Charles Woods: “Who Made the Decision Not To Save My Son?”
As the catastrophe in Benghazi continues to unravel it becomes ever more obvious that Charles Woods, father of slain, former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, is asking a question that is not just personal; it is vital to the entire nation.
Daniel Halper, posting in The Weekly Standard yesterday, related Mr. Woods’ description of what went on as his son’s coffin was delivered stateside from Libya. The return of the four bodies, as you will remember, was employed as a reprehensible photo-op by the president and Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Woods has very clear recollections of the event. Mr. Woods reported that “…she (Mrs. Clinton) did not appear to be one bit sincere — at all. And you know, she mentioned that the thing about we’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted that did the video. That was the first time I had even heard about anything like that.”
More damning still was the “sympathy” the president extended: “When [Obama] came over to our little area at Andrew Air Force Base he kind of just mumbled, you know, ‘I’m sorry.’ His face was looking at me, but his eyes were looking over my shoulder like he could not look me in the eye. And it was not a sincere, ‘I’m really sorry, you know, that your son died,’ but it was totally insincere, more of whining type, ‘I’m sorry.’” Mr. Woods added that the apathetic handshake the president offered felt like he was shaking hands “with a dead fish”. Mr. Woods has since moved on to radio (interview with Lars Larson) and television (interviews on FOX News with Megan Kelly and Sean Hannity) in attempts to get his question public traction. The “mainstream media” is, as usual, providing cover for the administration on this breaking news.
Mr. Woods’ question becomes even more compelling in light of information that has broken since. According to the most recent news, denials of help came from official sources that knew, in real time, that the attacks were terrorist attacks. Right then and there. Despite this, C.I.A. requests for assistance were not only refused once but three times. Both the military and C.I.A. were ordered to “stand down”. There was military assistance available a mere hour away. The violation of the diplomatic compound took place over a period of seven hours. David Petraeus, head of the C.I.A. has released an unequivocal statement: “No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate.” The C.I.A can only be stopped by the White House.
The scandal is spreading by the second and now engulfs the State Department, the Department of Defense, Mrs. Clinton, Leon Panetta and last, but certainly not least, the president. What we also know is that Mr. Woods’ son, Tyrone, lost his life because he chose to ignore orders and tried to help. Tyrone Woods was not in the diplomatic compound, as his parents had been told; he had been a mile away. He had heard the early gunshots and he and fellow ex-Navy SEAL Chris Doherty rushed to help despite the order to stand down.
An unconfirmed source, a former Lt. Colonel who had been a Spec Ops dispatcher during Desert Storm, took a risk by telephoning The Rush Limbaugh Show on Friday. He was nervous but so outraged by the lies he couldn’t stand by and say nothing so he delivered “inside baseball” information. The president irrefutably knew what was happening. Despite feeble excuses that there was “too much information to wade through quickly”, this caller reports that consulates are rigged to bypass any such information glut. He reported that when a consulate is under attack, their communication warning system is directly linked to the White House and is “faster than instant messaging”. Records are automatically made of such communication. According to the caller, it is the job of the high-ranking individual receiving such messages (always a Lt. Colonel or higher rank) to immediately notify the president that a consulate is under attack. In person. There is an automatic default system in place to send help. The president is not required to give such an order for aid. But an order would be required to override what is already in place.
So, who did make the decision not to save Ty Woods or the other Americans who died under siege? It seems undeniable, no matter how badly one may want to spin a prettier picture, this is malfeasance. There is proof recorded on every type of media available. Someone made certain that four, helpless and unprotected Americans were killed. Who? Why? We’ve been told where “the buck stops. Tragically, we know where the bullets stopped, too.
Answers for Charles Woods, and the rest of America, better be forthcoming … and soon.
Image: courtesy of User:Kalan; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.