Friday, May 2, 2014

Benghazi: Wanting To Respond But Unable To Do So

Brigadier Gen. Robert Lovell, Ret.  had an anguished look on his face and his voice was filled with emotion as he testified that from the U.S. base in Stuttgart, Germany he watched the message traffic relating to Benghazi, in real time, as the attack was unfolding.

The general stated, it is “my duty” to come forward to give the American people a “full forthcoming” about what happened.  The discussion in the post-Benghazi investigations has focused on issues such as time, distance and assets that could have been used to rescue the Americans under attack.

“The point is we should have tried. The military is trained to go in the direction of gunfire.”

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon issued this statement about the testimony of Retired Brigadier General Robert Lovell before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today:       
“I appreciate the service of Brigadier General Robert Lovell and his willingness to testify.  He confirmed what my committee has understood for some time, that the military never believed this was a protest gone bad, and that the President fundamentally failed to posture our forces respond to any emergency in the weeks before 9/11.”  
"Beyond those confirmations, BG Lovell did not serve in a capacity that gave him reliable insight into operational options available to commanders during the attack, nor did he offer specific courses of action not taken.  The Armed Services Committee has interviewed more than a dozen witnesses in the operational chain of command that night, yielding thousands of pages of transcripts, e-mails, and other documents.  We have no evidence that Department of State officials delayed the decision to deploy what few resources DoD had available to respond.”   
"In the end, while BG Lovell did not further the investigation or reveal anything new, he was another painful reminder of the agony our military felt that night; wanting to respond but unable to do so."     

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