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Benghazi Hearings Expose Obama Cover-up, but Only Touch on Critical Policy Issue
10 May 2013
(LPAC)—Hearings on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee on Benghazi thoroughly exposed the cover-up of Benghazi with explosive testimony by three whistleblowers: Greg Hicks, former Deputy Chief of Mission in Libya; Mark Thompson, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Operations - Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, the former Regional Security Officer in Libya. Greg Hicks is the first person who was in Libya at the time of the Benghazi attack to give public testimony. He testified that he had reported to the State Department Operations Center immediately that there was an attack, but no demonstration. He reported that he spoke to Ambassador Stevens during the attack. Stevens said, "Greg, we are under attack," and then the phone went dead. Hicks reported that there is a protocol for how to handle a demonstration, and that protocol was not invoked, because there was no demonstration. He further stated that the alleged YouTube video cited by Rice on behalf of the Obama administration was a non-event in Libya. He testified that Ansar al-Sharia claimed credit for the attack. He also reported that the hospital to which Chris Stevens was taken was a hospital known to be guarded and controlled by Ansar al-Sharia. Hicks also testified that his defense attaché told him that a plane could arrive in Benghazi in 2-3 hours from Aviano air base (in Italy), and that if one flew over Benghazi, the Libyan attackers would scatter. However, Hicks later reported that the U.S. never asked the Libyan government for permission to fly an armed plane in Libyan airspace. Permission to fly an unarmed drone had been granted before the attack. So clearly there was never an intention to provide air support. The U.S. embassy persuaded the Libyans to send a C130 to Benghazi on which the U.S. could send reinforcements. However, as Lieutenant Colonel Gibson was about to go to the airport in Tripoli to catch the plane, he was ordered to stand-down and not go. The orders came from AFRICOM, but Hicks did not know who communicated the orders to Gibson. Hicks also testified that he was stunned and embarrassed when Susan Rice contradicted the President of Libya Magarief on the Sept. 16 talk shows by claiming that there was no premeditated attack, despite the fact that he, Hicks, had communicated to Washington that there was no demonstration and that it was an attack. He said that this was an insult to Magarief and damaged his ability to lead his country. (He did not say that Magarief has now been overthrown by the same forces who attacked our mission.) He said that the false talking points were a factor in preventing the FBI from going to Benghazi to investigate the crime scene until 18 days after the fact. One Democratic Representative, Gerald Connolly, even went so far as to cite Libya’s deputy interior minister for eastern Libya, Wanis al-Sharif, as a source, for arguing that there was a demonstration because of the video. Unfortunately, Connolly apparently does not know that Wanis al-Sharif is a senior member of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and was sacked by the government of Libya on September 17. Hicks reported that on September 17 he asked Beth Jones, the acting assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department, why Rice had said what she said on the talk shows on Sept. 16. Jones said, "I don’t know." Rep. Trey Gowdy read an email from Ms. Jones dated September 12th to Hicks, Sheryll Mills (counsel for Hillary Clinton), Victoria Nuland, and Patrick Kennedy, among others, which read: "I spoke to the Libyan ambassador and emphasized importance of Libyan leaders continuing to make strong statements. When he said his government suspected that former Gadhafi regime elements carried out the attacks, I told him that the group that conducted the attacks, Ansar Al Sharia, is affiliated with Islamic terrorists." This is an unclassified email which has not yet been released to the public. It clearly shows that the State Department was aware one day after the attack, that the attachad been carried out by Ansar al Sharia. Gowdy urged the Democrats to join in demanding that this email among other documents be given to the committee. When Oversight Committee member Rep. Chaffetz went to Libya to investigate the Benghazi attack, Hicks said he was instructed by Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff Cheryl Mills not to allow himself or the Regional Security Officer to be privately interviewed by Rep. Chaffetz. Hicks reported that although he was praised by Hillary Clinton and by Obama for his handling of the crisis, after he objected to what Rice said on the Sept. 16 talk shows, the attitude towards him changed. He said that he has been unemployed for several months and has now been demoted from deputy chief of mission in Libya to desk officer. Mark Thompson testified that he proposed to send the Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST) to Libya, but that FEST was taken out of the menu. He was told that it was not the right time. His superior Daniel Benjamin, who was out of the country at the time, told Thompson that he concurred, but then later publicly said that he disagreed. Thompson said that ultimately the decision as to whether to deploy the FEST is made by the Deputies Committee at the White House. Thompson said that he offered testimony to the Accountability Review Board, but that they never took his testimony, even though he was in a relevant position of responsibility.
The most explosive testimony, which came closest to addressing the policy issue of Obama’s alliance with al-Qaeda, occurred in response to questions from Rep. Farenthold. Farenthold: Mr. Nordstrom, can you tell me what the role of the February 17th Martyrs Brigade was in protecting the consulate? Nordstrom: Certainly. That was the unit, for lack of a better term, that was provided to us by the Libyan government. Farenthold: Now, were you aware of any ties of that militia to Islamic extremists? Nordstrom: Absolutely. Yeah, we had that discussion on a number of occasions, the last of which was when there was a Facebook posting of a threat that named Ambassador Stevens and Senator McCain, who was coming out for the elections that week in the July time frame. I had met with some of my agents and then also with some annex personnel. We discussed that. Farenthold: And Mr. Hicks, you’re in Libya on the night of the attack. Do you believe the February 17th militia played a role in those attacks, was complicit in those attacks? Hicks: Certainly, elements of that militia were complicit in the attacks. The attacks had to make a long approach march through multiple checkpoints that were manned by February 17 militia. Farenthold: Mr. Hicks and Mr. Nordstrom, I’m stunned that the State Department was relying on a militia with extremist ties to protect American diplomats. That— that doesn’t make any sense. How does that happen? Nordstrom: You mean like in Afghanistan where Afghanis that are working with our military, that are embedded and turn on them and shoot them? Or Yemen, or [where] our embassy was attacked in 2008 by attackers wearing police uniforms? Or in Saudi Arabia in Jedda we had an attack in 2004? The Saudi National Guard that was protecting our facility reportedly ran from the scene, and then it took 90 minutes before we could get help. At the end of the hearing, Chairman Issa appealed for other whistleblowers to step forward and vowed that more hearings will occur. Meanwhile, a resolution sponsored by Rep. Frank Wolf calling for a select committee on the events at Benghazi has now gained 137 cosponsors. |
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