Benghazi: Can Survivors Answer the Growing List of Questions?
Helle Dale /
(L to R) Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, Utah National Guard of the U.S. Army, Eric Nordstrom, Regional Security Officer of the U.S. Department of State, Charlene R. Lamb, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the U.S. Department of State, and Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management of the U.S. Department of State, testify on the security failures in Benghazi. (Photo: Xinhua)
Next week’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee by three survivors of the Benghazi terrorist attack is spurring an intense new round of questions and media interest.
One year after the attack that killed four Americans, books by survivors of the attack are starting to come out. Their stories challenge the narrative presented by the White House and the CIA. The three witnesses lined up for next week are reportedly working on their own book about the events. Their testimony before the committee will be classified.
As reported by CNN, questions are becoming very pointed. This week, committee member Devin Nunes (R–CA) sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R–OH) asking for the appointment of a special independent investigator for Benghazi if the testimony heard by the committee differs significantly from the Obama Administration’s account. Last week, Representative Frank Wolf (R–VA) spoke at length on the House floor of the need to create a House select committee on Benghazi.
Among questions Nunes wants answered:
- Who at the White House signed off on the decision not to dispatch a Foreign Emergency Support Team to Benghazi when the attack occurred?
- Was there any undisclosed communication between the Benghazi diplomatic mission, where Ambassador Chris Stevens and communications expert Sean Smith were killed, and the CIA annex as the attack was taking place? Or was there communication with other U.S. agencies?
- Which terrorist groups had the capacity to identify, in the dark of night, the coordinates of the roof of the CIA annex? The terrorists scored three direct hits on the roof, killing former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
- What purchases were made in Benghazi by the State Department and other U.S. agencies prior to the attack? This information could either substantiate or debunk speculation that the U.S. government was buying up Libyan arms to send to the Syrian rebels.
- Who did the State Department and other U.S. officials meet with in Benghazi in the week before the attack?
- Were there attempts made by the State Department and other U.S. agencies to silence eyewitnesses by demanding that they sign nondisclosure agreements and take polygraph tests? Such demands would amount to witness intimidation.
The calamity that President Obama and his spokesmen had the gall to call a “phony scandal” is clearly not going away. Quite the opposite.