The House of Representatives voted to create a Select Committee to probe Benghazi attack
On May 8, 2014, the House of Representatives voted a resolution creating a Select Committee to investigate the September 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the United States Consulate/CIA safe house in Benghazi, Libya. The vote was 232-186, with seven Democrats joining 225 Republicans in support of the resolution. This panel should have been set up 20 months ago. But it’s never too late to seek justice and accountability.
A Select Committee comprised of seven Republicans and five Democrats will investigate what happened before, during, and after the terrorist attacks on the Consulate/CIA safe house in Benghazi. House Speaker John Boehner appointed Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican from South Carolina, a former prosecutor, to chair the Select Committee. Congressman Gowdy stated that he plans to aggressively pursue interviews with any official who he believes has information about the attack, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Select Committee will have the authority to subpoena witnesses and view classified materials, tools that will help the committee to determine why the United States was not able to prevent the terrorist attack, send military assistance to save the lives of the Americans at Benghazi, and whether Obama administration officials tried to mislead the public on why it happened.
House Speaker John Boehner, Republican from Ohio, explained why he called a vote to create the Select Committee, after having resisted demands to do so in the past. Boehner decided to create the Select Committee after a lawsuit by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch forced the release of an email that had been sent from President Obama’s national security advisor Ben Rhodes to United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice in the days following the attack. In that email Rhodes advised Rice to stick to blaming the attack on the anti-Muslim video in the upcoming appearances on five Sunday television talk shows.
President Obama and Ben Rhodes, as well as the rest of the officials in his administration in the White House, Central Intelligence Agency, FBI, State Department, and Defense Department, were fully aware that the premeditated terrorist attacks at Benghazi had nothing to do a video. The White House decided to mislead the nation once again. After Obama five years in office, the American people are fully aware that they have a pathological liar sitting in the White House. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Republican from Virginia, stated “this obfuscation and refusal to come clean to Congress has left us as well as the people of this country wondering why else is the White House hiding?”
Speaker Boehner stated “a line was crossed” when new information was discovered that pointed out the White House involvement in misguiding the American people in the talking points used by former United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice on five Sunday television shows. The Obama administration officials, as well as the president, blamed the terrorist attacks in Benghazi on a video for several weeks since Barack Obama was campaigning for reelection stating that he had defeated Al Qaeda. The attack at Benghazi contradicted his speeches over his victory over Al Qaeda. The president was well aware that Al Qaeda, rather than being defeated, was getting stronger in Africa and the Middle East.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke about the “fog of war” and together with Obama, both deliberately lied to the family members of the four brave Americans who were assassinated by terrorists in Benghazi. Administration officials knowingly lied by stating that the CIA intelligence indicated that the attack in Libya was due to a video. Lying is a felony. President Obama and Secretary Clinton should be held accountable for their actions.
Speaker John Boehner stated the following: “Our committee sought the full truth, and the administration tried to make sure they wouldn’t find it, which means, they tried to prevent American people from finding the truth as well.” He also stated, “we will not take any shortcuts to the truth, accountability or justice.” Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican from Florida, criticized Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her “song and dance” when she spoke to members of the House of Representatives a few months after the attack.
Doug Hagmann of the Canadian Free Press, James Robbins of the Washington Times, and Aaron Klein of WND explained that the Obama administration was engaged in a massive gun-running operation to Al Qaeda, which included transporting heavy weapons from Libya to Syria. Ambassador Stevens was in charge of this operation, which also involved recruiting jihadists to fight against the dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria. When the attack began around 9:40 PM on September 11, 2012, Ambassador Stevens contacted Greg Hicks in Tripoli and told him, “Greg, we are under attack!” And requested assistance. Hicks immediately notified all agencies so that they could initiate an emergency response plan.
There were soldiers at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, as well as soldiers in all the Western embassies and consulates of countries, such as Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, that upon request by President Obama would have sent their military personnel immediately to Benghazi to provide assistance to our diplomat and other personnel. Yet nothing was done!
The Benghazi scandal involved criminal negligence and dereliction of duty as the Obama administration allowed Ambassador Chris Stevens, two former Navy Seals and a computer specialist to die for political reasons when the United States had forces nearby that could have saved them.
As stated, the Benghazi consulate/CIA safe house was attacked at approximately 9:40 PM. For seven hours, a small group of brave Americans fought approximately 120 terrorists while notifying our government and repeatedly requesting help. There were two squadrons of F-16s at Aviano Air Base in Italy. The F-16 aircraft is armed with 500 20 MM rounds and other weapons and they are able to fly at 0.92 mach speed. A Marine detachment was at U.S. Navy Base in Rota, Spain. U.S. forces were also stationed in Greece. The ensuing cover up was disgraceful and is completely unacceptable. It violated our armed forces Code of Conduct which states that we do not leave someone behind.
Even though our intelligence agencies have identified the leader of Anwar al Shariah, the terrorist organization that assassinated the four Americans in Benghazi, Obama has not delivered on his promise to bring the perpetrators to justice. It is shameful that reporters from The New York Times and CNN have interviewed the leader of this terrorist organization and the Obama administration has not sent troops or a drone to kill this terrorist and the others who were involved in the attack to our Consulate/CIA safe house in Benghazi. Is it because Anwar al Shariah is training jihadists to fight against the Syrian regime? Is it because Barack Obama is an ally of this al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group that like him wants to overthrow the dictator of Syria?
Perhaps, this is why the president signed an executive order on September 16, 2013 waiving a ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to the Syrian rebels, many of which are supporters of al Qaeda. In essence, he exempted himself from any laws, such as the Patriot Act, that prohibits anyone from giving weapons to a terrorist organization. This executive order should be grounds for impeachment.
In reality, Obama has been secretly shipping weapons from Libya to Turkey for a couple of years. The weapons were being given to the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, which included al Qaeda-linked rebels groups. One of the largest al Qaeda group is the Nusra Front. Abu Mohammed al Golani is the leader of this al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group and he has an army of 10,000 soldiers under his command in Syria.
President Obama had been engaged in a Middle Eastern gun-running operation without Congressional authority and in violation of United States laws. If the Select Committee does its job properly, it would uncover what my investigative research found months ago. The president violated his oath of office and multiple laws by sending weapons to from Libya to Turkey knowingly that those weapons would eventually fall in the hands of al Qaeda-link terrorist groups fighting in Libya. For this reason, the House of Representatives must file impeachment charges against President Barack Obama.
Benghazi Scandal and other threats as seen by Admiral James Lyons
James Lyons is a retired four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served honorably our country during 36 years. During his service to our nation Admiral Lyons was appointed to many important positions in the U.S. Navy. Admiral Lyons served as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations from1983 to 1985 and subsequently as Commander-in-Chief, United States Pacific Fleet from 1985 to 1987. Admiral Lyons was interviewed by Roger Aronoff of Accuracy in Media and his interview was published by the New Zeal Blog on February 15, 2013.
The interview was done the day after outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton´s testimony to Congress. Secretary Clinton, when asked repeatedly about the scandal and cover-up of Benghazi, Libya, became very upset and at one point pounded the table. When asked why the Obama administration kept claiming for weeks after the attack that what had occurred in Libya was in response to an anti-Islamic video produced in the United States, when it was obvious that this was a lie, she answered “What difference does it make?”
Admiral Lyons, in response to the statement made by Secretary Clinton, responded the following: “Richard Nixon found out what the difference is when you lie to the American public and in his lie, it was only a bungled burglary attempt; nobody got killed. In this case, we had four Americans murdered. Furthermore, we knew, within a matter of hours, that this was determined, preplanned terrorist attack. So you have to ask yourself that “in perpetuating this lie, we had administration officials lying to Congressional committees. That´s a felony.” So, “what difference does it make?” Lyons explained, “It makes all the difference in the world. You cannot flaunt the truth here, just walked away from it and, basically, tell the American public to stuff it. That’s not acceptable.”
Admiral Lyons has been highly critical regarding the way the Obama administration handled the attack on our Consulate in Benghazi. When asked about the report provided by Secretary Clinton´s Independent Accountability Review Board, which took several months to look into the terrorist attack, Admiral Lyons explained that, from his perspective, the board ”was like having the Mafia investigate a crime scene.” He said that Thomas Pickering, a former career employee of the State Department, who is now the chairman of the International Crisis Group, which is a Soros-funded group, could hardly be trusted to conduct a fair investigation. He said that you are never going to get the true story until you appoint a Special Prosecutor who can interview people under oath to find out what actually went on.
Now, of course, we have a Select Committee with the power to subpoena administration officials, including President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Secretary of State Leon Panetta. General Carter Ham, Commander of the United States African Command and Rear Admiral Charles M.Gaouette, who was in charge of Carrier Strike Group Three, which included the aircraft carrier U.S.S. John C.Stennis, were both fired for trying to send a rapid response team to Benghazi to save our people in violation of the order that they were given to stand down, meaning do nothing. Former CIA director, David Petraeus, should also be sent a subpoena. Other high-ranking generals, as well as White House officials from the National Security Council who were aware of what happened at Benghazi, should be sent subpoenas and forced to testify under oath. Only then, will the truth be found out, and it could very well be career ending for Barack Obama.
In an interview with Lou Dobbs, Admiral Lyons, when asked what did he think that went on in Benghazi, he responded: “If I had to speculate, I believe this was a bungled attack-kidnapping, the object being to kidnap Ambassador Stevens, and hold him in exchange for the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, who sits in jail in the United States for his role in planning the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.” Lyons explained that in June 2012 both the British Consulate and the International Red Cross had to close their offices due to the assassination attempt on the British Consul General and other assassinations. The bombing outside our special mission compound in Benghazi took place on June 6.
Ambassador Chris Stevens had requested additional security assistance on multiple locations. Secretary Clinton sent home Lieutenant Colonel. Wood and the 16- man security force which was at our embassy in Tripoli. The pleas from our ambassador for additional security were ignored and denied by the State Department. Lyons stated: “Perhaps this was supposed to be part of a kidnapping, hostage situation, holding him in exchange for the Blind Sheikh. Because killing Ambassador Stevens made no sense to me since he was the great facilitator in funneling the arms to the rebels, to other militias, many of which were al Qaeda- affiliated, who have been fighting our troops in Iraq. So why would you kill the golden goose? It made the no sense to me.”
Admiral Lyons was highly critical of the Obama administration for its lack of response to the terrorist attack against our men in our Consulate in Benghazi. He explained that we had 130 Marines at our Base at Singonela, Sicily and another Marine detachment at our Naval base in Rota, Spain. We also had F-16 aircraft that could have been there in an hour. Lyons also criticized the fact that the Obama administration did not ask for help from the other Western Consulates that had security forces and could have assisted our men. Later, Consul Generals stated that if they had been requested assistance, they would have provided it. Lastly, Lyons stated that what happened at Benghazi would make the Iran-Contra scandal look like child’s play.
During his interview Admiral Lyons covering another topic. He stated the following: “The Muslim Brotherhood penetration in this country is really unconscionably. They have been able to penetrate almost every one of our government agencies. You see it reflected down in the administration´s directive, where we have to purge all of our training manuals and instructors on anything that purports the truth about Islam. Anything that is considered anti-Islamic must be purged, and instructors who do not fall in line, find themselves with new orders elsewhere. We have the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that our great Secretary of State has endorsed, which impinges on our First Amendment right of freedom of expression, and the administration is embracing this, that we leave it up to the 57 or 58 Islamic states that make up the organization, to determine what they consider to be insulting to Islam, and, therefore, they can impose sanctions or bring you to trial, or whatever on this. None of this makes any sense to me.”
Admiral Lyons, when asked what signal is being sent to Iran and Israel by sending advanced weapons to the president of Egypt, as well as the appointments of John Kerry to the State Department, Chuck Hagel to the Defense Department and John Brennan to the CIA, he responded: “Certainly, if I were Iran, I would be thrilled to death with those appointments.” He stated the following: “Because none of them are for taking any military action against Iran, which is giving Iran a clear sailing for the development of their nuclear weapon capability. And it is not just their capability in Iran, you have got to look at what they have done in Latin America. We have Iranian operational missile bases today in Venezuela fully up and operational. They have been able to accomplish what the Soviet Union was unable to do in Cuba in 1962. We have cities in the United States today which are on their threat umbrella of those missiles that are in Venezuela. It needs to be addressed. In fact, they should be forced out of there post-haste. Either take them out, or we will take them out. I do not see that happening”.
Admiral Lyons ended the interview with Roger Aronoff by saying that the Muslim Brotherhood has a plan and that is: “It is to institute Shariah law in the United States in place of our Constitution–they call it the “Stealth Jihad”–and, in their own words, to destroy us by our own miserable hands”.
We have to thank this brave admiral for condemning the Obama administration for its lack of response and prevention in the terrorist attack against our diplomats in Benghazi. We need other retired generals and admirals to come forward and tell the American people the true story on Benghazi. There is no question in my mind that there were repeated lies and a huge cover-up, as well as criminal negligence, committed by high officials and by President Obama. As Admiral Lyons indicated felonies were committed and the newly appointed Select Committee needs to conduct a comprehensive investigation.
The danger that Admiral Lyons pointed out regarding of the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood into our government is a clear and present danger. Unfortunately, president´s older brother, Malik Obama, was accused by the Vice President of the Supreme Court of Egypt on a television station in Cairo as “being the architect of the finances of the Muslim Brotherhood”. Additionally, Malik Obama works with the Da´wa organization in the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled and terrorists nation of Sudan.
President Barack Obama is unfit to be our commander-in-chief and must be impeached by the House of Representatives.
