THE ATTACK ON BENGHAZI WAS NOT ON THE CONSULATE IT WAS HIS HOME GET A BRAIN CELL

White House FINALLY admits U.S. consulate attacks in Libya that killed ambassador were acts of terror (but Obama still blames anti-Islam film)

• President refused to confirm al Qaeda involvement in attack where Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed
• White House spokesman said: 'It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack'
• Ambassador Stevens said he feared increasing threat of al Qaeda
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today there was 'no basis' for fears
• Raises yet more questions about why there was not security at consulate
• Comes amid claims that ringleader behind attack was former Guantanamo inmate handed over to Libya by America

By Michael Zennie, Lydia Warren and Louise Boyle
PUBLISHED: 10:07 EST, 20 September 2012 | UPDATED: 05:54 EST, 21 September 2012

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The White House admitted today it was 'self-evident' that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a terrorist act - but the President himself refused to use this phrase or confirm al-Qaeda involvement.
U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed in the deadly assault on the Benghazi compound on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
President Obama said on Thursday that extremists used an anti-Islam video as an excuse to assault U.S. interests overseas, including the attack on the consulate.
Speaking at a candidate forum on the Spanish-language network Univision, Obama said: 'What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests.'

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Quizzed: Obama said on Thursday during a town hall that extremists used the anti-Islam video to assault U.S. interests overseas including the attack on the consulate in Libya

'Not at risk': Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that there was no information ambassador to Libya Chris Steven (right) was on an al Qaeda hit list

Asked if that meant al-Qaeda, Obama said: 'We don't know yet.'
He added: 'We will focus narrowly and forcefully on groups like al Qaeda, the ones that carried out the 9/11 attacks. Those forces have not gone away.'
Republicans have accused the Obama administration of misreading the assault as the outgrowth of widespread demonstrations in the Middle East over the video.
They insisted it was a terrorist attack, a term White House spokesman Jay Carney used on Thursday. Obama did not use the phrase.
Earlier in the week, senior State department officials had refused to call the raid an act of terrorism.
However nine days after the attacks, Carney said: 'It is, I think, self evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.
'Our embassy was attacked violently and the result was four deaths of American officials. That is self evident.'

Under the spotlight: Obama was questioned by Univision news anchors Jorge Ramos, left and Maria Elena Salinas, center, at the University of Miami in Florida

'Self-evident': White House spokesman Jay Carney said today the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Libya were acts of terror

Carney's admission came after director of the U.S. National Counter-terrorism Center, Matthew Olsen, told the Senate on Wednesday that the attack was planned and not merely the result of protesters demonstrating against an anti-Islamic film.
'I would say yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy,' Olsen said at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing.
The new revelations were after Hillary Clinton said today there was 'no information' that the U.S. Ambassador to Libya was on an al-Qaeda hit list despite his alleged fears of an attack.
Chris Stevens had worried about what he called the 'never-ending' security threats in the Libyan city and was concerned about the increasing threats of Islamic extremism and al-Qaeda, CNN reported.
However the Secretary of State said she had 'no reason to believe that there's any basis for that', referring to a report where a source close to Stevens relayed his concerns.
The revelations raise yet more questions about why the ambassador and the three other U.S. citizens killed in the attack were at the consulate with scant security.
Clinton faced questions from members of the House and Senate about the September 11 attack on the consulate in Benghazi in a series of closed-door classified briefings on Capitol Hill.

Concerns: Chris Stevens, pictured speaking to Council member for Misrata Dr. Suleiman Fortia, said he was on an al Qaeda hit list before he was killed in an attack on the Benghazi consulate

Leader: Sufyan Ben Qumu, who has known extremist ties, became one of the top commanders of rebel forces in Benghazi

Clinton also announced that, in line with federal law, she will appoint an independent panel to look at circumstances of the attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Stevens and three other employees.
The so-called Accountability Review Board will be chaired by retired diplomat Thomas Pickering, she said.
Democrats and Republicans emerging from the briefings provided some details about what the administration is still piecing together - who was responsible, how much of it was planned and what was the security.
Joining Clinton at the briefings were Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said it was 'clearly a terrorist attack,' but mortars weren't used until six, seven hours into the fight.
Smith added: 'So it seemed like an armed gang that seized an opportunity.'
Both Smith and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersburger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said there was no evidence to suggest that the local Libyans at the consulate colluded with the attackers.
Some reports have suggested that Sufyan bin Qumu, a former detainee at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who was transferred to Libya in 2007, was involved. Lawmakers asked about Qumu at the briefing.
'But not directly related to the attack, but as someone who's in that region,' Smith said.
'They're attempting to establish whether or not he was connected to the people who made the attack. He's certainly a person of interest.'
Investigators have found no evidence or intelligence to suggest Qumu was at the conflict, leading it or organizing it, according to a U.S. official.

Attack: The US embassy in Benghazi was raided on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks

Deadly: Four people died, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens, during an assault on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya

The former al-Qaeda terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay had been named as the apparent leader of the attack on the U.S. consulate.
Sufyan Ben Qumu, who was reportedly once Osama bin Laden's driver, was let out of the U.S. military detention center in Cuba in 2007 and turned over to the government of Muammar Gaddafi on the condition he be kept behind bars. 
The US military characterized him as a 'medium to high' risk to national security while he was in U.S. custody and he refused to cooperate with authorities and explain his past associations with Islamic extremists.

 

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• Shocking video shows eight-year-old girl speaking of her love for Jihad and Syrian uprising during Muslim conference in Australia
• Iran admits it has elite guards in Syria helping Assad quash rebel uprising

Qumu, 53, is a Libyan army veteran who was jailed by Qaddafi and later escaped and moved to Sudan, where he worked for one of Osama bin Laden's holding companies.
According to some reports, he was bin Laden's driver during his time at the company. However, he denies this.
He also fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan with the Mujaheddin. Later he took up arms against the Northern Alliance and fought alongside the Tabliban.
Later, he moved to Pakistan and slipped across the border into Afghanistan, where he began working at a charity that was a front for al-Qaeda in the summer of 2001.
He was arrested in Pakistan by local authorities shortly after the US invasion of Afghanistan. He was taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention center and held there for six years.

Tragic: John Christopher Stevens is the first US Ambassador to be killed by violence overseas since 1979. He apparently died of smoke inhalation after the attack on the consulate in Benghazi

Victims: Sean Smith (left), 34, was a foreign service computer expert who had previously been posted to Baghdad. Glen Doherty, 42, was a former US Navy SEAL who was working as a private security contractor

Despite his lengthy association with extremists, including the 9/11 mastermind and al-Qaeda leader himself, the military recommended in a 2005 report sending him back to his home country of Libya.
In 2007, Qumu was released from Gitmo and turned over to Gaddafi on the condition that he be kept in prison.

But, in 2010 Gaddafi freed him from the notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, along with 37 other prisoners, to celebrate the dictator's 41st year in power.
During the uprising, Qumu emerged as a leader of the rebels.
He was a tank driver during his time in the Libyan army, though he had been arrested several times on drug and alcohol offenses.
In addition to Mr Stevens, who friends said devoted his life to promoting peace and cultural understanding, three other Americans were killed when a mob attacked and burned the consulate in former rebel stronghold city.

Wrecked: The consulate was badly damaged in the attack that forced US personnel to flee

Extremists: The Libyan government blamed the attack on Islamic extremists angry over the release of a trailer for an American anti-Islam movie

Sean Smith, a foreign service officer, was a 34-year-old father of two. Glen Doherty, 42, was a former US Navy SEAL who was working at the consulate as a private security contractor.
The attack on the consulate came after the release of a trailer for the controversial movie 'The Innocence of Muslims,' which paints a portrait of Islam that many in the Muslim world find deeply offensive.
Senate Republicans expressed frustration with the information provided at the sessions and disputed the administration's assessment.
'There's increasing amount of evidence that this was a coordinated attack by terrorists,' said Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

'The movie wasn't the catalyst for this, the catalyst was radical Islamic extremists that wanted to attack the United States and saw an opportunity to do it in Benghazi.'
One of the harshest critics of the administration, Senator John McCain, scoffed at the administration's argument that the video set off the assault.
'I'm stunned that they thought this was some kind of spontaneous demonstration,' McCain told reporters.

Destruction: The White House has now named the attack an act of terrorism

Protests: Unrest remains high in Libya after the release of 'The Innocence of Muslims'

VIDEO: Last video of Chris Stevens being dragged from the embassy

Video allegedly captures the moment Chris Stevens was dragged...

VIDEO: Gunmen attack U.S. consulate in Benghazi September 11th 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206105/White-House-admits-attack-Libya-killed-ambassador-Chris-Stevens-act-terror.html#ixzz2SiQ5FoRX
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Rice has ambitions to take over from Clinton if Obama is re-elected but the ... Four U.S. citizens died in the raid on the consulate in Benghazi, including Mr Stevens ...... Connolly admitted that he has no regrets about his behaviour on Saturday .

Hillary Clinton reveals what REALLY led to Benghazi massacre - and demolishes White House claim it was triggered by anti-Islam film

• Announcement of State Department dissent from rest of Obama administration could help protect Clinton during 2016 presidential run
• Obama administration originally said assault stemmed from protests against anti-Islam video but then backtracked saying terrorists responsible
• Officials tell how ambassador Chris Stevens was trapped in safe-room as assailants burnt the compound down
• AK-47s, grenade attacks, and a smoke-filled safe-room - chilling account of the death of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens revealed 
• Ambassador's whereabouts after attack not known until officials rang his cell phone - and found doctors trying unsuccessfully to save his life in hospital
• Most serious attack on U.S. diplomatic compound since al-Qaeda bombed the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 14 years ago

By Toby Harnden In Washington
PUBLISHED: 22:24 EST, 9 October 2012 | UPDATED: 13:34 EST, 10 October 2012

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Killed: Ambassador Chris Stevens died following smoke inhalation

The State Department has said that it never believed the September 11th attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was the result of a protest over an anti-Islam movie - directly contracting the rest of the Obama administration.
By trying to distance her department from the inept and deceptive handling of the Benghazi attack, which left U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American officials dead, Hillary Clinton could help herself politically for a 2016 presidential run.
A dramatic new account by the State Department reveals that Stevens was locked inside a 'safe room' choking to death from diesel-heavy smoke as the building around him burned to the ground.
Alongside him was a security guard, tasked with the impossible choice between staying in the deadly room - or facing the rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns outside.
Eventually the guard slipped through the window - and was cut down by the grenades.
No-one saw the ambassador alive again - another agent tried desperately to enter the safe-room, but could not find him anywhere.

The State Department's insistence it never bought the story - expressed by the White House and Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - that a crude anti-Islam film made in California triggered the attack gives ammunition against Obama both to the Romney campaign and congressional Republicans.

State Department sources have said that Clinton has never forgotten that Rice, who served in her husband Bill's administration, was an early supporter of Obama. Rice has ambitions to take over from Clinton if Obama is re-elected but the Benghazi debacle could scupper her chances.

In a briefing on Tuesday, State Department officials said 'others' in the executive branch concluded initially that the attack was part of a protest against the film, which ridiculed the Prophet Muhammad. That was never the State Department's conclusion, reporters were told.

Rivals: Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who said the attacks were linked to the anti-Islam film has ambitions to take over from Hillary Clinton if Obama is re-elected

Attack: Four U.S. citizens died in the raid on the consulate in Benghazi, including Mr Stevens

Inferno: Armed attackers dumped jerry cans of diesel fuel in the building and set ablaze part of the exterior of the consulate's exterior

Died in desperate battle to save ambassador: Agent Sean Smith

The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a Wednesday hearing Wednesday on diplomatic security in the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans. 
The attack as become a political football in the final weeks before the election.
The surviving members of the compound have now described the overnight attack, which saw agents trapped in the burning compound before finally speeding away.
As they drove through the crowd, attackers threw grenades and sprayed their armoured vehicle with gunfire from AK-47 assault rifles from a distance of two feet.
Meanwhile, the ambassador was locked in a safe-room as the compound filled with flames.
When the decision was made to escape the diesel-heavy smoke, it was too late, and Stevens never made it out.September 11, 2012, started out as a regular day in the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
The site is the size of a football field surrounded by a nine-foot wall topped by barbed wire and other security upgrades.
Ambassador Stevens arrived in the city the day before, accompanied by a five-person security detail.
As it was the anniversary of 9/11, the American envoy decided to hold meetings inside the secured compound, fearing possible acts of violence.
Then, at around 8:30pm that evening, Stevens concluded his final meeting of the day and retired for the night, unaware of what was to come an hour later.
At 9.40pm, security agents started hearing loud noises, gunfire and explosions near the front gate.
A barracks at the entrance housing the local militiamen was burnt down, and a large group of armed men was captured on a security camera flowing into the consulate.

Flames, grenades and gunfire: A burnt car in front of the U.S. consulate

Aftermath: The U.S. consulate in Benghazi the day after last month's deadly assault

Rage: A protester holding his rifle during the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on September 11th

Heroic: Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods, right, and Glen Doherty, left, were killed in a mortar attack

The alarm was sounded and one agent, armed with a sidearm and an M4 submachine gun, led Stevens and computer specialist Sean Smith to a safe room inside one of the compound's two main residences.
The room is equipped with a heavy metal grill and several locks, as well as windows that can be opened only from the inside. 
The other security officials armed themselves with long guns, body armor, helmets and ammunition at other buildings.

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Two of them made an attempt to enter the building with Stevens, but were forced to retreat after meeting resistance.
Attackers eventually managed to enter the building where the ambassador was hiding and attempted to open the door to the safe room, but to no avail.
Instead, they dumped jerry cans of diesel fuel in the building, lit furniture on fire and set the exterior of the building on fire.
Two of the remaining four agents barricaded the insides of the compound's other residence, preventing the armed men from entering.
The protesters then attempted to gain access to the tactical operations center, but were unable to enter the building despite smashing the door.
Meanwhile, the building that was housing the ambassador rapidly began filling up with thick diesel smoke and fumes from the burning furniture.
Inside, visibility was less than three feet.
Unable to breathe, the Americans opened a window in the bathroom, but it proved insufficient to fill the room with fresh air.  At that point, a decision was made to leave the building.
The agent went out first, as is standard procedure, flopping out onto a patio enclosed by sandbags and immediately taking fire, believed to include rocket-propelled grenades.

Haven: Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith were hiding in a safe room which later filled with diesel smoke

Under siege: The compound came under heavy mortar and gun fire during the attack which lasted several hours

Stevens and Smith did not come out, so the third agent, suffering severely from smoke inhalation, went in and out of the building several times to look for them.
He then climbed to the roof  and collapsed, but not before radioing the other agents to alert them.
The other four agents were able to reunite and take an armored vehicle to Stevens' building.
They reached the agent on the roof and tried to set up a perimeter. Taking turns enter the building, the agents scoured the premises on their hands and knees for the missing Americans.
Smith was eventually pulled out dead. Stevens was not found.
A six-person quick reaction security team arrived from their compound across town accompanied by about 60 Libyan militiamen accompany. They also attempted to secure a perimeter around the building, but determined that they could not hold it.
Outnumbered by ‘an unbelievable amount of bad guys’ in the compound, the militia fighters told the security team they had to evacuate, according to a State Department official.

Official version: The State Department says the attack on the Benghazi compound was not preceded by protests

‘We've got to leave, we can't hold the perimeter,’ the official said the militia told the team.
After taking fire, a decision was made to evacuate the compound and return with everyone to the reaction force's compound.
Agents piled into an armored vehicle, with Smith's body in tow, and left through the main gate under fire.
Crowds and groups of men blocked two different routes to the security compound, creating heavy traffic that slowed down the escaping Americans to about 15mph.
Traveling a narrow street, they reached a group of men who signaled for them to enter a compound.

However, the security officials ‘smelled a rat’ and sped away, taking heavy fire from AK-47 machine guns at a distance of only two feet, and hand grenades thrown against and under the car which blew two of the tires.
They sped past another crowd of men and onto a main street and across a grassy median into opposing traffic. The agents drove against traffic, eventually reaching their compound, where they took more heavy fire for several hours.

INVESTIGATION: CAUSE OF ATTACK WAS NOT BASED ON FILM PROTESTS

The State Department says it never concluded that the attack was simply a protest gone awry.
Meanwhile the investigating committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has accused the State Department of turning aside pleas from its diplomats in Libya to increase security in the months and weeks before the attack.
One scheduled witness, Eric Nordstrom, the former chief security officer for U.S. diplomats in Libya, told the committee his pleas for more security were ignored.
Department officials were asked about the administration's initial - and since retracted - explanation linking the violence to protests over an American-made anti-Muslim video circulating on the Internet.
One official responded 'that was not our conclusion' and called it a question for 'others' to answer, without specifying to whom he was referring.

The burn-out wreckage following the fires within the U.S. Consulate

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, and provided no evidence that might suggest a case of spontaneous violence or angry protests that went too far.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Republican lawmakers have increasingly sharpened their criticism of the administration's initial explanation of the attack.
They said they never accepted the original explanation. 
It was a top administration diplomatic official, United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, who gave a series of interviews five days after the attack that wrongly described the attack as spontaneous. 
She said that the administration believed the violence was unplanned and that extremists with heavier weapons 'hijacked' the protest against the anti-Islamic video.

Governor Mitt Romney pointed the finger at Obama's administration for wrongly describing the attack as 'spontaneous'

She did qualify her remarks to say that was the best information she had at the time. Rice since has denied trying to mislead Congress. 
A concurrent CIA memo obtained by The Associated Press cited intelligence suggesting the demonstrations in Benghazi 'were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo' and 'evolved into a direct assault' on the diplomatic posts by 'extremists'.
Nordstrom, the former security official in Libya, addressed the diplomatic security issue in an October 1 email to a congressional investigator.
He said his requests for more security were blocked by a department policy to 'normalise operations and reduce security resources'.
A memo on Tuesday by the Oversight Committee's Democratic staff provided details of Nordstrom's interview with the panel's investigators.
In that interview, Nordstrom said he sent two cables to State Department headquarters in March 2012 and July 2012 requesting additional diplomatic security agents for Benghazi, but he received no responses. 
He stated that Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary for international programs, wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi artificially low.
He said Lamb believed the Benghazi facilities did not need any diplomatic security special agents because there was a residential safe haven to fall back to in an emergency. 
Nordstrom's October 1 memo to the congressional investigator said: 'You will note that there were a number of incidents that targeted diplomatic missions and underscored the GoL's (government of Libya) inability to secure and protect diplomatic missions.
'This was a significant part of (the diplomatic) post's and my argument for maintaining continued DS (diplomatic security) and DOD (Department of Defense) security assets into Sept/Oct. 2012 - the GoL was overwhelmed and could not guarantee our protection.
'Sadly, that point was reaffirmed on Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi.'

Locked and loaded: Men who attacked the U.S. consulate came armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars

In the night, a team of reinforcements from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli arrived on a chartered aircraft at the Benghazi airport and reached the security compound.
At around 4am, the compound's building was hit by mortar fire which killed agents Doherty and Woods. One agent who was involved in the attack from the beginning was severely wounded.
The men then decided to evacuate the city entirely. The following several hours were spent securing the annex and moving a large convoy of vehicles to the airport before they were evacuated on two flights.
Stevens was not seen by the security team again until his body was delivered to the airport, officials said, and they still do know how he reached the Libyan hospital where attempts were made to treat him for smoke inhalation.
Officials said that they were informed that Stevens was at the hospital only after doctors found his cell phone and began calling the most recently dialled numbers.

VIDEO: Clinton reveals what REALLY led to Benghazi Massacre  

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INDISPUTABLE PROOF That Is The Obama Benghazi Massacre Lie (Video)

 Obama Campaign Blames Romney Campaign For Benghazi Libya Attack Becoming...: http://youtu.be/g83moMSTYdU via @youtube

 

by Ulsterman on May 8, 2013 with 0 Comments in News

The Benghazi whistleblower Congressional hearings are about to begin today.  In case some might have forgotten, here is indisputable proof of the Barack Obama lie attempting to blame a video for the attacks on Benghazi – knowing full well those attacks were in fact a coordinated terrorist attack that had NOTHING to do with some random YouTube video.  An attack that could have been countered by the Obama administration – an administration that simply watched those four Americans die.

Their sacrifice will never be forgotten': Victims of Benghazi massacre return home as Obama and Clinton pay tribute

• The bodies of Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen A. Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods were returned to the United States today in a 'transfer of remains' ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base
• Their families watched as the were taken from a military jet and their coffins transferred into four hearses parked under a giant stars and stripes flag
• President Obama praised all four men and said that 'We will bring justice to those who took them from us'
• A visibly affected Secretary of State Hilary Clinton offered her 'deepest gratitude' to the deceased men for their service

By James Nye and Beth Stebner
PUBLISHED: 14:10 EST, 14 September 2012 | UPDATED: 08:19 EST, 15 September 2012

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President Barack Obama on Friday honored the four Americans killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, recalling their lives in deeply personal terms and declaring the United States will never pull back on its principles or 'retreat from the world.'
The coffins of the four men were brought back to the United States on a military transport plane this afternoon and carried by serving officers to waiting hearses parked under a giant hanging Stars and Stripes.
'Their sacrifice will never be forgotten. We will bring to justice those who took them from us,' said  President Barack Obama during his speech in front of the dead men's family. 'Chris Stevens was everything America could want in an ambassador,' he added.
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US Marines carry the caskets during the transfer of remains ceremony marking the return to the US of the remains of the four Americans killed in an attack this week in Benghazi, Libya

U.S. Marines move the flag draped coffins of the remains of the four Americans killed this week from a transport plane during the Transfer of Remains Ceremony, at Andrews Air Force Base

The bodies of Americans Sean Smith, Glen A. Doherty, Tyrone S. Woods and Christopher Stevens were taken from a military transport plane as a military band played

'The United States of America will never retreat from the world,' continued the president.

'We will never stop working for the dignity and freedom that every (person) deserves. ... That’s the essence of American leadership. ... That was their work in Benghazi, and that is the work we will carry on.'

Opening his tribute to the dead consulate staff members, Mr Obama spoke of Christopher Stevens and said he, 'was everything America could want in an ambassador.'
'Four Americans, four patriots. They loved this country. They chose to serve it, and served it well,' said Obama.

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• 'I have a hole in my heart': Dead ambassador's mother pays tribute to the son she lost in Libya
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• Elite marines sent to Yemen and Libya as security ramped up at embassies across the globe
• Bloody hand prints, stolen documents and shocking security failings: Harrowing pictures inside crumbling U.S. consulate in Benghazi

He also spoke movingly about Department of State employee Sean Smith and the two former Navy SEALS Glen A. Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods who also perished in the attack.
'They had a mission they believed in. They knew the danger, and they accepted it.
'They didn't simply embrace the American ideal, they lived it; they embodied it. The courage, the hope, and yes, the idealism - that fundamental American belief that we could leave this world a little better than before.
'That's who they were, and that's who we are. If we want to truly honor their memory, that's who we must always be.'

Carry teams move metal coffins holding the remains of the four Americans killed this week in Benghazi, Libya, from a transport plane on Friday

Losses: U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, left, and former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty, right, were killed during Tuesday night's attack

Gone: Diplomat Sean Smith, left, and Tyrone S. Woods, right, were also killed in the melee

At the beginning and at the end of his remarks, Obama cited John 15:13 from the Bible: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'
Obama said the four dead Americans laid down their lives 'in service to us all.'

'Their sacrifice will never be forgotten,' said President Obama.

Speaking before the president, a clearly emotional Secretary of State Hilary Clinton offered up thanks to the four U.S. citizens who died after the Benghazi consulate was stormed on September the 11th.

'They didn't simply embrace the American ideal, they lived it; they embodied it. If we want to truly honor their memory, that's who we must always be.'

-President Obama

'Today we bring home four Americans who gave their lives for our country and our values,' said Clinton.  'To the families of our fallen colleagues, I offer our most heartfelt condolences and deepest gratitude.'

The transfer of remains came three days after an attack on the consulate, one of a series of assaults on U.S. outposts in Muslim countries that U.S. officials blame on an anti-Muslim video made in the United States.
Clinton said the rage and violence aimed at American missions was prompted by 'an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with.'

Clinton praised Sean Smith and ex Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods as someone who she knew personally.

'He had the hands of a healer as well as the arms of a warrior, earning distinction as a registered nurse and certified paramedic,' said Clinton of Woods.

Clinton also hailed the other ex-Navy SEAL, Glen Doherty. 'He, too, died as he lived, serving his country and protecting his colleagues.'

The Secretary of State said Stevens, 'won friends for the United States in far-flung places,' and thanked his parents, who were at the ceremony, for the 'gift' that Stevens was.

Clinton and Obama both spoke of how the four men lived their lives — and how their mission would go on.
'This work, and the men and women who risk their lives to do it, are at the heart of what makes America great and good," Clinton said. 'So we will wipe away our tears, stiffen our spines, and face the future undaunted.'

The victims of the attack in the U.S. consulate in Libya are returned to American soil at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland today

U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrive at a transfer of remains ceremony

Solemn: President Obama and Hilary Clinton spoke at the solemn 'transfer of remains' ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base today

Also attending the ceremony were Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
The searing images of burning flags, breached embassies and smoldering cars have shocked the nation.
The deaths on Tuesday, the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the anti-American sentiment behind them underscored a foreign policy paradox for Obama.
Many of the protests in the Arab world were in countries that underwent Obama-backed revolutions during the Arab Spring.
Illustrating the volatility, Friday's ceremony unfolded as a Marine rapid response team arrived in Yemen's capital as protests erupted there.
In addition to Stevens, the ceremony also honored three other Americans killed in Benghazi — Smith, an Air Force veteran who worked as an information management specialist for the State Department; Doherty, a former Navy SEAL who worked for a private security firm and was protecting the consulate in Benghazi; and Woods, also a former Navy SEAL who had served protective duty in various U.S. posts.
Following the 'transfer of remains' ceremony, the bodies were to be flown to a military mortuary at an air base in Dover, Delaware.

President Obama and Hilary Clinton spoke movingly at the ceremony as the bodies of four American citizens killed at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were returned home

US President Barack Obama listens as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the ceremony marking the return to the U.S. of the remains of the four Americans killed in an attack this week in Benghazi, Libya

Stevens, who went by the first name Chris, had only been appointed as Libyan ambassador by President Obama in January. It came after an esteemed career within the United States foreign service which spanned more than two decades.

Speaking outside the White House on Wednesday, President Obama hailed Stevens and the three other U.S. officials who died in the attack as devoted to working for democracy.
'It's especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in Benghazi as it's a city that he helped to save,' Obama said.
With 'characteristic skill, courage and resolve, he built partnerships with Libyans... and he worked tirelessly to support this young democracy.

'He was a role model to those who worked with him and to the young diplomats who strive to follow in his footsteps.'

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks alongside four transfer cases bearing the remains of Americans killed this week in Benghazi

U.S. President Barack Obama watches as the body of an American killed in Benghazi this week is placed in a hearse during a 'Return of Remains' ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base

Grim: President Obama looks sombre as the remains of the four U.S. men are transferred into four black hearses

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put their hands to their chests as the remains of four Americans killed in Benghazi are saluted

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton return to their seats after speaking

Loss: Hillary Clinton swore Stevens in to his role earlier this year and called him 'eloquent and passionate'

U.S. President Barack Obama salutes as he steps off of Marine One after returning to the White House from Joint Base Andrews

VIDEO: Obama and Clinton pay tribute to the fallen

Victims of Benghazi massacre return home

s weighs in on Kim Kardashian's floral horror by comparing her outfit to Mrs. Doubtfire Flashback to 1993 film

Fourth Benghazi witness gagged by red tape

Obama administration officials are finally letting the attorney for a Benghazi whistle-blower get a security clearance — but the clearance is at such a low level that it will probably slow the congressional probe of how the administration handled last year’s terrorist attack on the embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
Victoria Toensing represents an unnamed government official who can help explain the reaction of top government officials to the jihadi attack on the U.S diplomatic site in Benghazi and killed four Americans last Sept. 11.
The official may also be able to explain if officials rewrote intelligence reports and took other actions to minimize media coverage of the administration’s errors and the perceived role of Al Qaeda jihadis.

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At least three officials will testify today at a House hearing about the scandal, and are expected to say top officials at the Department of State took actions to minimize political damage to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the days after the attack, officials claimed the attack had resulted from a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Muslim film. That story was quickly refuted, although the filmmaker was arrested on a probation violation and remains in prison.
Toensing’s client will not be able to testify at public or closed-door hearings because he or she has not been able to prepare classified testimony with the aid of a lawyer, Toensing told The Daily Caller.
Toensing, who previously held top-level security clearances while working as a Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department’s anti-terrorism unit, has asked government officials to update her past clearances to let her work with her client. But the officials initially refused to provide her with the needed forms, she said.
Officials have now provided a 42-page security clearance form, which Toensing filled out and returned, she told TheDC. But the form is only for a basic security clearance, not a “top secret” clearance, she said.
That’s “not sufficient,” she said.
Toensing said she and her client have talked extensively about unclassified events. But they can’t talk freely about classified event or actions, even in a private conversation.
Toensing said she’s now pushing officials to get the higher clearance, she said, to ensure that her client is prepared to explain fully what happened to legislators during top-secret hearings.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/08/fourth-benghazi-witness-gagged-by-red-tape/#ixzz2SiMchw1I

Benghazi Whistleblower Hearing Live Stream 11:30 am EST

Attack On U.S. Consulate In Benghazi, Libya

House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Hearing

May 8th, 2013 @ 11:30 AM ET

 

Hearing Time & Location

11:30 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

 

Witnesses

Mr. Mark Thompson

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism

US Department of State

Mr. Gregory Hicks

Foreign Service Officer and former Deputy Chief of Mission/Chargé d’Affairs in Libya

US Department of State

Mr. Eric Nordstrom

Diplomatic Security Officer and former Regional Security Officer in Libya

US Department of State

 

Video streaming by Ustream

The feed above will be live at 11:30am EST

or watch HERE or HERE