[ April 19, 2024 ]
J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
From left, Mark Thompson, the
State Department's acting deputy assistant secretary for
counterterrorism; Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in
Libya, and Eric Nordstrom, the State Department's former regional
security officer in Libya, were sworn in on Wednesday before the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Thoughts and tweets while watching the Benghazi hearings. This is the first time we are hearing from an eyewitness — someone who was there, Greg Hicks.
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The
testimony coming from these steely, disciplined, tough-as-nails men is
very painful to watch. As an American, I am ashamed of my country.
Hicks' description of the endless night is harrowing. What is painfully clear is how alone they were. Utterly and completely alone.
Benghazi testimony is astonishing. It's a stunning indictment of Obama's epic failure — White House was called immediately.
Where did the stand down order come from?
From the very first words — the first phone call from Ambassador Stevens to Hicks — "the consulate is under attack."
Photo: Ambassador Stevens being paraded through the streets of Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012
Ambassador
Stevens was taken to an al qaeda-affiliated hospital that night — Obama
blamed free speech video while al qaeda was slaughtering us.
Gregory Hicks "appealed in vain for fighter jets to buzz the besieged compound, and
that other American officials sought to send a group of commandos to the
rescue but were told to stand down'. The US
military head in Tripoli was "furious".
US
military head in Tripoli to Greg Hicks furious at STAND DOWN
order-"this is the first time a diplomat has more balls than military"
Democratic representative Elijah Cummings going after heroic Hicks exposes the treasonous Dems for the destroyers they are – teachable moment for the American people. Clowns like Lacy Clay are using the hearings to campaign (on the bodies of Benghazi) and slam Republicans. Jackals.
Hicks described the plot to lure more Americans into 'trap'
UPDATE: Maj. Robert Firman. a Pentagon spokesman, "There was never any kind of stand-down order to anybody."
Benghazi eyewitness: we were there 'when Gibson given a stand down
order.'
UPDATE: FOX reporting:
A key Benghazi whistle-blower testified Wednesday that his team knew
the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. compound was terrorism, revealing that
it appeared some were trying to lure even more U.S. personnel into a
separate "ambush" while the attack was still being carried out.Greg Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya who became the top
U.S. diplomat in the country after Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed,
revealed new details as he and other whistle-blowers delivered emotional
testimony on Capitol Hill.He described how, as diplomatic officials were trying to find out
what happened to Stevens, they were receiving phone calls from supposed
tipsters saying they knew where the ambassador was and urging Americans
to come get him."We suspected that we were being baited into a trap," Hicks said,
adding that he did not want to send anybody into what he suspected was
an "ambush."
Getting choked up, Hicks described how the Libyan prime minister
later called him to tell him Stevens was in fact dead. "I think it's the
saddest phone call I've ever had in my life," he said.
At the very beginning of the attack, before Stevens went missing and
was later found dead, Hicks said his team believed it was terrorism. He
said a regional security officer rushed into his villa yelling, "Greg,
Greg, the consulate's under attack."
He then spoke by phone with Stevens who told him the same: "Greg, we're under attack."
After enduring a night of attacks on the U.S. consulate, Hicks said
the team departed at dawn for the nearby annex — shortly after they
arrived, "the mortars came."
The testimony of Hicks and others is poised to challenge key elements
of the Obama administration's narrative, including their initial
statements that the attack was triggered by protests over a film.
Hicks said that, despite U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's repeated claims
the Sunday after the attack that the film was the impetus, Stevens
never mentioned a demonstration before his death.
"I was stunned," Hicks said of Rice's comments. "My jaw dropped, and I was embarrassed."
He said Rice never talked to him before those appearances.
Another whistle-blower questioned Wednesday why more military assets
were not deployed sooner during the Benghazi terror attack. Mark
Thompson, a former Marine and official with the State Department's
Counterterrorism Bureau, said he was rebuffed by the White House when he
asked for a specialized team — known as a FEST team — to be deployed.
This is a unit made of special operations personnel, diplomatic
security, intelligence and other officers.
Suggesting that some were hesitant to deploy because they were unsure
what was happening, "One definition of a crisis is you do not know
what's going to happen in two hours," he said.
Further, Hicks explained how a separate team of special forces
personnel were not given the authorization to fly from Tripoli to
Benghazi. "They were furious," he said.
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the oversight committee holding the
hearing, defended the witnesses, calling them "actual experts on what
really happened before, during and after the Benghazi attacks," who
"deserve to be heard."
The three witnesses are Hicks, deputy chief of mission in Libya who
became top U.S. diplomat in the country after Ambassador Chris Stevens
was killed in the terror attack; Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security
officer who was formerly the regional security officer in Libya; and
Thompson.
"I am a career public servant," Hicks said. "Until the aftermath of Benghazi, I loved every day of my job."
Nordstrom choked up as he began to testify Wednesday.
The administration has parried Republican allegations lately by
arguing that the attack is old news, that the State Department already
has investigated it and that Republicans are engaged in a political
witch hunt.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the oversight committee,
also said Wednesday that Republicans are using the witnesses'
statements for "political purposes." He said he's glad the
whistle-blowers are testifying and would ensure they are protected, but
pre-emptively challenged some of their claims — including the claim
that U.S. military could have responded sooner to the site of the
attack.
But a series of carefully timed leaks on the whistle-blowers'
testimony indicates House Republicans could have the goods to at least
merit a second look at the administration narrative.
"The question is, where's the accountability for lying to the
American people?" Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Fox News. "The American
people were lied to."
The witnesses are expected to cover a breadth of material in their
testimony Wednesday. Lawmakers have questioned to what extent security
requests were ignored before the attack, whether the military could have
done more to respond the night of the attack and whether talking points
were intentionally changed for political reasons after the attack to
downplay terrorism. The witnesses could address all three areas on
Wednesday.
The Obama administration has adamantly denied several of the latest
charges, including a claim that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
and a key aide tried to cut the department's own counterterrorism bureau
out of the chain of reporting and decision-making on Sept. 11. The
administration also denied that the whistle-blowers in question were
intimidated — while behind the scenes questioning the credibility of
the witnesses.
A "fact sheet" released by the department ahead of the hearing
reiterated its denials. The statement also said the department has
"demonstrated an unprecedented degree of cooperation with the Congress"
on Libya, and rejected claims that the military was in a position to
help that night but was told to stand down. Citing its internal review,
the statement noted the review "found no evidence of any undue delays in
decision making or denial of support from Washington or from the
military combatant commanders."
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24 Comments
10 years ago
Yeah, did Patton reply to Eisehower saying “Sorry, we have no gas for the tanks today” I don’t think so. I agree, this is a sad day for America.
10 years ago
Whether or not a Foreign Emergency Response Team or other support and reinforcements could have gotten to Benghazi in time to save any of the four Americans who were murdered is not the issue. The issue is why the president did not try to save our people when they were under fierce enemy attack. And the reason he didn’t try is because he is more on the side of the jihadists in Libya, the Arab World and The West than he is on the side of the country he’s been twice elected president of. He’s an obvious treasonous criminal.
10 years ago
The Benghazi attacks were not “terrorist attacks.” They were acts of war.
10 years ago
This is so obviously a case for bi-partisan impeachment and not with a narrowly failing vote or a pardon at the end. This is so obviously a case of high crimes for a commander-in-chief’s dereliction of duty and decisive abandonment of our American diplomats under siege by flying monkeys in jihad-ville that the only responsible end of this for obama is Leavenworth.
10 years ago
Yesterday in a new internet newsletter from ACTFORAMERICA.ORG it informs the readers that the US State department hired a pro- al Qaeda Islamic group called the 17th Martyrs Brigade to guard the US consulate in Benghazi, Lybia. This is just like hiring a pack of wolfs to protect the sheep. This 17th Martyrs Brigade acording to the article even posted a pro-al Qaeda meesage on facebook months before the Benghazi attack.
Obama should be impeached,removed from Office and then tried for treason.
10 years ago
You know haow to make sure this never happens again? Impeach and replace obamud. It already happened again, Boston!!!!
10 years ago
Obama needs to be questioned under oath. He needs to be removed, because if he lied about this, he’s lying about Boston. We can’t ever trust our govt. again. Hitler had his Bitch of Buchenwald, Obama has his Bitch of Benghazi. Both of them, MURDERERS!
10 years ago
TRY THEM AND EXECUTE THEM. OBAMA, CLINTON, RICE, JARRET, HOLDER, ALL OF THEM!
10 years ago
LETHAL INJECTION IS THE PUNISHMENT FOR TREASON. EXECUTION.
10 years ago
In “Audacity of Hope” he writes: “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” The quote comes from page 261 of the paperback edition of “The Audacity of Hope. ~Barack Hussein Obama Muslim Brotherhood/Weathermen plant.
10 years ago
John Boehner is going to be responsible for seeing this through the honorable way. If he doesn’t, he needs to be held accountable for any future attacks. We’re infiltrated and they’re playing games with national security. It will be the fault of the Speaker if he lets this crime go, as he did others, like Fast and Furious.
10 years ago
MASSIVE INEPTITUDE AND ADMINISTRATION INCOMPETENCE BOARDING ON THE CRIMINAL IN BENGHAZI
(leading to a failed political coverup) with Hillary Clinton waving security requirements despite extreme threat levels with two terror attacks on the consulate and personal terror threats to Ambassador Stevens life before the 9/11 attack. And then someone (perhaps at State) ordered special ops forces in Tripoli to stand down as they were preparing to fly to Benghazi to save lives. MY GOD! They were just two hours away! And what is the response of the Dems? Patriotic outrage? Shock? No! They blame it on Republicans cutting the State Department’s budget when the CFO of State (Charlene Lamb) testified last October that more than enough funds were available to beef up security at the consulate to protect it from threats.
10 years ago
ok
10 years ago
there was a spree of attacks right after Benghazi, if I remember correctly, were there not like 16 other embassies and consulates attacked shortly after Libya?,,the dems REALLY made me nauseous today, like never before,,protecting their party, they are the scum of the earth
10 years ago
“teachable moment for the American people”.
………………………………………………..
Unfortunately the American people are not paying attention, especially with the news of the Arias verdict and the horror in Ohio overshadowing the Benghazi hearings.
10 years ago
The Obamanation administration are scumb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10 years ago
what a disgrace our president and the entire administration is to let four american citizens die at the hands of terrorists. to put your campaign ahead of our very lives . well america u voted for this, to be unprotected by our very president. unbelievable how far this administration has disgraced the very fabric of our lives.to not be safe as an american
10 years ago
He swears his disloyalty to the United States.
10 years ago
Indeed!!!
10 years ago
Unfortunately, I think the American public will have to press for follow-through. And I don’t have too much faith in the American public on this kind of issue. We as Americans have a very short memory, and an even shorter attention span. Benghazi just doesn’t seem to be a big deal in our country, and it NEEDS to be. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. This is unbelievable corruption at the very highest levels! But, I think the powers that be are going to do everything possible to keep hussein in the driver’s seat. The Dems are calling this issue political – yeah, it is. They will do anything necessary to keep their party intact, and keep their guy at the helm. If not, they will become the has-been party for a long while to come.
Our 4 dead Americans who were serving our country mean nothing to hussein, hillary, and all the rest. They are just political collateral damage. Move on, nothing to see here.
10 years ago
I couldn’t agree more!!!!
10 years ago
What is really bothersome are the number of fiascos that this Administration has accomplished starting in 2008 to today that merit impeachment and so far no one has the guts or the balls and I am talking to Republicans here to do anything about it.
This is the best reason why the Republican Party should disband, and call it a day. As a party protecting the American People, they are a bust. Nothing by the Democrats will induce an impeachment, so it is now up to the few Conservatives in the Congress to get off their asses and think of the American People for a change.
Four Americans were brutally murdered by Islamic terrorists, and all we hear is “What does it matter anyway” Are you all kidding me. What does it matter anyway, should be Hillary Clinton’s downfall, not election campaign slogan.
10 years ago
obaam should have been impeached A LONG TIME AGO. this Benghazi episode wil lgo down as one of his worst on record for “president.”
10 years ago
Behghazi was a willful blood sacrifice of Americans to Allah/Mohammed/Islam. It was murder by inaction. Someone must be held accountable. These Americans didn’t need mommies in American telling them that they “were with them”. They weren’t. They needed highly trained, well armed, blood thirsty warriors protecting them. Hillary Clinton is not capable of making the correct decision in a case such as the attack and, apparently, no one else in the Obama administration is either. Islamopandering should be a recognizable mental illness by now.
