by Aaron Klein
• Why were no reinforcements sent the night of the attacks? The government’s standard response is patently absurd. They say they thought the attack was over following the initial assault, so therefore there was just not enough time to send a rescue mission or air support. But how could they have known what the gunmen had planned or that the “first wave” was the only attack to be carried out?
• After the initial assault Stevens went missing. As reported, the acting assumption of the decision makers that night was that Stevens had been kidnapped. Why were special forces not immediately deployed for a potential hostage situation involving a supposedly kidnapped U.S. ambassador?
• On the night of the attack, Gen. Carter Ham was placed in charge of the C-110 special ops force maintained for rapid response to emergencies. The force exists for the very purpose of responding to events such as the Benghazi attacks. Why was command of the C-110 transferred from the military’s European command to Ham’s Africa Command in the middle of the attack?
• Instead of deploying to Libya from their “training” position in Croatia, the C-110 were reportedly told on the night of the Benghazi attacks to begin preparations to return to their normal operating base in Germany. Why was this order given? Why was a special force that exists for the very purpose of an emergency like Benghazi told in the middle of a massive attack on our U.S. mission to return to their normal operating base?
• Former deputy Libyan ambassador and whistle-blower Gregory Hicks said he contacted AFRICOM the night of the attack but received no support.13 What justified the lack of support?
• Representative Westmoreland, chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee, commenting on closed-door testimony given to his intelligence committee, told Fox News in November 2013 that State Department employees inside the mission “were not armed, not kitted up and there hadn’t been any shots fired from our side as far as the testimony reveals.”14 In another interview with Fox News that same month, Westmoreland further stated one of the U.S. security officers was barefoot during the attack while another two were “riding around in a Land Cruiser.”15 This witness testimony of unarmed personnel directly contradicts the narrative in the ARB report, which specifically claims the personnel inside the compound were armed. The document even describes how the security officers retrieved their weapons.16 How does the State Department explain these glaring contradictions?
• U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, have long denied the persistent claim that there was a “stand down” order during the attack. However, CIA agents on the ground in Benghazi testified to lawmakers that they were loaded into vehicles and ready to aid the besieged U.S. special mission on September 11, 2012, but were told by superiors to wait.17 Were any U.S. personnel ready to mount a rescue operation told to wait? If so, this would further contradict claims made by the State Department’s ARB report, which states that the response team one mile away in the CIA annex was “not delayed by orders from superiors.”18 How does the State Department explain this discrepancy?
• It is known that the Libyan rebels looted Muammar Gaddafi’s reserves of man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS. Were the antiaircraft missiles in the hands of the Libyan rebels or other jihadists a major threat that impeded the possibility of dispatching U.S. aircraft to aid the American targets during the Benghazi attack? Was the MANPAD proliferation taken into consideration when deciding whether to send air support to Benghazi?
AMBASSADOR STEVENS
• Was Stevens or his body held hostage at any point. If so, by whom? How was Stevens’ corpse eventually released? Were there negotiations to secure the remains? What promises did we make for Stevens’ body, and to whom? If Stevens’ body were held hostage, why do we not know about it?
• Thomas Pickering, the State Department’s lead Benghazi investigator and author of the State-sponsored Accountability Review Board report, raised some eyebrows when he refused to deny there was a plan to kidnap Stevens. The response took place at a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing on Benghazi in mid-September 2013, when Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), asked Pickering directly about a potential kidnapping plot. Is any U.S. agency in possession of intelligence indicating that the Benghazi attack was a kidnap operation gone awry? Was there a plan to kidnap Stevens and hold him for the exchange of high-level prisoners?
• Abdallah Dhu al-Bajadin, who was identified by U.S. officials as a known weapons experts for al-Qaeda, wrote on a jihadi website that Stevens was killed by lethal injection after plans to kidnap him during the Benghazi assault went awry. Obviously we need to take anything a terrorist says with more than a grain of salt. However, is there any information that would indicate Stevens was killed by lethal injection? Was a full autopsy performed? If so, why haven’t the results been made public? Were any toxins found in Stevens’ blood?
• The ARB report states the intruders smoked up Villa C, likely to make breathing so difficult that anyone inside the safe room would need to come out. And that seems to be just what happened. According to the ARB report, Stevens and his guards had no choice but to exit the safe room for fresh air. How did Stevens and his guards make it from the safe room, where they were being smoked out, into a bathroom in the Villa without any of the intruders noticing?
• An Obama administration e-mail released in May 2014 states that in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attacks, someone at a local Libyan hospital called to report Stevens was at the medical center and was “alive and well.” The e-mail entirely contradicts the ARB report, which states the caller at the hospital said a man matching Stevens’ description was brought to the medical center and was “unresponsive.” How does the State Department explain this discrepancy? Was the hospitalized ambassador alive and well, or unresponsive? If Stevens was alive and well, as the Obama administration e-mail claims, then how did he die?
• How did Stevens’ body get from a heavily besieged compound to the Benghazi Medical Center? The ARB report says Stevens was transported by “good Samaritans.”19 How did these “good Samaritans” make it past Ansar al-Sharia roadblocks with the body of the most high-profile American in Libya? And just who are these “good Samaritans” in Benghazi who risked their lives to make it through the various checkpoints all the way to the hospital?
• The Benghazi Medical Center was controlled by the rebels. The ARB report called the facility “dangerous for American personnel” because of Ansar Al-Sharia’s known presence inside the hospital.20 Did Ansar or any other Islamic extremist group become aware of Stevens’ presence at the hospital?
• The ARB report explains that the “presumed remains of Ambassador Stevens” were brought to the airport by Libyan contacts in “a local ambulance at 0825 local, and the TDY RSO verified Ambassador Stevens’ identity.”21 The ARB report does not explain how these “Libyan contacts” managed to get Stevens’ body out of the “dangerous” hospital. Who were the Libyan contacts?
• The eighty-five-page Senate report reveals details about how Stevens’ body arrived at the tarmac with the waiting evacuation airplane. “After more than three hours of negotiations and communications with Libyan officials who expressed concern about the security situation at the hospital, the Libyan government arranged for the Libyan Shield Militia to provide transportation and an armed escort from the airport.”22 Who was holding Stevens’ body, and how were the remains eventually released? Were any promises made by the U.S. government for the release of the body?
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CONNECTION
• Are any of the attackers tied to Egyptian former president Mohamed Morsi or any other Muslim Brotherhood figures?
• It is known that the U.S. government had knowledge indicating some Egyptian participation in the assault. Why did the Obama administration initially keep this critical piece of information from the public?
• Unsubstantiated Arabic-language reports from the Middle East claim a passport belonging to the alleged killer of Stevens had been recovered at the home of E
gyptian Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader Khairat el-Shater. Is this true? Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reportedly visited el-Shater in prison in August 2013, spending over an hour talking to the Brotherhood leader.23 What did the senators discuss with el-Shater?
• The White House sought at first to connect the September 11, 2012, Benghazi attack to protests that same day in Cairo, Egypt, in which rioters climbed the walls of the U.S. embassy and tore down the American flag. Those Cairo protests were widely reported to be acts of defiance against an anti-Muhammad movie. However, the protests were actually announced days in advance as part of a movement to free the so-called blind sheikh, Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in the United States for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Is there information suggesting any of the Benghazi attackers were motivated by the campaign to release Rahman?
• There were unconfirmed reports that Egypt’s former Morsi government would not allow the U.S. officials to interrogate suspects in the attack. Is this accurate?
• On September 10, 2012, one day before the Benghazi assaults, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video calling for attacks on Americans in Libya to avenge the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, one of the most senior al-Qaeda operatives, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike. Is there information indicating the attackers were sent by Zawahiri or were part of an effort to avenge al-Libi’s elimination?
• Is there information indicating Iran or any other state actor was in any way involved in the Benghazi attacks?
• In October 2013 US Special Forces seized wanted militant Abu Anas al-Libi, who was living openly in his home in Libya, in a daylight raid outside his home while his family looked on. Family members immediately and predictably told the news media about the raid, which thwarted an ongoing operation in which covert U.S. operatives were hours from arresting Ahmed Abu Khattala, a senior leader of the Ansar al-Sharia militia wanted for the Benghazi attack. Why was al-Libi seized in a public operation in Tripoli?
• Obama previously vowed to make it a “priority” to bring the Benghazi suspects “to justice.” Did he personally make the call to arrest al-Libi before Khattala, and to do so in such a public manner?
QUESTIONS FOR HILLARY CLINTON
• Because the U.S. Benghazi facility was so dangerous and did not meet the security standards set by the State Department, the Benghazi mission actually required special waivers in order to be occupied by American personnel. Such a waiver could have only been issued by you, Madam Secretary. Did you issue this waiver? If so, were you adequately briefed on the glaring security lapses at the facility?
• If you were not fully briefed, how can you justify issuing this waiver? (Some of the necessary waivers the Senate affirmed could have been issued at lower levels within the State Department. However, other departures, such as the co-location requirement, could only be approved by the Secretary of State.24 The co-location requirement refers to an unusual housing setup in Benghazi where intelligence and State Department personnel were kept in two separate locations.)
• The decisions to deny guard towers and to pull a special reaction team from the hot zone of Libya were made by your top deputies. We know you took particular interest in Libya, the lynchpin for the so-called Arab Spring. Were you aware of these and other perplexing security decisions made by your deputies regarding the Benghazi compound?
• Not only were your deputies the ones who made central perplexing security decisions; they were also involved in drafting the now-discredited talking points on the Benghazi attacks. Were you involved with the talking points drafting?
• Did you know the attacks were coordinated jihadist assaults when you publicly blamed the attacks on an obscure YouTube video?
• On January 23, 2013, you testified under oath that no one within the government ever recommended the closure of the U.S. facilities in the Libyan city. Your testimony is contradicted by Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, who led the U.S. military’s efforts to supplement diplomatic security in Libya. Wood testified that he personally recommended the Benghazi mission be closed. Did you mislead lawmakers and the public under oath?
• According to congressional testimony by Gregory Hicks, the former State Department deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affairs, who was in Libya at the time of the attack, Stevens went to the compound that day in part because you wanted to convert the shanty complex into a permanent mission as a symbol of the new Libya. Hicks said you wanted to announce the establishment of a permanent U.S. State Department facility during your planned visit there in December 2012. Apparently Stevens was up against a specific, tight funding deadline to complete an extensive survey of the mission so the compound could be converted. Did you play any role in Stevens’ decision to go to the dangerous facility on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a day when jihadists are particularly motivated to strike our country’s assets?
• You should have been aware of the terrorist camps in Benghazi. Fox News reported that the officials at the U.S. mission in Benghazi convened an “emergency meeting” in August 2012 to discuss the training camps. The news network obtained a government cable addressed to your office stating that the U.S. diplomats in Libya were briefed “on the location of approximately ten Islamist militias and AQ training camps within Benghazi… [and that] these groups ran the spectrum from Islamist militias, such as the QRF Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia, to ‘Takfirist thugs.’”25 What actions, if any, did you take to protect the U.S. special mission in light of the emerging high-threat environment, including the proximity of terrorist training camps?
• The New York Times described you as one of the driving forces behind advocating a plan to arm the Syrian rebels.26 Were you involved in efforts to arms the Mideast rebels? Were any of these efforts centered in Libya? In the U.S. special mission in Benghazi?
• Did you mislead lawmakers when you claimed during your Benghazi testimony that you did not know whether the U.S. mission in Libya was involved in procuring or transferring weapons to Turkey and other Arab countries?
• The Senate’s extensive report by its Benghazi investigative committee charged a “strong case can be made that State engaged in retaliation against witnesses who were willing to speak with Congress.”27 Were senior State officials engaged in retaliation or otherwise involved with intimidating witnesses? Did senior State officials interfere with legislative investigations into the Benghazi attacks?
TALKING POINTS PROBE
• Did the Obama administration deliberately mislead the public when it claimed the attacks were a spontaneous protest in response to a “hateful video”?
• Why were the talking points edited to remove references to terrorism and al-Qaeda in the attacks?
• Was the Obama administration in immediate possession of surveillance video from the mission that showed there was no popular protest on September 11, 2012?
• Logic dictates that spontaneous protesters do not show up with weapons, erect armed checkpoints surrounding a compound, and evidence insider knowledge of a facility while deploying military-style tactics to storm a U.S. mission. Nor do spontaneous protesters know the exact location of a secretive CIA annex, including the specific coordinates of the building that were likely utilized to launch precision mortar strikes. Spontaneous protesters are not capable of mounting a fierce, hours-long gun battle with U.S. forces stationed inside the annex. Yet the initial reports from the Obama administration blamed the attack on spontaneous protestors. How does the administration explain its rejection of logic in explaining what happened that fated night?
• What was the exact role in the talking points scandal of Mike Morell, then acting CIA director? Morell claimed the talking points were changed to protect a criminal investigation. Did he know this was not the case?
• In June 2013, Morell announced he was stepping down from his CIA position to spend more time with his family. Did Morell, a favorite CIA chief, really leave the agency because of the talking points s
candal?
• Morell later reemerged as a counselor to Beacon Global Strategies, a consultant group particularly close to Hillary Clinton.28 Was Morell given this job in exchange for his silence in the talking points scandal?
• In February 2014 a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report revealed that Morell was in receipt of critical information on September 15, 2012, one day before Rice used the talking points publicly. The report said that Morell and others at the CIA received an e-mail from the CIA’s Libya station chief stating the attacks were “not an escalation of protests.”29 What did Morell do with this information?
• In perhaps one of the most damning sections of the Republican House Interim Progress Report on the events in Benghazi, lawmakers who penned the investigation wrote that they were given access to classified e-mails and other communications that prove the talking points were not edited to protect classified information but instead to protect the State Department’s reputation. Who at the State Department made the decision to alter the talking points?
• The Obama administration spent seventy thousand dollars in taxpayer funds on an ad campaign denouncing the anti-Muhammad film. The ads, featuring Clinton and President Obama, reportedly aired on seven Pakistani networks. Did the White House know at the time that anger over the film was not the motivating factor for the Benghazi attacks?
APPENDIX C
RESPONSE TO HARD CHOICES BY HILLARY CLINTON
Just as this book was being sent to press, Hillary Clinton released her own book, entitled Hard Choices (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), containing an extensive chapter on the Benghazi attacks. A review of the chapter finds her narrative contains misleading statements about the deadly assaults and the then secretary of state’s personal role in the decision-making process.