Here are my observations and opinions on the September 11, 2012 attack on the American compound in Benghazi.

Shamefully, Justice Has Not Been Served in the Deaths of Four Courageous Americans

On the evening of September 11, 2012, the U.S. mission in Benghazi was attacked with mortar and rocket fire. Our ambassador Christopher Stevens became the first ambassador to be killed since 1979. Additional security requested by Stevens two months earlier was refused.

Also killed in the attack were Americans Sean Smith, a State Department computer expert, and two former U.S. Navy Seals, who were acting as security contractors, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

I have assembled this timeline for my readers because their deaths must not be forgotten.

I begin with the early warnings we had which I chronicled in a piece I wrote in 2012 while living in Texas.

In April 2012 an IED was tossed over the consulate fence, and a few days later a bomb was thrown at a UN convoy. In May, Al Qaeda boasted of its attack on the Benghazi Red Cross Office. On June 5, an explosive device was detonated at the gate of the consulate, and although there were no injuries, leaflets promised more attacks on U.S. interests there. On June 10, two Brits were injured following a rocket attack on their convoy 300 yards from their consulate, resulting in the withdrawal of the UK consulate staff from Benghazi. On September 8, U.S. diplomats were warned of a growing Al Qaeda presence.

In an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sen. Ron Johnson singled out the State Department leadership in Washington citing that the, “greatest outrages occurred before the attack.”

THE ATTACK, September 11, 2012 – Initially, the government attempted to blame the attack on an angry mob responding to a video made in the U.S. that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. It was later confirmed that it was a planned attack.

President Obama condemned the attack in the Rose Garden the next day, but the gravity of the event didn’t keep him from a campaign trip on the following day when he declared “no act of terror will go unpunished.”

In those early days, arguments over the lack of a military response to the attack came from State and Defense agencies with the timing and the proximity of military units discussed,

On September 14, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended a service for the four victims returned to Joint Base Maryland. Clinton told the families present that she believed the attack was motivated by the video.

On September 16, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice was still peddling the video line. The video producer, Mark Basseley Youssef, was jailed and eventually sentenced to one year in federal prison from a 2010 bank fraud case.

And on September 20, after days of repeating that the video caused the attack, White House spokesman Jay Carney finally admits, “It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.”

Clinton agrees on September 21, saying, “we will not rest until we have tracked down and brought to justice the terrorists who murdered four Americans.”

Incredibly, while appearing on ABC’s “The View” on September 25, Obama’s response to whether the attack was an act of terrorism was “We’re still doing an investigation.”

Two days later, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that “it became clear that there were terrorists who had planned the attack.

On September 28, the DNI finally agreed that it was a terrorist attack.

Our FBI finally got access to the Benghazi compound on October 4. Disgraceful.

Clinton accepted responsibility on October 15, because she’s in charge of the State Department.

On December 18, an independent review of the attack cited “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” within the State Department.

On January 23, 2013, Clinton testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she made her infamous “what difference does it make” remark.

A number of other hearings were held through mid-2013.

Criminal charges were filed against Libyan militia figure Ahmed Abu Khatallah on August 7.

In November, CIA contract security officers who initially responded to the Benghazi attack, appeared behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee where they told members they were told by the CIA to sign nondisclosure agreements.

On January 15, 2014 the Senate Intelligence Committee releases a report in which they stated a belief that the attack was “likely preventable” based on known security shortfalls and prior warnings.

House Speaker John Boehner announced on May 2, 2014 that he would form a select committee to investigate the attack.

The terrorist Khatallah was captured on June 17 and plead not guilty on June 28.

On November 21, the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence concludes there was not intelligence failure prior to the attack and no stand-down order to CIA.

On November 28, the jury in Khatallah case found him not guilty on the four murder charges, finding him guilty of lessor charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and using, carrying and discharging a semi-automatic assault rifle during a crime of violence. He was also found guilty of maliciously destroying and injuring dwellings and property. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison on June 27, 2018

On March 27, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington DC upholds the dismissal of the lawsuit against Clinton brought by parents of Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods.

Within all of the investigations that took place, there was one common thread – five clear warnings of terrorist activity in the months preceding the attack were effectively ignored and requests for additional security prior to the attack were denied.

Four State Department officials were placed on administrative leave by Clinton were brought back to work by incoming Secretary of State John Kerry shortly before the first anniversary of the attack

Space will not permit me to include the findings included in the Majority Staff Report of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but it details a State Department “not focused on accountability.”

“To this day, September 19, 2013, none of the agency’s personnel have been accountable in a meaningful way for their flawed decisions about security in Benghazi. The investigation revealed a Department leadership more interested in its reputation than an accurate accounting of the facts.”

Investigations by numerous agencies have resulted in volumes of reports, but unfortunately, I believe justice will not be served.

The least we can do is to make sure that the deaths of four dedicated Americans will not be forgotten.

        May God bless Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.