10/12/2012
Dear Friend,
This week I heard testimony from two men who were part of the U.S. mission in Libya shortly before Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were murdered on September 11, 2012.
Both Eric Nordstrom, a regional security officer serving in Libya between September 2011 and July 2012, and Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, commander of the 16-member Security Support Team (SST) in Libya from February to August 2012, testified that the level of violent attacks on Western interests in Libya had increased significantly within months of the September 11 attacks.
In fact, there were more than 230 security incidents in Libya between June 2011 and July 2012, and the building in Benghazi where Ambassador Stevens and his colleagues were killed had actually been attacked twice.
Despite this record of violence, requests from Mr. Nordstrom and Lt. Col. Wood for more security resources were denied by the State Department.
One of the most important responsibilities of the U.S. government is to provide for the security of our men and women who serve our nation overseas.
For those four patriots who were murdered on September 11, they were left with scant resources in a very, very dangerous part of the world, and the government did little about it.
We need to learn more about what happened in Libya, but this we know: people serving on the ground asked for more help and it was denied.
And that is a scandal of significant proportions.
Sincerely,