Notes of
Concern…
…Jackson Blair
Too Soon…Too Late
It made me sad last week watching the House hearings on
Benghazi.
Three fine public servants, fellows who liked their work,
dedicated their lives to serving all of us, honored, commended, and in places
of high responsibility, had to risk it all in order to look themselves in the
face each morning.
They had followed the parsing and smoke and mirrors that has
defined “Benghazi” until they just could not stand by any longer.
So they went before a House committee and reported what they
saw, what they heard, what they communicated and how they were treated by their
superiors up the chain of command. Let us keep in mind that they were there,
they feared for their lives, they were uncertain how to get out of Libya, they
did not know what else might happen… and during this time they had no help from
their country.
None.
Nada.
Because the current president is a Democrat, the Democrats
accused these men as well as the House Republicans of simply playing politics.
If the president had been a Republican and operated in a similar fashion, the
GOP would be tarring these Democrats with accusations of “politics” also.
It is the way the sordid game is played.
What happened to Americans in the Benghazi raid was
abhorrent. The fact that their country might have been in a position to help
them and did not is reprehensible.
Further, the treatment of those who were onsite and
depending on those who were safely ensconced in their Washington DC offices
outrages me.
I saw this kind of thing happen when Richard Nixon had been
re-elected by a landslide in 1972 and was out of office in 1973 because he
played games with an election, made up an enemies list, used the IRS to hurt
his opponents and lied about and distorted events.
He made political decisions when moral ones were called for.
Sadly it appears to me that history is repeating itself. First we had the fast
and furious operation in Mexico. Now we have this operation in Libya.
I am not naïve enough to think that I can make a case that
the current president and his cabinet secretaries may well have weighed the
political calendar when they determined how to respond, or more accurately-not
respond.
I am also not naïve enough to think it is not possible that
is exactly what transpired.
Regardless of why it happened, the threats and intimidation
of good people did happen and is happening and all of us, Republicans and
Democrats, should be furious.
Could we just for a minute remove the political labels,
throw the donkey and the elephant under the bus, and think like patriotic
Americans. If the government in all its splendor will not defend these three
men and others like them who want to tell us the truth, and if the Congress
cannot get out of its own way to permit a proper investigation and a report to
the American people, then shame on “we the people” if we do not demand a full
clarification of what happened, an honest appraisal of everything that went
into the decision, a report that names names and expects responses and holds
people accountable.
Let the chips fall where they may.
We owe it to Ambassador Christopher Stevens who died.
We owe it to computer expert Sean Smith who died.
We owe it to Navy Seal Glen Doherty who died.
We owe it to Navy Seal Tyrone Woods who died.
They lost their lives in service to us.
We also owe it to
Deputy Chief of Mission Gregory Hicks, berated and demoted.
Top On-site State Department Security Officer Eric Nordstrom,
who knew he could get help and was told to stand down.
Mark Thompson, the deputy coordinator
for operations at the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism who was
ashamed of his country.
And any other person who is struggling against large odds in
order to tell the story to the American people.
On September 11 Ambassador Stevens spoke with his deputy,
Greg Hicks and said “we are under attack.”
Hicks response was to alert Washington, DC and in turn The
White House/ State Department.
Hicks expectation was that help would be forthcoming. While
he was obviously concerned about the Ambassador and the staff in Benghazi he
was also rightfully concerned about all the other Americans at risk in the
country.
Then he was shocked that the Obama administraton said
otherwise.
In his emotional testimony he said “I was stunned.”
And he said “my jaw dropped.”
And he said “I was embarrassed.”
When suggesting that this man is “playing politics” let us
remember he is a career diplomat, served in the second position in Libya, and
had just lost not only his friend Chris Stevens but three others.
And his bosses were saying it was not a terrorist attack but
rather a reaction to a film.
They left him twisting in the wind in a foreign land.
When he asked questions, an Under Secretary of State told
him he needed to improve his management style. When he asked some more
questions he was demoted to a desk job.
If readers are naïve enough to believe somehow this man was
not performing well, let us keep in mind that but a few weeks before he was
good enough to be Deputy Chief of Mission, selected by the very same people who
now criticize him and would have us believe somehow he is lacking in
qualification.
Eric Nordstrom, the lead security expert for the region,
wants the record to be set straight. He said: “it matters to me personally and
it matters to my colleagues at the Department of State….it matters to the
American public for whom we serve, and most importantly it matters to the
friends, the family of those killed.”
If readers are naïve enough to believe somehow this man was
not performing well, let us keep in mind that but a few weeks before he was
good enough to be head of all security for the region, selected by the people
who currently criticize him.
Through many phone calls Hicks had arranged for special op
forces to come to their rescue. But then the commander was ordered to stop by
“his superiors.”
The commander is reported to say he had never been so
embarrassed in his life.
I want to know who in Washington stopped that rescue or
retaliation flight. As of today, without more hearings and more digging we do
not know.
It is noteworthy that a woman the president thought superior
enough to represent our nation at the United Nations was foolish enough to go
on numerous national television shows to shill for the idea that the Libyans
were just upset over a movie.
Well, if she believed that she demonstrates a total lack of
competence and should never have been our Ambassador to the UN.
If she knew it to be false then she demonstrates that she
would deliberately mislead the American people in service to an administration
she knew they were misleading the American people. This, too, would disqualify
her from serving.
Let it be noted that the Deputy Chief of Mission in Libya
has been demoted to a desk job while UN Ambassador Susan Rice continues to live
in the Waldorf Towers and represent all of us to the world.
I recall a United States Senator who became famous in 1973
during the Watergate Hearings for asking: “what did you know and when did you
know it.” This Senator, Senator Baker of Tennessee, was a Republican and was
holding the Republican President’s feet to the fire.
I would like to see a United States Senator from the
Democrat party step up and make these hearings and this investigation
non-partisan. Perhaps it will happen. It is the only way the hearings will get
traction with the press.
Boy it would be nice to have a Woodward and Bernstein again
on the Washington beat.
Today’s press corps seems to have totally abandoned the idea
of investigative journalism that made us all so proud of newsmen in the 1970s.
When all of this happened, efforts to get information
resulted in The White House saying it was entirely too early to be making
judgments and that more time was needed to determine the facts.
More recently efforts to get information resulted in The
White House Press Secretary saying it happened a long time ago and to suggest
we move on.
In the middle, during testimony to Congress, Secretary
Clinton responded to questions about Benghazi response with a “what does it
matter.”
It is never too early to find the truth.
It is never too late to find the truth.
And we need to be dogged in being certain we do find the
truth.
And it does matter. It matters very much indeed.
(information for this
story was found in reports in USA Today, Time Magazine and The Wall Street
Journal and was further informed by the writer watching the House hearings in
their entirety.)
For further information: jacksonblair@gmail.com
