In this Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, bloodstains at the main gate believed to be from one of the American staff members of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. (Photo: AP)
Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ former deputy Gregory Hicks is contradicting the Obama administration’s narrative as to why no help arrived in Benghazi in time to prevent the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans, according to a CBS News report.
The administration has repeatedly said no assistance could have made it to Benghazi in time to prevent the deaths, and that all available resources were utilized throughout the roughly eight-hour attack.
But Hicks has reportedly told congressional investigators that a Special Forces team was ready to fly in from Tripoli, but that U.S. Special Operations Command South Africa forbade them from going.
CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson has the story:
According to excerpts released Monday, Hicks told investigators that SOCAFRICA commander Lt. Col. Gibson and his team were on their way to board a C-130 from Tripoli for Benghazi prior to an attack on a second U.S. compound “when [Col. Gibson] got a phone call from SOCAFRICA which said, ‘you can’t go now, you don’t have the authority to go now.’ And so they missed the flight … They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it.”
