Benghazi Contractor: “We were left to die”
It is one of the longest congressional reports in U.S. history: the September 11 th , 2012 attacks in Benghazi.
The 800-page $7 million report just released this week by the Select Committee on Benghazi, is finished – but is nowhere near complete, according to one of the men there that night.
John Tiegen, who was a security contractor assigned to the annex in Benghazi, says his greatest fears are coming into focus after reading the report.
“I didn’t want to believe we were left out there to die. Reading the report, we were left to die,” says Tiegen.
Tiegen, who lives in Fountain, says the Department of Defense hasn’t turned over the entirety of the paperwork, nor has it given access to everyone involved in decision-making, during the waves of attacks nearly four years ago.
“The report that [Trey] Gowdy put out there just totally showed the lack of leadership — not only in the military – but the Administration and the State Department. And they have no clue what’s going on out there in the world,” said Tiegen.
The report lays out no new evidence against then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In fact, no one is blamed directly; instead, general entities: Defense Department, State Department, CIA, and the Obama Administration.
A Marine Corps Antiterrorism team in Spain is, however, singled out for changing in and out of civilian clothes – four times – while the State Department and White House wrangled over what attire would be least offensive to the Libyans.
“If Hillary did her job, she would have known that the Libyan people would not have blinked an eye if the military came in, in military uniform,” says Tiegen. “[Chris] Stevens was appointed U.S. Ambassador by Hillary, was put in Benghazi by Hillary, and when he goes missing, so does she.”
In the end, those who survived the attacks in Benghazi, left Libya with the aid of Qaddafi militia.
Tiegen says that leaves a lingering – and morbid – reality for those who serve:
“Am I going to be willing to put my life on the line for an administration that’s not going to come and rescue me when I need it?”
The four who died remain casualties of unremitted confusion.
