Why is my son dead?
That is all Pat Smith wants to know. Her son, computer specialist Sean Smith, was one of the four Americans killed on September 11th in the terror attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. A month after she buried her son, a month after everyone all the way up to the president of the United States promised her answers, she says she is still awaiting those answers.
That is all Pat Smith wants to know. Her son, computer specialist Sean Smith, was one of the four Americans killed on September 11th in the terror attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. A month after she buried her son, a month after everyone all the way up to the president of the United States promised her answers, she says she is still awaiting those answers.
“That's a funny subject,” Mrs. Smith said. “I begged them to
tell me what was -- what happened. I said I want to know all the details, all
of the details no matter what it is, and I'll make up my own mind on it. And
every one of them, all the big shots over there told me that -- they promised
me, they promised me that they would tell me what happened. As soon as they
figure it out.”
“No one, not one person has ever, ever gotten back to me
other than media people and the gaming people,” she said. “Hillary promised me.
Joe Biden -- Joe Biden -- they all told me that -- they promised me. And I told
them please, tell me what happened. Just tell me what happened.”
The attack on the
U.S. consulate in Benghazi was a made-in-Washington disaster, a result of naive
foreign policy consisting of apology and appeasement – projecting weakness surpassing
even that of Jimmy Carter.
Every other world
leader defends and promotes his country, but Barack Obama agrees with our critics
and apologizes for America. His pusillanimous posture sent a message to our
enemies, and they have acted on our well-advertised weakness.
And now in the
face of that inglorious policy failure in Libya, Mr. Obama has retreated to doing
what he does best: passing the blame. “We didn’t do that; it was that video.”
Suggesting that an
anti-Muslim video that hardly anyone on Earth had seen was responsible for that
attack was ridiculous on its face, and was almost immediately discredited. Still,
the administration continued to blame the video for about two weeks, before
finally admitting what everybody else already knew: it was a planned terrorist
attack. It then shifted blame to intelligence agencies for providing the
administration bad information.
But, as
time passed, the tawdry details emerged, showing that the State Department under
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stubbornly refused to provide additional
security forces for Libya as repeatedly requested.
The leader of the military security team in Tripoli, Lt.
Col. Andrew Wood of the Utah National Guard, told various TV outlets that he and
other embassy officials unsuccessfully attempted to extend his team’s tour of
duty in Libya because of mounting security concerns. “The security in Benghazi
was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there,” Colonel Wood
said. “Diplomatic security remained weak.”
A former security officer, Eric Nordstrom, said he was told
in a phone call in July that the deployment of a 16-member American military site
security team based in Tripoli could not be prolonged, according to a report by
The New York Times. Although the
Africa Command that oversaw the unit was willing to extend the deployment, the
State Department said “no.”
Mr. Nordstrom told a Congressional committee recently he
tried to improve security by asking for 12 agents, only to be told by a State
Department official that he was asking for the “sun, moon and the stars.” “It
was abundantly clear: we were not going to get resources until the aftermath of
an incident,” Mr. Nordstrom said. “And the question that we would ask is,
again, how thin does the ice have to get before someone falls through?” We now
know the answer.
Although he is still a State Department employee, Mr.
Nordstrom expressed strong frustration in trying to work with the Department.
“It’s not the hardships,” he said. “It’s dealing and fighting against the
people, programs and personnel who are supposed to be supporting me.” And he
made this revealing comment: “For me, the Taliban is on the inside of the
building.”
There is no way the administration can fix this colossal,
deadly screw-up, but it could at least keep its word by honoring Mrs. Smith’s
loss and help give her peace in her hour of grief.
Mr. Obama should drop the cover-up and come clean with the
American people. That means admitting the dramatic failure of his foreign
policy, and admitting to playing petty politics to distract the public. However,
accepting responsibility isn’t in the Obama Playbook, especially this close to
the election.
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