At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City by terrorists. Eleven years later on September 11, 2012, events unfolded in Benghazi, Libya, that would ultimately leave a U.S. diplomatic facility gutted and four Americans dead. As of 8:46 AM today, the U.S. State Department had not acknowledged either anniversary.
Up until yesterday, as noted by THE WEEKLY STANDARD, neither the White House or the State Department had mentioned the upcoming anniversary of the Benghazi attack. Then Tuesday night around 8 p.m., the White House issued a statement by the press secretary noting a preparedness meeting the president held on Tuesday in anticipation of the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The notice referenced the Benghazi attack as well:
The silence from the State Department, however, continues. There is nothing on Wednesday’s public schedule of the State Department regarding any observance, memorial, or remembrance of either 9/11 or Benghazi. There are no mentions of 9/11, Benghazi, or Ambassador Christopher Stevens any time recently on the State Department website, the Facebook page, or the Twitter account.
However, in the last three months, the State Department has noted the following anniversaries:
·10th Anniversary of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program
·18th Anniversary of Srebrenica Genocide
·46th anniversary of the founding of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
·10th Anniversary of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
·15th Anniversary of East Africa Embassy Bombings
·50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
·2nd Anniversary of the Arrest of leading Belarusian human rights organization Ales Byalyatski
·40th Anniversary of the State Department’s Thursday Luncheon Group
