The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Benghazi: The Unanswered Question

Posted on | June 25, 2013 | 59 Comments

Last week, American Spectator editor R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. called and asked me to take a look at a Wall Street Journal op-ed column by Kevin G. Norton, “Benghazi’s Record of Broken Trust.”

Tyrrell asked me to contact Norton, which I did.  Tyrrell explained he was curious about a question: Where was Obama? You may remember Chris Wallace asked this last month on Fox News:

Strange to say, we still have no answer to that question:

Unlike Chris Wallace, most in the press corps have been willing to accept the administration’s non-answers, so that we are left with what Rich Lowry has called “a blank spot” in Obama’s presidency. And to invoke the famous words of the former Secretary of State, what difference at this point does it make? Perhaps not much to civilians stateside, who might be tempted to dismiss the whole affair as another political kerfuffle in Washington, but it means a great deal to those who devote themselves to serving their nation overseas. Just ask Kevin Norton.
“It’s bothered me ever since it happened,” the 36-year-old former Army captain says of the administration’s response to the Benghazi attack. “It makes no sense at all.”
Norton served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Third Infantry Division in 2005, and was reactivated for deployment to Afghanistan as a combat adviser in 2009. Like every other American soldier, Norton was trained to “leave no man behind.” He summarizes the common understanding of troops under fire: “Everybody knows that if the s—t hits the fan, they’re going to do whatever it takes to get you out of there.”
What happened in Benghazi, Norton said in a brief telephone interview, was an “egregious violation” of that basic promise our nation makes to its courageous men and women who put their lives at risk to serve America in potentially hostile foreign countries. Although it appears Ambassador Stevens and State Department aide Sean Smith were both killed before any U.S. forces could have rescued them, the same is not true of two former Navy SEALS, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Both of them were part of a security detail that tried to save Stevens and Smith at the consulate, and were tasked with evacuating other Americans after the initial attack. Woods and Doherty were killed in a subsequent assault on the CIA annex in Benghazi. More than six hours elapsed between the first alarm from the consulate — “We’re under attack, we need help, please send help now” — and the attack on the annex in which mortar shells killed Woods and Doherty. By 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, Secretary Panetta was told of the desperate crisis in Benghazi and, about an hour later, Secretary Clinton called CIA Director David Petraeus to coordinate a response. Exactly why that response was insufficient to save the lives of Woods and Doherty remains hotly disputed. . . .

Please read the whole thing at The American Spectator.

 


Category: Barack Obama, Libya

Comments

59 Responses to “Benghazi: The Unanswered Question”

  1. Richard McEnroe
    June 25th, 2013 @ 10:30 pm

    Corey Feldman’s next revelation…

  2. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 25th, 2013 @ 11:13 pm

    Who do you think will come be with you first: Woodward or Bernstein?

  3. rmnixondeceased
    June 26th, 2013 @ 12:18 am

    I won’t put a curse on either! I would welcome either with open arms when they get here (purgatory).

  4. LibertysArmy
    June 26th, 2013 @ 1:26 am

    Benghazi: The Unanswered Question http://t.co/k1ULLs59hN

  5. Wednesday news & opinions | Walla Walla TEA Party Patriots
    June 26th, 2013 @ 3:32 am

    […] Benghazi: The Unanswered Question […]

  6. Cmate
    June 26th, 2013 @ 3:43 am

    There’s a gay conservative out of Chicago claims that Obama was a frequent guest at a high end bathhouse that was frequented by chi-town pols and known for it’s discretion. He also claims Obama was known in that community as a coke-head. I’m not sure I believe everything the guy says but I do know that the story of the two openly gay choir boys from Obama’s church who wound up with bullets in their brains is true, the media here was speculating that it was a serial killer preying on the gay community. The site is called hillbuzz dot com.

  7. fiverrules
    June 26th, 2013 @ 5:57 am

    Benghazi: The Unanswered Question http://t.co/oqGIGHg1YT

  8. Bob Belvedere
    June 26th, 2013 @ 8:13 am

    THIS.

  9. FMJRA 2.0: Diamonds And Rust : The Other McCain
    June 29th, 2013 @ 12:15 pm

    […] Benghazi: The Unanswered Question […]