean we have to like everything someone says. This being America we can also tell that person exactly what we think of him/her. But ALL speech must be protected otherwise any speech can be restricted or outlawed.

I once heard that the problem with freedom is freedom. You have to deal with the results. And you know what? I can. The soldiers of my country didn’t die to give certain citizens rights. They died to protect the rights of every American. So, whether you like that or not, there it is.

But let’s get back to our governments response to this act of terror. Our administration repeatedly blamed the attacks on a YouTube video and religious intolerance and basically apologized to murderers. Even if the video was to blame, there should be no apologies coming from our end when they were the ones murdering people. Jesus Christ and Yahweh are slandered every single day. I don’t see Jews strapping bombs to their chests or Christians attacking embassies. You need to be able to deal with slander. It can, does, and will happen.

Or we can look at the civilian end of the spectrum. There were people that actually claimed that the attacks could be blamed on the Republicans. I have heard people say they actually believed the video was made by Republicans to touch off this world-wide protest to destabilize Obama’s administration. Really? These same people accuse conservatives and Republicans of making this whole thing a political issue. My issue is that that is an insult to four dead Americans. Heck there were even people in this country who had never even heard of the attack. Want to guess who they’re voting for? (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/the-number-of-obama-supporters-who-have-never-heard-of-911-benghazi-attack-will-terrify-you/)

Let’s wrap this up. There’s a ton more info I could include here, like possible US Government gunrunning, but I want to keep this short.

To summarize: Four Americans are dead and that is inexcusable. Deadly force should have been authorized when an armed violent mob jumped the fence at the US Consulate. It is US territory and the attack should have been treated as an act of war. Unlike the our Cairo Embassy where our ambassador ordered the Marines not to carry live ammo. I still don’t get that one.

At the very moment the embassy made it known they were under attack, US reinforcements should have been dispatched immediately. Instead two retired Navy SEALS responded, against orders, and gave their lives in the process. Local Libyan forces also tried to help, and it was Libyan civilians that pulled Ambassador Stevens from the building and took him to a local hospital. For that I thank them for putting themselves in harm’s way.

And, our government apologized for an invented offense and did nothing to bring justice to those that murdered four Americans. They purposely misled the American people about the attack. That is unacceptable. The President should be held responsible for purposefully letting our guard down over politics. He should be held responsible for the deaths of Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. He should not be leading a country that he feels the need to apologize for. But that decision is for us to make on November 6.

Thank you for reading. God bless you.