[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 108 (Thursday, July 25, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1142-E1143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             EIGHTH UNANSWERED QUESTION ON BENGHAZI ATTACKS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 25, 2013

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today I am raising the eighth in a series of 
critical, but unanswered, questions about the terrorist attack on the 
U.S. consulate and annex in Benghazi last September 11.
  My previous seven questions have focused on what happened in Benghazi 
that night.
  Today, I would like to focus on what happened in Washington.
  It has been well documented that official Washington started to get 
reports of the attack around 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It also has 
been well documented that then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and 
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the 
decision to brief President Obama about what was happening at a 
previously scheduled 5 p.m. meeting, which is 11 p.m. in Libya.
  Former AFRICOM commander General Carter Ham (ret.) told a paying 
audience at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado--where tickets 
started at $1,200--last weekend that by the time a U.S drone appeared 
over the consulate shortly after 11 p.m. the attack on the consulate 
was winding down. He also said it was clear this wasn't a protest and 
he understood it to be a terrorist attack--a direct conflict with 
repeated statements by the Obama Administration.
  If the Pentagon immediately knew this to be a terrorist attack, why 
did the president go to the United Nations nearly two weeks later and 
blame the attack on protest in response to a controversial video? Why 
did then-UN Ambassador Susan Rice go on five Sunday shows and attribute 
the attack to the video? Why did former Secretary Clinton continue to 
reference the video as the cause of the protest when the Pentagon 
immediately attributed the attack to terrorism?
  It is also worth asking what Gen. Ham thought of the waves of attacks 
against the CIA annex later that night. Trusted sources have told my 
office that in the weeks leading up to the attack, the annex had a 
notice on its bulletin board warning about imminent attacks on U.S. 
facilities and other foreign consulates in Benghazi. How does Gen. Ham 
reconcile his position that there was to send assistance after the 
consulate firefight ended when there was so many more attacks against 
Americans that night?
  A U.S. consulate is under attack. A U.S. Ambassador is missing. A 
State Department Diplomatic Security Agent is dead. Are the American 
people to believe the president is briefed only once that entire night, 
at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time?
  My question(s) today: Where was the president the rest of the night?
  Did his national security team, including John Brennan, Sec. Panetta 
and Gen. Dempsey, ever go back and brief the president when the annex 
came under attack? If so, what steps did he direct at that time?
  Did the president ever step foot in the White House Situation Room 
that night?
  Did he ever see the footage from the unarmed drone stationed over 
Benghazi monitoring the attacks?
  I field many of these questions from my constituents on a regular 
basis and I believe they are fair to ask, especially when the White 
House carefully orchestrates photo-ops and leaks of the president and 
other senior administration officials when the news is favorable, like 
the now-famous picture of the president and his national security team 
watching a live video feed of the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in 
2011.
  Last evening, Fox News' Catherine Herridge reported how Diplomatic 
Security Agent David Ubben is still recovering at Walter Reed National 
Military Medical Center--more than 10 months after the attack--for 
injuries he sustained while repeatedly risking his life to save others 
that night. Fox reported that it was Ubben who ran into the burning 
consulate building to retrieve Sean Smith's body. Fox reported it was 
Ubben who later that night climbed the roof of the annex compound with 
Ty Woods and Glen Doherty to try to defend the annex during the morter 
rounds, where he sustained a very serious injury that is still being 
treated at Walter Reed.
  Contrast David Ubben's valiant efforts--repeatedly putting his life 
on the line to try to save the lives of the other Americans at the 
consulate and annex--with what is currently known about what the White 
House national security team did to support him and the others in 
Benghazi.
  As far as the American people know, after nearly a year of 
investigations, the White House took no additional efforts to come to 
the aid of those in Benghazi, nor, apparently, did the president take 
another briefing on what was happening.
  Has the president ever called or met with David Ubben to thank him 
for his sacrifice? Has he ever called the others who were seriously 
wounded that night, including the former Navy SEAL on the security team 
who sustained significant injuries?
  To Secretary Kerry's credit, I know that he has visited with Mr. 
Ubben at Walter Reed. But did former Secretary Clinton ever meet with 
him during the six months she was still in office after the attack?
  Either way, the families of the four Americans--including a U.S. 
Ambassador--who lost their lives in Benghazi have a right to know where 
the Commander-in-Chief was on September 11, 2012 and what role he and 
his national security team played to provide support to those in 
Benghazi that night.
  The State Department's own Web site asserts, ``International rules do 
not allow representatives of the host country to enter an embassy 
without permission--even to put out a fire--and designate an attack on 
an embassy as an attack on the country it represents.
  In this context, with an attack against America underway, it's fair 
to ask, did the president and his team ever even consider cancelling

[[Page E1143]]

his political fundraiser in Las Vegas the next day to monitor the 
situation in Benghazi?
  That night, when the ambassador was considered a potential hostage 
and nearly 30 Americans were under sustained attacks at the CIA annex, 
did the president's staff ever notify the campaign that he might not be 
leaving the White House the next day?
  When he boarded Air Force One for Las Vegas, did the president know 
about the serious injuries that some of the survivors had sustained? 
Did he know what hospitals they were being taken to?
  Is there a parallel in American history when the U.S. was under 
attack, Americans were killed and a sitting U.S. ambassador was 
considered a potential terrorist hostage, but the president was not 
engaged with his national security team?
  I think most Americans would agree that they are legitimate questions 
that deserve a straightforward and truthful answer.
  With only four legislative days remaining before the Congress departs 
for August recess, I am increasingly concerned that this question, as 
well as the other questions I have raised in the last two weeks, will 
not be answered by the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi attacks.
  That is deeply disappointing. Congress can--and should--do better.
  I continue to believe the only way to get answers through a House 
Select Committee. H.R. Res 36 has 162 cosponsors, a majority of the 
Majority. Two new cosponsors joined in the past week alone. This is the 
way to go so the Congress and the American people know the truth, 
whatever it may be.

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