Today, three current State Department officers testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). They are:
- Mark Thompson, an official with the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau.
- Greg Hicks, deputy chief of mission in Libya who became top U.S. diplomat in the country after Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in the terror attack.
- Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was formerly the regional security officer in Libya.
Their testimonies confirmed what we already knew in the days after the horrible attack on Sept. 11, 2011, against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which took the lives of four Americans: U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department worker Sean Smith, and former U.S. Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
As Jerry of Political War Zone pointed out, Benghazigate is far worse than Nixon’s Watergate for this simple reason: No one died in Watergate, but four Americans, including an ambassador, were killed in Benghazigate.
This is a summary of their testimonies today:
1. Obama regime lied: The Obama regime (Secretary of State Hillary “what difference does it make?” Clinton, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, and Obama the POS) lied about the nature of the Benghazi attack, calling it a spontaneous protest by Muslim masses against an anti-Muslim video made by a California man. According to Greg Hicks, “everybody in the mission” believed it was an act of terror “from the get-go.” Hicks also said he had briefed Clinton that night, but she continued to blame the video for the attack.
2. An Islamic terrorist attack: In addition to Hick’s testimony, Rep. Trey Goudy (R-SC) read into the record an email from Beth Jones, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs. The September 12 email—disclosed for the first time today—said Jones had spoken to Libya’s ambassador to Washington who said the attack was the work of former Gadhafi regime loyalists. Jones said she told the ambassador: “The group that conducted the attacks, Ansar al-Sharia, is affiliated with Islamic terrorists.”
3. Failure in security: The U.S. diplomatic buildings in Benghazi did not meet State Department security standards and were listed as “high threat” before the 9/11/2011 attacks. Eric Nordstrom said, “It’s my understanding only the secretary of state could waive those requirements.” In other words, Hillary Clinton is responsible for the lapse in security at Benghazi.
4. Cover-up: Gregory Hicks testified he was told by the State Department not to speak to members of Congress while they were investigating the details of the Benghazi consulate attacks. State Department lawyers instructed him to avoid an interview with Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who traveled to Libya to investigate the attacks: “I was instructed not to allow the RSO, the acting deputy chief of mission and myself to be personally interviewed by Congressman Chaffetz.”
5. White House knew what was happening as it was happening: Hicks testified that an UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle or drone) was flying in Libya the night of the attack.
Transcript of Greg Hick’s testimony here.
See also Trail Dust’s post, “BENGHAZI = TREASON.”
~Eowyn