In 2012, Special Operations Educational Fund (OPSEC), a non-partisan grassroots advocacy organization consisting of retired military and intelligence officials, demanded information following the Benghazi attacks.
They understood the need of a one-stop depository to cross-reference the information and evidence from all the involved agencies. OPSEC supported former Congressman Frank Wolf, who submitted a bill to establish the Select Committee. It took a while for their efforts to come to fruition in 2014.
{mosads}Now, two years later, with the conclusion of the Select Committee on Benghazi’s investigation, some claim there is no new information in this report. Anyone who asserts that is not dealing with reality. Americans should be deeply concerned that this administration was not initially forthcoming, and continues to withhold information even today.
In 2012, this administration boasted that Al Qaeda was on the run even though U.S. intelligence provided extensive contradictory information. This was not just misleading; it was not true. AQ was expanding, strengthening and morphing into ISIS. That is a lethal precedent when government officials lie to the public while implementing policies that are responsible for the increase in terrorism.
Trey Gowdy’s Select Committee on Benghazi report reveals massive ineptitude and deceit. Government officials consciously, and without a conscience, dismissed, deflected, and denied profound truths owed to the American public following the attacks. The report blatantly clarifies what this administration’s priority was — if you are under attack, our political survival supersedes American lives!
During a 5pm meeting on September 12, 2012, President Obama ordered Leon Panetta to do everything to save the Americans. Panetta then called for an assessment of available assets at 6pm. At 7pm, he believed he gave orders to deploy.
Then Denis McDonough, the Deputy National Security Advisor, convened an interagency meeting at 7:30pm, where attendees literally requested that Marines in Spain called to respond, not wear their military uniforms, and not carry weapons to rescue those Americans under attack in a war zone!
Hillary Clinton was the highest cabinet member present. Were these her orders? These Marines were ordered to change in and out of their uniforms not once, but four times! What sane persons think like this?
We still don’t know who authorized McDonough to call this 7:30pm meeting, who ordered the jets grounded, who actually gave that command to change uniforms, the real reason why hundreds of security requests were denied, and who, if anyone, was briefing President Obama on the night in question! Why did it take hours after President Obama and Secretary Panetta ordered assets to move to actually move them, and then move them not to Benghazi, but instead to Tripoli? Whose decision was that?
Washington even wanted the Libyan government’s permission. They did not want the rescue to look like an invasion! This administration was focused on OPTICS — not the urgency of the ordered mission to do whatever it took to save Americans under siege!
These public servants lacked moral courage, leadership skills, as well as an urgent sense of reality. They did whatever it took to attempt to convince the public afterwards that the King was clothed! This report lays bare the cavalier dereliction of duty in so far as the Select Committee could successfully acquire information, but there are still some cavernous holes left by the refusal of the White House to answer many questions.
Their failed foreign policies from West Africa and across North Africa and the Middle East are staggering. Their lies, obfuscation and failure to protect Americans serving this country are morally reprehensible. Their acts of commission and omission taken before, during, and after the attacks, absolutely matter. These are life and death decisions. And, this sad saga exemplifies how Hillary Clinton will govern if Commander-in-Chief.
It makes one wonder if the men and women in uniform under her as Commander-in-Chief would actually have the respect for, and faith in her, if she attains the White House!
Do we want leaders more concerned with OPTICS than saving Americans?
Dolan is an investigative journalist, and former Political Director of CNN, who has covered human trafficking and terrorism since 2000. She is Author of the soon to be released book, Benghazi and Beyond…
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