Commentary by Lt. Colonel John Lewis Cook, USA
(ret.)
This was the angry
rhetorical question from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today when she
appeared before a US Senate hearing to finally answer questions about the
Benghazi attack on the US consulate back in September, 2012. It was triggered by a question from Senator
Ron Johnson ® from Wisconsin. Senator
Johnson wanted to know why the administration kept insisting that the attack
was triggered spontaneously by an anti-Muslim video posted on uTube, long after
the intelligence community knew it was a
deliberate, well planned terrorist
attack with no connection to the video. It
was a serious question and it deserved a serious answer, but nothing serious
was forthcoming from the Secretary of State today.
Rather, she continued
to ramble through the fog of war, the uncertainty of the Libyan security
forces, the rapid changes taking place in the Muslim world, the lack of funds
for diplomatic security, everything, in fact, except the truth. To understand the truth, we have to go back
to September, 2012, to fully appreciate the thinking within the Obama
administration. This event occurred on
the eve of the presidential elections and, under no circumstance, could the
carefully built narrative that Islamic terrorism was on the decline be
undermined by the harsh reality that we now know Benghazi represents. After all, Osma bin Laden was safely dead,
thanks to the courageous actions of our Commander in Chief, and nobody wanted
to talk about al Qaeda except in the past tense. This was the major theme that had to be amplified
in all the talking points leading up to
the election. Terrorism was on the
run. That was in September and a lot has
happened since then.
With Obama safely
reelected, everything changed. It was
now safe to take another look at Benghazi and actually admit, up to a point of
course, that “mistakes were made.” It
was safe for Secretary Clinton to come out of hiding and say that the attack
was actually a terrorist attack and the video played no role. This was accompanied by the usual commitments
to do a better job of protecting our diplomats abroad and that a review would
provide recommendations for improving security.
Under these
circumstances, it was understandable for Secretary Clinton to ask, “what
difference would it make?” What she is
really saying is, what difference would it make now? The truth is, it makes no difference now
because four Americans are dead and the election is over. However, had this truth been told back in
September, it could have made all the difference. When we understand this, it explains why
Susan Rice, our UN representative, made the rounds of the Sunday morning talk
shows back in September, pushing the administration’s theme that the attack was
spontaneous, and not terrorist motivated.
When questioned on this point, Secretary Clinton decided to throw Ms.
Rice under the bus, claiming she had nothing to do with that decision and that
she, Secretary Clinton, did not deal in talking points. This was a bizarre claim since Ms. Rice works
for Secretary Clinton. If the Secretary
didn’t direct this, who did?
Now, the administration
seems very comfortable in discussing Islamic terrorism. In fact, we are now embracing al Qaeda as our
justification for staying the course in Afghanistan. In fact, preventing the return of al Qaeda to
Afghanistan is the only justification the administration can offer for staying
there. This is the new talking
point. The reality is al Qaeda is not
the real threat in Afghanistan and has not been since 2001. The real threat there is corruption, yet this
administration is not above using al Qaeda when it suits its purpose and, at other times,
denying that it is a real threat.
We are now left with
more questions than answers. However,
official Washington now appears ready to close the book on the whole Benghazi
affair. Secretary Clinton, has indeed,
appeared before Congress, just as she said she would. She has admitted mistakes were made and we
will do better in the future. Of course,
many questions remain unanswered such as why no rescue mission was launched
once the consulate was under attack. Unfortunately, it appears that all of these
questions will remain unanswered because the emphasis has been placed on why
the consulate was ill prepared to withstand an attack, not what happened after
the attack was initiated. Were rescue
efforts ever initiated? If they were,
why were they not carried out? Both
President Obama and Secretary Clinton claim they order all necessary action be
taken. These are the questions that should be asked and answered. Several hours elapsed during the attack and
during these hours, a lot could have happened but didn’t. It would be very interesting to hear from
General Carter Ham, the commander of Africa Command, and ask him if he
considered launching a rescue mission.
We know he was monitoring the situation on the ground and we know he had
assets available for such an
attempt. Was he consulted? And if not, why not? And why have we not
heard from the survivors of Benghazi because they were there, on the ground,
not hunkered down in Washington, thousands of miles away? These are the questions that need to be
asked. These are the people who can give
us ground truth, not political appointees far removed from the action. So, have we heard the last on Benghazi? I hope not but I’m afraid we have. The right
questions were never asked of the right people, and this will forever be the
real tragedy of Benghazi.
About the Author
Lieutenant Colonel John
Lewis Cook, United States Army (Retired), “served as the Senior Advisor to the
Ministry of Interior in Kabul, Afghanistan, with responsibility for developing
the force structure for the entire Afghan National Police. As of 2012, this force totals 157,000. From March 2008 until August 2012, his access
and intimate associations with all levels of the Afghan government and
coalition forces have provided him with an unprecedented insight into the
policies which will determine the outcome of the war. It is this insight, coupled with his contacts
and associations throughout Afghanistan that form the basis of Afghanistan: The
Perfect Failure.
Click to read more
about Lt. Colonel John Lewis Cook
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