With much of the nation’s focus Wednesday on commemorating 12 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, two U.S. representatives and a sparse crowd gathered at the foot of the U.S. Capitol to call attention to a separate somber anniversary.
One year after their occurrence, Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) and Steve Stockman (R-Tex.) headlined a list of speakers pressing for a special investigation into the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Stockman exclaimed to the small crowd in attendance — no more than two dozen directly before the stage — that it must not be deterred into thinking it’s an isolated group.
“You’re gonna fight — and when someone tells you, ‘Oh, you’re the only one out there that cares,’ no you’re not the only one that cares!” he shouted. “These families here deserve justice, and they deserve you fighting for them, because someone in the White House is lying, and they want you to be quiet!”
Critics of the Obama administration over its handling of the Benghazi matter have charged that it mangled the immediate response to the attack and misled the public in its explanation of the affair, and has not provided an adequate reason as to why. Obtaining one, Gohmert said, was essential to validating the memories of the fallen Americans.
“The only way they do not die for nothing is if we get to the truth, no matter whether Republicans are implicated, Democrats are implicated in bad decisions — or nobody is implicated in bad decisions,” he said.
Although Stockman and Gohmert forcefully made the case for further investigation — the former decidedly more impassioned than the latter — few were around to hear it. It was yet another September scorcher in Washington, but Mitchell Mason of Patriots4America, the organization sponsoring Wednesday’s “Call to Action” event, attributed the poor attendance to complacency, not heat.
“I think a majority of Americans are numb to what’s actually going on around them,” Mason told Red Alert Politics in an email. “And sadly, if it does not directly affect them as an individual, they feel no need to stand up for it, whatever “it” might be.”
Inside the Capitol, higher establishment elements of the Republican Party also hammered the White House and signaled a commitment to seeing an investigation through.
“For the past year, this administration has failed to provide sufficient answers, fully comply with subpoenas, and make available relevant individuals to provide testimony,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement. “In short, this administration hasn’t been upfront with the American people or this Congress. … We will press forward with our investigation until we have answers, full accountability, and justice.”
