Diplomat Recounts Benghazi Experience, Criticizes Response: ‘I’ve Been Punished’ For Speaking Out
American diplomat Greg Hicks, who was present the night of the attack on the Benghazi consulate one year ago, spoke to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about the timeline of the events, and his doubts over whether everything possible was done for the Americans in the Benghazi consulate both before and during the attack.
“I don’t know exactly what was available,” Hicks said of the decision not to send additional personnel to Benghazi. “I still don’t quite understand why they couldn’t fly aircraft over to Benghazi. When I as a kid, I grew up watching Western movies, and the cavalry always came. I just thought that they would come.”
Hicks testified about the attacks before Congress in May. He told Stephanopoulos that he thinks the State Department has retaliated against his career for speaking out.
“I feel that I have been punished,” Hicks said. “I don’t know why I was shunted aside, put in a closet if you will.”
Hicks spoke in detail about the attempts to save Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the initial attack on Benghazi, and said the phone call informing him that Hicks had perished was “the saddest moment in my career.”
“I’ve been perplexed and frustrated with the way this all played out,” Hicks said. “Ambassador Stevens went to do his job, to do what he knew Secretary Clinton wanted him to do, and he was attacked while he was there.”
He also said the anti-Muslim video the administration initially believed to have incited the attacks clearly had nothing to do with them. “The video was a non-event in Libya,” he said. “We had heard nothing about protests. The building had been set on fire by the attackers, and our diplomatic security agents were heavily outnumbered.”
“The American people need to have the story, and Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Ty Woods, and Glen Doherty’s names are names that should be remembered by every American,” Hicks said. “We need to make sure that the people going out into the world on our behalf have the tools that they need, and the resources that they need to do the job that they’ve been asked to do for the people of the United States.”
Watch the full interview here, via ABC News:
[Image via screengrab]
