America Demands Truth on Benghazi

Rick Santorum
Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:00:00 -0700
Opinion

On Sept. 11, 2012, four brave American diplomats were killed and 10 other Americans were injured in Benghazi, Libya, by a mob of between 125 and 150 heavily armed Islamists.

This jarring event was a grim reminder of the continued threat to America that exists and should have been a wake-up call to the Obama administration about the deadly nature of radical Islam. But here we are now, nine months later, and there still are no answers or explanations from the Obama administration about what exactly happened, why it happened and what those in charge knew while it was happening.

It's time for answers, and it's time for our commander in chief to stop stonewalling. Americans need and deserve to know the truth.

The attacks occurred, of course, on the anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack ever on American soil and in a region full of anti-Americanism and radical Islam. They were carried out by men wearing tunics and flak jackets, driving trucks with the logo of a known Islamist militant group and screaming, "Allahu akbar."

With just those basic facts, it's not hard to see what happened here. Our American diplomats were the victims of a coordinated terrorist attack carried out by the same type of people who crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 11 years earlier. These were the same people who have been determined to inflict as much harm on us as they possibly can. They're the same people who will continue to target and murder innocents in the name of jihad.

So, why has it been so hard for the Obama administration to say this? What did it know about these attacks and when? And in the face of mounting evidence on the nature of the Benghazi tragedy, why isn't it saying anything? Is it the case that the diplomats were concerned about their safety and requested additional security that never arrived? And why was Gregory Hicks, a veteran State Department official who raised questions about the administration's version of what happened, demoted? Those are the questions we want answered. Those are the questions Americans deserved to have answered.

After the attacks, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed the incident on an inflammatory low-budget and obscure Internet movie, which supposedly was produced in the U.S. and is offensive to Muslims. In talking points circulated in the administration to be used on television news programs, the attacks were attributed to "spontaneous demonstrations" about what she called the "awful Internet video." Clinton has said the buck stops with her on the Benghazi attacks. If that's true, that responsibility requires answering the important questions about who knew what and when.

Earlier this year, when called to testify before Congress on the matter, Clinton asked, "What difference, at this point, does it make?" Clinton meant: Why should we care about whether they were spontaneous demonstrations or they were coordinated terrorist attacks? Well, it makes a big difference. It matters in how we prepare ourselves and prevent future attacks. It matters to the victims' families, and it matters to the American people. We need leaders who are willing to be open and honest about these attacks and other threats to Americans. I agree with this statement by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.: "There's no statute of limitations on the truth." It does make a difference. It does matter.

Fortunately, this matter is not closed. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is conducting hearings to uncover new and important details on the attacks from those who were involved. And there is plenty of good work being done by media outlets such as The Weekly Standard to shine light on this tragedy. I think that we've only scratched the surface on what led up to the attacks and that there is much more to come out.

Patriot Voices, an organization I co-founded, has been watching this scandal unfold each day, sharing with you our disbelief that we still don't know the truth about what happened that night. We have created a compelling video titled "Demand the Truth about Benghazi" on YouTube, which asks the questions we want answered from Clinton. It's time we hear the truth about what happened in the days leading up to those attacks, what our government is going to do to seek justice for those lives lost and how it will prevent such deadly assaults in the future.

I hope you agree that it's time for Clinton to answer these questions, and I ask that you please share this video on your Facebook page and with your Twitter followers. We can only get the truth if millions of Americans stand together to demand it. Help us expose the truth about what happened in Benghazi when four brave Americans were brutally killed.