By Rick Manning
September 11 looms large this year.
Not only is it the twelfth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon resulting in the murder of 2,996 people, but it has been one impossibly long year since the U.S. consulate was attacked in Benghazi, Libya.
U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Wood and Glenn Doherty were killed in the consulate attack that still remains a mystery.
As most Americans will remember, the re-election driven Obama Administration chose to create a false scenario revolving around the condescending story that there was a sudden, spontaneous uprising around the world due to a high school level movie on YouTube that depicted Mohammed in a way not approved by the Islamic world.
This official masquerade and the continued refusal of the Administration to tell the American people the truth about this preventable tragedy has left this upcoming September 11 with more questions than answers.
Congressional hearings have been held.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has screeched, “what does it matter?”
Former United Nation’s Ambassador Susan Rice has been transformed from Administration talk show shill spouting the Benghazi movie lie to potential Secretary of State to the left’s victim du jour as she enjoys her reward as the nation’s National Security Advisor.
Yet in all of this, the basic questions surrounding that fateful night remain unanswered.
What we do know is that the attack was sustained over a seven hour period.
We know based upon congressional testimony by the highest ranking State Department career employee in Libya that repeated calls for help were made, and that help was denied. That career official has suffered a reduction in rank in the wake of the deaths with no allegation that his actions that evening were anything less than heroic.
We know that the initial finger in the official White House investigation was pointed at the CIA, and shortly after then CIA Director David Petraeus pushed back, he became embroiled in a personal scandal that ended his career.
We know that someone at the highest levels of the State Department not only denied requests to beef up security in Benghazi, but actually approved force reductions at the consulate.
On this September 11, Americans of all political stripes should call on the White House to honor those who died by telling the truth about where President Obama was during that fateful seven hour period, and who issued the order for American military rescue forces to stand down.
The State Department should release complete transcripts of every conversation that evening and during the next couple of weeks pertaining to Benghazi with the hopes of revealing who came up with the preposterous video reaction cover story.
And the Department of Defense should not only green light, but strongly encourage those in the chain of command, many of whom have subsequently retired, to reveal what their recommendations were that fateful night and who issued them.
In 1970, the shooting of four Kent State students by the Ohio National Guard ended a violent weekend of anti-war protests. The event triggered a presidential commission and was forever memorialized by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in their tribute song, “Ohio.”
But there are no anthems of the left memorializing the Benghazi Four, only the continuing refrain to move on, this was a long time ago, it is old news.
A convenient mantra when the reason that so many questions remain lies at the doorstep of the White House which has used every mechanism at their disposal to obfuscate and stop the truth from coming out.
It is almost a year since our consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked and four Americans were killed. Their blood demands that the truth come out, if for no other reason than to prevent it from happening again.
Rick Manning (@rmanning957) is the Vice President of Communications and Public Policy for Americans for Limited Government.
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