Thanks to the record, the testimony, and the expert witnesses yesterday at the Benghazi hearings, we know with confidence that:
• State department officials, including Ambassador Stevens, made numerous requests for increased security to protect our people in Benghazi.
• Those requests went to individuals at the highest levels of our government.
• Those requests were systematically denied.
• Indeed, security protections were reduced, the exact opposite of recommendations coming from experts on the ground.
• American government officials at the highest levels were warned about terrorist aggression in Benghazi, and the likelihood an attack was imminent.
• Ambassador Stevens traveled from Tripoli to Benghazi in September of 2012 in order to forward the cause of formalizing and stabilizing the diplomatic mission in Libya, according to orders from Sec. Clinton.
• Government officials at the highest levels knew within hours that the 9/11/12 attack was perpetrated by identifiable terrorists. Yet those officials purposefully lied to the American people, blaming the attack on a protest that got out of hand, based on rage over an offensive video. Even the Libyan president confirmed the attack was terrorist-inspired, planned, and executed; and it had nothing to do with an offensive video.
• The terrorism response team was not even activated.
• Four Americans died trying to defend themselves and fellow Americans doing legitimate work in Benghazi. They called for help. Help was denied by government officials at the highest levels, even though resources were available.
• Upwards of 30 other Americans who survived have been locked down, sequestered, and silenced for eight months.
• Thanks to remarks by American government officials at the highest levels, the Libyans were not cooperative in the immediate post-attack period, delaying FBI ability to visit and secure the crime scene for almost three weeks.
• State department personnel wanted to come to the rescue of Americans under attack in Benghazi. But the military was ordered to stand down for no apparent reason, at least not one that has been articulated thus far by the Administration.
• House oversight officials, including Chairman Darrell Issa, tried numerous times to invite the cooperation of the Obama Administration in the effort to investigate and determine the truth. Chairman Issa reports that the Administration did not cooperate; but indeed, the Administration stonewalled.
• Whistleblowers who gave testimony yesterday contradicted the Obama Administration’s version of events. These are credible witnesses, career State Department officials with no political agenda. They testify further that when they tried to speak the truth about these matters, they were met with very negative reactions from Administration authorities and superiors who obviously wanted to silence and discredit them.
• The President knew almost immediately that the attack was perpetrated by terrorists; yet he misrepresented the cause for weeks after the event, blaming the video. The President never spoke to Hillary Clinton the night of the attack. Instead, he had dinner and prepared for a campaign trip. We still don’t know who actually issued the stand-down order.
• Hillary Clinton must have known about the serious security threat in Benghazi as well as the requests for improvements in security but denied that knowledge during her testimony, shirking responsibility and hiding behind subordinates, blaming them.
• At least two parents of sons lost in Benghazi place the blame for their deaths squarely on the shoulders of the President and the Secretary of State at the time.
• The President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Vice President promised the parents of the slain that there would be full disclosure. That was eight months ago. The parents are still waiting for that promise to be kept.
All this points to one inescapable conclusion: from the President on down, there was and is a concerted effort to cover up certain details about this tragedy. And those details are so terrible that the Administration is willing to lie and threaten victims and whistleblowers to hide the truth from the American people.
Allan Erickson enjoyed an 11-year career in radio, television and print journalism as a reporter, talk show host, and operations manager. He then turned to sales and marketing for a decade. Twelve years ago he started a training and recruitment company. Allan & wife Jodi have four children and live in California. He is the author of the book “The Cross & the Constitution in the Age of Incoherence,” Tate Publishing, 2012. He is available to speak in churches addressing the topics of faith and freedom. To contact him, email: allanlerickson@gmail.com
