On September 4th, in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, South Carolina Representative, Jeff Duncan (R) tied the four American deaths in Libya last year to Syria in an angry exchange with Secretary of State John Kerry because "the administration's credibility is not real high now because of the failure to bring somebody to justice on Benghazi."
"We don't have questions answered about Benghazi, and then we're going to turn around and put other men and women in harm's way and in something where there is no clear indication of an imminent threat to the United States," Duncan said.
"Kerry didn't want to answer, and I tried to make the connection between Benghazi and Syria by asking whether weapons were being funneled from the rebels that we supplied them to in Libya to the rebels in Syria," Duncan added. "He didn't answer that question."
Duncan began his exchange with Kerry by saying, "I cannot discuss the possibility of U.S. involvement in Syria's civil war without also talking about Benghazi."
He referenced Fast and Furious and noted how not only the President but Kerry himself had urged caution in other world conflicts. He held up a picture of Tyrone Woods and asked "Is the power of the executive branch so intoxicating that you have abandoned past caution in favor of pulling the trigger on a military response so quickly?"
Kerry shot back angrily: "I volunteered to fight for my country, and that wasn't a cautious thing to do when I did it."
When Duncan interrupted, Kerry said, "I'm going to finish, Congressman," citing his past support as a senator for U.S. military action in Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere.
"I'm not going to sit here and be told by you that I don't have a sense of what the judgment is with respect to this," Kerry said. "We're talking about people being killed by gas — and you want to talk about Benghazi and Fast and Furious …"
"Absolutely want to talk about Benghazi. Four Americans lost their lives. I have sympathy for the people in Syria and I do think there should be a worldwide response, but we should act cautiously," Duncan responded just as angrily.
Kerry said President Obama was being wary on Syria because "he wanted to have sufficient evidence and he wanted to build the case properly …"
"It's been 15 days," Duncan responded. "That's not caution …"
Kerry finished the exchange by saying: "We don't deserve to drag this into yet another Benghazi discussion when the real issue here is whether or not the Congress is going to stand up for international norms with respect to dictators who have only been broken twice until Assad: [Adolf] Hitler and Saddam Hussein. And if we give license to somebody to continue that, shame on us … "
With that response, Congressman Duncan's time had expired and he couldn't as any more questions.
I'm sure some will say that Duncan was "being disrespectful to the Secretary of State." Well, you know what? Waaaaaaaah. Someone in Washington has to ask the tough questions and get some answers. It has long seemed to me that the deaths of four Americans in Libya, including our own ambassador, are insignificant to President Obama, former SOS Hillary Clinton and current SOS Kerry. Not only was a military response prevented by someone in the Obama administration but there has been no action taken except for some basically worthless arrest warrants issued.
I watched an interview with two former Navy SEALs last night who said not only has the government identified many of those involved in the Benghazi attack but they know where they are. They could easily take them out with a drone strike or a "snatch and grab" operation by the SEALs, according to one of those interviewed. However, it seems the administration isn't interested in the safety and security of Americans so much as getting us involved in a very controversial international incident in which supporting neither side is a good idea and could possibly start a conflict in the Middle East that the President cannot or refuses to consider. Even though he has already been warned, he apparently has no idea what the results could be of bombing Syria.
Benghazi needs to be discussed in these hearings. The Obama administration has yet to give any credible answers for the debacle that took place there. Maybe the President should look to our own interests before waiting a month to respond to something in Syria about which there are still questions. But the rest of the world thinks he's cowardly and weak. He has to try to make himself look tough, don't you know.
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