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Gregory Hicks: "I Swore an Oath to Uphold and Defend the Constitution" ... I am Here to Honor That Oath."
One of the most moving
statements made by star Benghazi witness Gregory Hicks during
yesterday's hearing was about his oath. During his opening statement,
Hicks said, "On February 19th, 1991, I swore an oath to uphold and
defend the Constitution of the United States. I am Here to Honor That
oath."
And honor it he did, with
frank, honest, and heartfelt testimony that laid bare the horrendous
fact that two inexplicable stand-down orders were given that left Hicks
and Special Forces personnel in stunned disbelief and outrage, and left
their brothers in Benghazi to fend for themselves.
Stand-down order #1 was
when Hicks requested deployment of the special incident Foreign
Emergency Support Team (FEST), which is specifically designed to handle
such attacks. Hicks testified that the FEST team had dedicated aircraft
capable of responding within four hours - which is exactly why that
team was created after the attack on the USS Cole. When asked why the
FEST team was not deployed, Hick's answered, "I don't know."
Stand-down order #2 was
when the Special Forces team in Tripoli was all set to jump on a C-130
and fly to Benghazi and rescue their brothers, when their commander, Lt.
Col. Gibson, was ordered to stand-down and stay in Tripoli.
As Hicks said, "I told him
to go get our people and that is what he wanted to do." When asked
how Colonel Gibson reacted to being told to stand-down, Hicks said he
"was furious."
The SF Colonel also told
Hicks, "this is the first time in my career that a diplomat has more
balls than a member of the military."
As to why the team had been ordered to stand-down and NOT try to rescue their brothers, Hicks said "I don't know."
Clearly, Colonel Gibson
needs to be called to testify, and that testimony could be explosive,
especially if that career Special Forces officer is still furious about
he and his men not being allowed to do what they are trained to do, and
what they LIVE to do.
Taking the fight to the
enemy to save comrades in arms or hostages is something that every
special operations warrior would be chomping at the bit to go and do,
and being told to inexplicably stand-down and let your brothers hang in
the wind, when you are their only known chance of rescue, goes against
every instinct and creed of such men.
Frankly, under such
circumstances, I'm surprised they didn't have a sudden, inexplicable
failure of commo when talking to the ball-deficient general - "sorry
sir, you are breaking up, I can't hear you" and just carry on with what
was right, and needed to be done to back-up fellow Americans already
engaged in combat.
The media has been focusing
on the obvious cover-up and spin afterwards, with the disclosure that
the Administration knew, the very next day, that it had been a well
organized attack, not a spontaneous riot, but nonetheless insisted on
repeating that false "riot" talking point in numerous interviews and
press conferences.
Certainly, that is
important, but nowhere near as important as finding out why the FEST
team was not deployed and why the Special Forces personnel who were on
their way to conduct a rescue were ordered to stand-down.
This is only the beginning,
and who knows what else may come to light, but that intentional
withholding of life-saving military support is a smoking gun all on its
own.
Stewart Rhodes
Founder of Oath Keepers
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