By Bill O'Reilly
There is no question, no question at all that the USA did not protect its Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans who were murdered by terrorists in Benghazi last September 11th.
So today, the House Oversight Committee tried to find out exactly who screwed up and why. At least some of the Congress people did. A few committee members used their time to protect the Obama administration, people like Carolyn Maloney and Eleanor Norton did that.
There are three major areas of concern for those who want to know the truth. First, why did the White House not deploy a rapid security team when all hell broke loose in Benghazi? State Department official Mark Thompson, a counter terrorism expert testified this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMPSON: I alerted my leadership, indicating that we needed to go forward and consider the deployment of the foreign emergency support team. I wanted that considered, I notified the White House of my idea. They indicated that meetings had already taken place that evening that had taken (inaudible) out of the menu of options.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Thompson went on to say he was not told why the emergency support team was not deployed. The next area of concern is why Ambassador Susan Rice mislead the world shortly after the murders when she said a provocative anti-Muslim video could have ignited a spontaneous attack on the Americans.
The second in command in Libya, State Department official Gregory Hicks took on that question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOWDY: When Ambassador Stevens talked to you, perhaps minutes before he died, as a dying declaration, what precisely did he say to you?
HICKS: He said, "Greg, we're under attack."
GOWDY: Did he mention one word about a protest or a demonstration?
HICKS: No, sir, he did not.
GOWDY: So fast forward, Mr. Hicks, to the Sunday talk shows and Ambassador Susan Rice, she blamed this attack on a video. In fact, she did it five different times. What was your reaction to that?
HICKS: I was stunned. My jaw dropped. And I was embarrassed.
GOWDY: Did she talk to you before she went on the five Sunday talk shows?
HICKS: No, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Mr. Hicks was in Tripoli during the attacks and says he felt powerless to help the Ambassador.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HICKS: I asked the Defense Attache who had been talking with AfriCom and with the Joint Staff. Is anything coming, will they be sending us any help? Is there something out there? And he answered that, the nearest help was in Aviano. The nearest where there were fighter planes. He said that it will take two to three hours for them to get on site but that there also were no tankers available for them to refuel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Aviano was in Italy where America has an Air Base.
The third and perhaps the most important question going forward was President Obama and/or Hillary Clinton at fault in the Benghazi debacle?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Mr. Hicks, 2:00 in the morning, Secretary of State calls you personally, not a common call.
HICKS: No, sir.
ISSA: Did she ask you about the cause of the attack? Did she ask about videos? Did she ask about anything at all that would have allowed you to answer the question of how Benghazi came to be attacked as far as you know?
HICKS: I don't recall that being part of the conversation.
ISSA: So she wasn't interested in the cause of the attack and this was the only time you talked directly to the Secretary where you could have told her or not told her about the cause of the attack?
HICKS: It was... yes. That was the only time when I could have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Now, because of Ambassador Rice's subsequent testimony and the allegation that Secretary Clinton did not aggressively seek the truth about the attack becomes important. The witnesses today were compelling but they are not at the level where they could level direct charges against the President or even Secretary Clinton.
Also, Mr. Obama was barely mentioned in the Q and A. His role remains largely undefined and is likely to stay that way. It's very difficult to pin down the President of the United States without subpoena powers. And those are not likely to be granted in this investigation unless more evidence surfaces.
So we, the people, are left with the facts. U.S. government did not protect its people in Libya the way it should have. It was not forthcoming about who launched the attack. And it has not brought the killers to justice. The Benghazi incident is a tragic embarrassment to this country and speaks to the failure of leadership in the State Department and in the White House. At the level in the White House? I'm not sure. But certainly the White House was involved.
There is no way Ambassador Susan Rice should have been allowed to mislead the world. If you don't know Ambassador, don't say anything. If you are not sure, keep quiet. The simple truth is that the Republicans want to know the whole story because it embarrasses the Democrats. And the Democrats don't want to know the whole story because it helps the Republicans. But the folks should know what happened there, especially the families of the murdered Americans. I believe there will be more to come on the Benghazi chaos.
And that's "The Memo."
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