In the Benghazi Senate hearings, we heard that both Obama and Clinton knew that our consulate was under attack, knew that our ambassador was sending desperate cables requesting help and they did nothing. They went AWOL. Among the laws governing our military, going AWOL (absent without leave) during combat, especially when soldiers in one’s unit are killed, is among the most egregious crimes a soldier can commit.
Both the outgoing Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, lied under oath in their testimonies. Both attempted to cover for the president by saying that the US sent no rapid response military assets to the battle because “they didn’t know what was happening.”
Later in the same testimony, Dempsey testified, “Our military was appropriately responsible. We acted quickly once notified of the attacks on the Temporary Mission facility. As a result, we were able to divert unarmed, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to Benghazi within minutes.”
Which was it, Sir? You didn’t know what was happening or you had real-time footage pouring into the situation room in the White House corroborating the pleas for help from our ambassador, Chris Stevens? We now know the truth. It was the latter. You and Panetta lied.
During the run up to the election last fall, Obama was asked by a reporter to give his explanation as to why Benghazi ended so badly. He responded by saying that he told his staff (presumably Panetta and Dempsey) “to do what they needed to do keep our people safe.” This is NOT an order. And according to legal scholar, Mark Levine, only a Commander in Chief can order a cross-border military action. Neither the Joint Chiefs Chairman nor the Secretary of Defense has this authority. So Obama, in effect, did nothing. Not a single major military asset was deployed. One can only conclude—that was his intention.
Based on Panetta’s and Dempsey’s testimony, we now know that Obama was briefed on the attack during its first hour, that he issued no order which had any hope of “keeping our people safe,” and went AWOL until the dreadful news was front-page the following morning. Panetta and Dempsey both testified that they did not speak to the president or Mrs. Clinton during the next 7 hours while Chris Steven, Tyron Woods, Glenn Doherty and Sean Smith fought for and lost their lives. Why?
Thanks to many excellent reporters working the Benghazi events, questions surrounding the abject performance by our government in response to the most overt act of war by al Qaeda since 9/11/2001, make Watergate pale by comparison. Taylor Rose of World Net Daily is following many Benghazi story lines such as the emerging narrative surrounding a secret gun-running operation, one that was reputedly run out of what was not even a consulate in Benghazi but was, as Dempsey put it, “a Temporary Mission.”
Despite the official version of the story that Obama killed the plan, many are asking, “Was Obama AWOL because he was willing to let the Mission go down in order to prevent a second “Fast and Furious” scandal to break? Could it be that his government was arming Libyan based al Qaeda groups who it thought would join the Syrian rebels but who turned on us? Did Obama want to avoid looking like a fool and was he willing to let his own people die to protect what he believes to be his reputation as the great geopolitician? Did they die on the alter of Obama’s massive hubris?
In her testimony before the Benghazi committee, Clinton feigned outrage and erupted with a question which one can only hope will prevent her from ever being president. She cried, “What does it matter?” This would be as absurd as a platoon leader who went AWOL in an ambush where his men were killed and offered as his defense at his court-marshal trial “What does it matter?”
For those of you reading this who still support this administration, try this thought experiment. During the Bush administration, you read that an American embassy is burned down and Americans are killed. You then read that Bush’s Secretary of State ignored numerous previous requests for greater security. You find out that on the night of the attack, although Bush is informed of an attack in progress, he does nothing. You’re clamoring for his impeachment, are you not?
