Posted on 07/29/2013 10:41:41 AM PDT by smoothsailing
Congress will hear eagerly awaited testimony Wednesday on the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attack from a special operations task force commander who is set to retire the next day.
Col. George Bristol, the former commander of a task force that operated in Northern and Western Africa, will appear at a classified, members-only briefing with a House Armed Services subcommittee, congressional and Defense sources told The Hill.
Republicans have been pressing the military to allow Bristol to testify.
They argue he has a unique perspective given their concerns that the military wasn’t prepared to quickly respond to the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic annex that left four dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
“Col. Bristol has experience that could be valuable in deepening our understanding of the events of that day,” a committee source told The Hill. “Of particular interest to the committee is what our posture was in the weeks and months that proceeded the attack.”
Republicans have accused the Obama administration of downplaying or covering up the attack amid the heat of the 2012 election, and they have criticized the military’s posture in the run-up to the Sept. 11 anniversary.
Bristol’s testimony has not been easy to obtain.
House Oversight subcommittee on National Security Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), two of the most vocal critics of the administration’s Benghazi response, had requested that Bristol appear.
The Pentagon told CBS News on July 5 that Bristol, the commander of the Joint Special Forces Task Force-Trans Sahara, could not testify because he was retired.
But the Marine Corps Times first reported two weeks ago that Bristol had not yet retired, and he was actually on active-duty preparing for retirement through the end of the month.
Marine spokeswoman Maj. Shawn Haney said Bristol is in fact retiring from active duty on Aug. 1, which means he will be spending his last official day of service before Rep. Martha Roby’s (R-Ala.) Armed Services subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Haney said that Bristol was placed on the Marine Corps officers retired list on July 1, but he was voluntarily retained on active-duty until July 31, on terminal leave.
In response to the Times story, Graham quickly sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel asking for his request to be reconsidered.
“Due to his in-depth knowledge of the region, coupled with his close interaction with U.S. Special Operations Forces operating on the African content, I believed he would be the ideal person to speak with about what happened on the ground in Benghazi,” Graham wrote.
Bristol left his post as the special operations task force commander in March. At the change-of-command ceremony, he said that “an evil” has descended on Africa, according to Stars and Stripes. “It is on us to stomp it out.”
Bristol is just the latest military official to testify before congressional committees over the Benghazi attack.
Kind of gives one a warm and fuzzy feeling that nothing is being hidden.
Africa ... no wonder Col. George Bristol is retiring. zer0 likes things going the way they are going.
Good, if it his last day before retirement, then he can tell the truth to the subcommittee, and not have to worry about being penalized by the Obama Admin, as he is retired as of the next day. They won’t have any time left to pimp him.
If there are any Americans left in the Pentagon,
WAKE UP!!!!! You swore an Oath to a Constitution,
and not a tyrant.
al Qaeda does not need MANPADs.
Narcoterrorists do not need Fast&Furious weaponry.
Terrorists who bombed the Pentagon do NOT deserve your help!
The American people do.
there might be a little thingy called a pension involved?
Just wow
Congress will hear eagerly awaited testimony Wednesday...
Congress is where facts go to die.
Anybody else getting sick of this same old DC insider BS of these congressional insiders protecting the other DC insiders? Everyday that goes by where a special prosecutor is not assigned to investigate is an indicator that they plan to play out the clock and that nobody will ever be held to account for this administration's abandoning four LIVE Americans undergoing an attack by muslim terrorists. What will result of these phony hearings, the same as in the F&F hearings, is that they will announce the hearings have given them insight how to avoid a repeat incident. What a bunch of effing cowardly sell outs this bunch in DC are. Although those in DC have a negative value on this country, yet they value their own asses at the expense of us and the survival of the USA. Pouring hot tar and then covering them in feathers would be TOO good for every last one of these elite DC traitors.
First question: Who has talked to you in advance about today’s testimony and what did they say?
yep ... and they are not concerned. We (the serfs) have no power. It was all done by design and implementation of a plan of which we were unaware. Now that We the Serfs have figured it out, their thought is So What ... What Difference Does It Make? .... sad, but true.
Egypt knows what happened in Benghazi. Morsi's/Hillary's involvement is captured on video with one man shouting "Don't shoot.. We were sent by Morsi".. A staged kidnapping of Stevens to give 0bama the excuse he needed to release the Blind Sheik. Two SEALs ruined the plan when they engaged with live fire.
We want the TRUTH about Benghazi. 0bama has gone to great lengths to divert America's attention from what happened there, including the video lie. Something BIG and DEEPLY DEEPLY DAMNING TO OBAMA happened that night and it's NOT the gun running theory.. It's something far far worse and involved an 'election bounce' hostage taking stunt that backfired in their faces.
Make no mistake; HILLARY WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN THIS PLOT. She was the deal broker for 0bama and VERY VERY close to Morsi. I think 0bama is throwing money at Egypt as HUSH MONEY. No matter what, he INSISTS on giving Egypt the money, regardless who is in power. What coup?
FIRE, IMPEACH, COURT MARTIAL WHOEVER SAID THAT.
I agree.
As long as Holder is AG there will be no special prosecutor.
So that leaves the select committee...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3043707/posts
It is somewhat like wishing on a fallen star and thinking the outcome will be one would have wished for.
and there ain’t no alligator lizards in the air.
Officers may be recalled to duty at any time. You are never really retired.
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