We all know the old saw, “What happens if a tree falls in
the forest and nobody hears it?” But, with the latest Judicial Watch release of
internal State Department documents, the far more important and pressing
question is... “What happens if a warning is given three months before a deadly
terrorist attack on a U.S. Consulate and no one in the Obama administration –
including the president and his then-Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton –
chooses to heed it?”
On September 10, we released stunning new documents
revealing that nearly three months before the terrorist attack on the U.S.
Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya – in which four Americans, including
Ambassador Chris Stevens were killed – top State Department officials were
explicitly warned that security guards were abandoning their posts “out of fear
of their safety.”
* EXPLICITLY WARNED...
The documents also warned that an explosion outside the
compound wall had “created a fear factor when it came to working the night
shift.”
In short, the State Department was told in no uncertain
terms that the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi was unsafe.
(And, in fact, it was very likely a death trap.)
* AND IT TURNED OUT TO BE JUST THAT!
Despite this and other warnings, (Ambassador Stevens
himself requested more help in July, two months before the attack, but his
request was turned down by both the State and Defense Departments), the Obama
administration unforgivably essentially left our people to fend for themselves
in Benghazi.
* WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU FUCKING PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT
OBAMA'S HEAD ON A POLE? (AND HILLARY'S! AND PANETTA'S!)
As Chris Hicks, who served Deputy Chief of Mission at the
U.S. Embassy in Tripoli from July 31 to December 7, 2012, explained in the Wall
Street Journal:
"When I arrived in Tripoli on July 31, we had over
30 security personnel, from the State Department and the U.S. military,
assigned to protect the diplomatic mission to Libya. All were under the
ambassador’s authority. On Sept. 11, we had only nine diplomatic security
agents under Chris’s authority to protect our diplomatic personnel in Tripoli
and Benghazi."
Given all this background, you can imagine the honor and
sadness Judicial Watch had announcing the release of these new documents at
Capitol Hill press conference with the family members of Benghazi hero Ty
Woods, including his father Charles Woods.
The internal State Department documents at issue were
obtained by Judicial Watch thanks to a February 25, 2013, Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No.
13-1559) seeking "Any and all records regarding, concerning, or related to
the $387,413.68 contract awarded by the Department of State to an unidentified
foreign awardee for ‘Security Guards and Patrol Services.’ According to the
record of this expenditure on USASpending.gov, the contract was signed on
February 17, 2012 and May 3, 2012, and is identified by Award ID SAQMMA12C0092."
According to the documents we forced out of the Obama
State Department, on June 30, 2012 – nearly three months before the fatal
Benghazi terrorist attack – a Quality Assurance Compliance Report from Blue
Mountain Group (BMG) Libya to Department of State Contract Specialist Neal Kern
warned that the number of local security guards leaving their posts had put the
U.S. Benghazi Mission at risk:
"Due to the amount of local guard force members
leaving out of fear of their safety and the long process to security check
individuals, it makes it very difficult to quickly react to a large drop in
staff in quick succession as has been occurring with all the incidents
especially when additional staff is requested."
The same June 30 report advised that an explosion on the
perimeter wall of June 6 had “promoted a fear factor” with a “lasting effect”
on the security staff:
"On the shift 2200-0600 hours on 11.06.2012
[Redacted] emergency staff did not attend for his shift and gave no prior
warning of absence, a replacement was not able to be sourced due to the time of
evening and the bank staff members not answering their phones. It is believed
that the explosive device set off on the compound perimeter wall had a lasting
effect on certain members of the staff; this promoted a fear factor when it
came to working the night-shift."
Additional emails confirmed that in the months leading up
to the terrorist attack, State Department officials were repeatedly informed of
the Benghazi security staffing problems. A July 2, 2012, memo from David
Oliveria, the Temporary Duty Officer in Benghazi at the time, contained the
following warning about “manpower issues”:
"Per our conversation, the original A&E request
for guard service was to run from June 6th to June 18th. Unfortunately, due to
manpower issues and unforeseen last minute resignations of BMGs guard staff, US
Mission Benghazi were only provided the below guards (see email) through the
12th (starting 11th at 2200)."
An email from BMG to State Department official Kern
reveals that not only was the undermanned Benghazi Mission security detail
afraid for its life, the situation there caused serious dissension among top
security staffers:
"Between the 18th – 30th April a Guard Commander was
not provided due to the current Guard Commander [REDACTED] being relieved of
his position due to an altercation with the NTC/QRF at the US compound. A new
Guard Commander has been selected and will begin on the 3rd of May."
"On the 22nd April a guard for Shift Charlie
[REDACTED] failed to turn up for duty at 2359 hours, we were unable to replace
this guard due to [REDACTED] not giving any prior warning that he would not be
working. Unfortunately the shift carried out their 8 hour shift with only 4
men."
These documents show that our U.S. Special Mission at
Benghazi was a sitting duck and that the State Department’s local militia
“security” feared for their own safety and wouldn’t even show up to provide
necessary protection. All security indicators were flashing red and, perhaps,
with a show of strength to secure the Benghazi mission, U.S. Ambassador J.
Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods might be alive
today.
* OF COURSE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN! A SINGLE SQUAD OF
MARINES ASSIGNED TO THE CONSULATE WOULD HAVE SECURED IT!
Once again, our independent work continues to shed more
light on Benghazi than anything done by the media or Congress.
By the way, you may have noticed that the documents we
obtained cover the period from March 1 through August 31, 2012.
It is significant that the State Department provided no
documents for the time period in September immediately leading up to the
September 11 attack that took the lives of four brave Americans.
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