It seems that in the wake of the IRS and NSA scandals that the Benghazi  scandal has almost been forgotten.  However the recent admission of Martin  Dempsey, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, is certain to bring it all back into  the limelight.

In the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the US Consulate grounds  in Benghazi, The White House and State Department both said that there were no  troops or Special Forces that could have reached the consulate in time to help  them, even though there were reports that said otherwise.

Now we learn that both the White House (Obama) and the State Department  (Clinton) were again lying to the American people.  According to a statement  from Dempsey, a highly trained team of Special Forces, C-110, were within a  few hours of Benghazi.  The consulate reported that they were under attack  early on and the attack lasted over 8 hours.  If Dempsey is telling the  truth, the Special Forces unit could have been there and possibly save the lives  of the four Americans.

Dempsey tried to protect the White House and State Department by first saying  that the Special Forces unit was more than 6 hours away and that was only if  they were setting on the tarmac at the time.  He did acknowledge that the  unit was training in Croatia.  A large commercial jet liner can make the  trip in about two and half hours, and sources close to the unit said they could  have loaded up and flown to Benghazi in about four to four and half hours.

He also testified that the Special Forces unit had been told to begin  preparations to leave Croatia to return to the base in Germany.  If that  were true, then they would have already been preparing their gear for transport  which would have cut their arrival time to Benghazi down.

Dempsey’s testimony before the Senate did verify a report that was aired on  Fox News back in April that said there was a Special Forces unit close enough to  have responded to the call for help from the consulate.  The Fox  News report quoted a whistleblower source as saying:

“We had the ability to load out, get on birds and fly there, at a minimum  stage.  “C-110 had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in a matter of  about four hours … four to six hours.”

“They would have been there before the second attack.  They would have  been there at a minimum to provide a quick reaction force that could facilitate  their exfil [sic] out of the problem situation. Nobody knew how it was going to  develop. And you hear a whole bunch of people and a whole bunch of advisers say  hey, we wouldn’t have sent them there because, you know, the security was  unknown situation.”

To add more controversy to what was reported and what really happened,  Dempsey told the Senate hearing that on the night of the Benghazi attack, the  command of the Special Forces unit was unexpectedly transferred from the  European Command to the Africa Command.  Former Libyan Deputy Ambassador to  Libya Gregory  Hicks testified earlier that when he got word of the attack, he tried to  contact the Africa Command but received no support.  He said:

“At about 10:45 or 11 we confer, and I asked the defense attache who had been  talking about AFRICOM and with the joint staff, ‘Is anything coming? Will they  be sending us any help? Is there something out there?’ And he answered that, the  nearest help was in Aviano, the nearest – where there were fighter planes. He  said that it would take two to three hours for them to get onsite, but that  there also were no tankers available for them to refuel. And I said, ‘Thank you  very much,’ and we went on with our work.”

So even in his attempt to support the White House and Statement Department,  Dempsey only helped verify the earlier reports that help could have been sent to  Benghazi, but it wasn’t.  The help could have possibly arrived in time to  make a difference, but no attempt or effort was made to save the Americans at  the consulate.  Our government deserted our ambassador and his staff and  just left them there to fend for themselves against nearly 200 hostiles.

Perhaps this needs to be pointed out to anyone interested in pursuing a  diplomatic career with the State Department.  Once deployed on foreign  shores, you’re on your own, especially if you are in a known hostile region and  the President and Secretary of State will lie to your families as your body is  returned to them.  Doesn’t that make you want to sign up?