That's a question Charles Woods, the father of Tyrone Woods, who was killed in the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi wants an answer to.
Now that the full, sordid story about what happened in Benghazi and the White House's response to it is coming, we now know that not only were they in phone contact with the Americans trapped in the consulate, but they were watching what was occurring in real time thanks to an overhead drone.Yet they did nothing. And Charles Woods wants some answers, just like the rest of us. Particularly after his meeting with the president and Hillary Clinton at the memorial service for his son and the other three slain Americans:
“When [Obama] came over to our little area” at Andrew Air Force Base, says Woods, “he kind of just mumbled, you know, ‘I’m sorry.’ His face was looking at me, but his eyes were looking over my shoulder like he could not look me in the eye. And it was not a sincere, ‘I’m really sorry, you know, that your son died,’ but it was totally insincere, more of whining type, ‘I’m sorry.’”
Woods says that shaking President Obama’s hands at his son’s memorial service was “like shaking hands with a dead fish.”
“It just didn’t feel right,” he says of his encounter with the commander in chief. “And now that it’s coming out that apparently the White House situation room was watching our people die in real time, as this was happening,” Woods says, he wants answers on what happened—and why there was no apparent effort to save his son’s life.
“Well, this is what Hillary did,” Woods continues. “She came over and, you know, did the same thing—separately came over and talked with me. I gave her a hug, shook her hand. And she did not appear to be one bit sincere—at all. And you know, she mentioned that the thing about, we’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted that did the video. That was the first time I had even heard about anything like that.”
“Apparently even the State Department had a live stream and was aware of their calls for help. My son wasn’t even there. He was at a safe house about a mile away. He got the distress call; he heard them crying for help; that’s why he and Glen risked their lives to go that extra mile just to take care of the situation. And I’m sure that wasn’t the only one received that distress call—you know, come save our lives … I’m sure that other people in the military, in the State Department, in the White House, received that same call that he would receive. And I’m sure that most military people would jump at the chance … to protect that life [and] not leave anyone behind.”
Just for the record, The president could have ordered F-18s to fly overhead on afterburners and even fire into the mob, something that's worked in the past when it comes to dispersing attackers. They could have been there in an hour. We also had available a full contingent of Special Operations Forces to fly in from the U.S. military base in Sigonella, Sicily who could have been on the ground in Benghazi in less than three hours.
Even an urgent request from the CIA annex in Benghazi for military backup to save the besieged Americans in the consulate was denied:
Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When he and others heard the shots fired, they informed their higher-ups at the annex to tell them what they were hearing and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. They were told to "stand down," according to sources familiar with the exchange. Soon after, they were again told to "stand down."
Woods and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The rescue team from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.
At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Spectre gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights. The fighting at the CIA annex went on for more than four hours -- enough time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. Fox News has also learned that two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators.
That decision on whether to order our forces in would have been left to President Obama, the commander in chief.
Instead, he apparently voted present. A force of 22 men was eventually sent 6 hours later from the Tripoli consulate..by which time the attack was over and all four men were dead.
It would have been one thing if President Obama had gone on national television, addressed what had actually happened and explained his decision. Instead, he, Secretary Clinton and his advisers saw this not as a national security issue but as a political problem in an election year that had to dealt with. No one wanted it to come to light that Ambassador Stevens' request for additional security had been denied, or that the State Department had actually removed security teams from the area in spite of incidents that pointed out how dangerous Benghazi was. No one wanted to reveal that al-Qaeda was very much alive and well, in spite of President Obama's chest thumping. So they concocted a cock and bull story about a video, and kept repeating it to the nation for eight days.
And when that collapsed, the president and the White House rushed to blame the State Department and the intelligence community,claiming they were never informed. That final, obscene falsehood has now collapsed as well.
Will we get some answers from President Obama? Doubtful, especially since the Obama Media isn't going to make this a firestorm like they did Watergate.
But this morally disgraceful episode is going to resonate far beyond the current election season. If nothing else, it gives to lie to the notion of President Obama as 'strong on foreign policy'.
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