Benghazi: Timeline of Truth

By Stephen Knepp

Benghazi could have spelled disaster for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. With Clinton’s assistance, Obama and his cast of troubadours masterfully concealed known policy failures, inadequate funding and totally lax security directly leading to the deaths of four Americans in Libya. Now, with only 52 days remaining until the 2012 general election, something had to happen to salvage what remained of their political careers.

Based on the newly released House Select Committee Report and supplemental declassified documents, Benghazi: Timeline of Truth constructs a literal timeline of communications relevant to answering one persistent question, was the administration’s story about the video’s role true, or was it an outright lie? It must be one or the other. If untrue, who concocted the story, and who were the co-conspirators in perpetrating this hoax on America?

In an entertaining and humorous, yet thoroughly researched and documented presentation, former Marine Steve Knepp completely obliterates the administration’s narrative, pinpoints exactly when who knew what, and when they knew it; and documents the cascade of lies and waterfalls of deception that followed.

If Clinton can manage to run enough interference for her boss to get reelected, she will then have the opportunity to perform on center stage and show America what a spectacular Liar-in-Chief she will be, performing at a level unsurpassed by even the Father of Lies, her father, Satan himself.

In a conclusion that will cause most people to question everything they've come to believe about government, this book definitively puts into perspective Hillary Clinton’s proclivity to lie, her lifelong encyclopedia of lies and how she seeks to capitalize on her unique version of telling truth as she has always “tried” to.

Welcome to Whose Lie is it Anyway, where everything’s made up, and the casualties don't matter!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483578453

Book preview

© 2016 – Stephen S. Knepp

ISBN: 9781483578453

No portion of this work may be reproduced without the express, written permission of the author. Where applicable, the author has gone to great lengths to accurately cite the copyrighted work of other sources referenced in this book. External sources as cited, including the House of Representatives Select Committee Final Report are not subject to this copyright claim. If the author has either neglected to, or incorrectly cited a source, the owner of that copyrighted material may contact him and the author will immediately correct the inaccuracy or oversight.

Table of Contents

Dedication

About the Author

Author’s Preface

Introduction

1 – Benghazi for Beginners

2 – Biographies of the Fallen

3 – Political Turmoil in Libya

4 – Security Concerns in Benghazi

5 – Incidents and Warnings Preceding Attacks

6 – YouTube Video and Pastor Jones

7 – Organized Protests or Terrorist Activities?

8 – Timeline of Events, the Undisputed Facts

9 – Timeline of Events, Analysis of the Undisputed Facts

10 – Timeline of Controversy, the Talking Points

11 – Timeline of Controversy, Bullet Point Summary

12 – Exclusive: America ‘Was Warned of Embassy Attack But Did Nothing’

13 – The Media, Their Roles and Relationships

14 – Liar, Liar, Pantsuit on Fire!

Conclusion

Appendix A – Timeline of Factual Events and Documented Communications

Appendix B – Select Committee Resources

Appendix C – The Not Ready for Primetime Players

Endnotes

Dedication

To Claire, my wife of 35 years, who wonders why I spend so much time reading, researching and questioning everything. Yes, it is important.

To the families of the fallen; Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. America is grateful that your sons were Sons of America. What difference, at this point, does it make?

Your son’s lives made a difference while they lived; and posthumously as they gave us the opportunity to read their obituaries, experience touching stories about their lives, hear poignant testimonies from their lifelong friends, and get to know them as much more than a name in a headline. We had the honor of experiencing their personalities come to life before our eyes, and to gain the privilege of getting to know them as human beings. We may never have met them, but we feel that we know them and we are better people, and a better nation because of them.

They made a difference because their legacy has encouraged hundreds of thousands, if not millions, if not tens of millions of people to question the motivation of those who chose to misrepresent about why, and how they died. Words cannot express our gratitude for their service. With your blessing, they are now our sons too. Thank you.

To those whose courageous efforts limited the loss of life to only four, the soldiers whose heroism is beyond comprehension; Kris ‘Tanto’ Paronto, Jack Silva, Dave ‘Boon’ Benton, John ‘Tieg’ Tiegen, Mark ‘Oz’ Geist and others who were there. Regardless of prior military service, you were civilians serving your country. Your presence in an environment of hostility to America indicates your love for our country. As veterans, our oath binds us to defend the Constitution from ALL enemies, and when we leave the military our oath does not end. Thank you for understanding what your oath means to this day. You may not all be Jarheads, but I salute you in the tradition of the Marine Corps. Semper Fi, you are Always Faithful.

To the precept of Truth; it is not arbitrary, it is black and white, truth does not hide. Truth may be obscured by those who seek to distort, mislead and circumvent it; but it’s right there, hiding in plain sight.

To the readers of this, my first book, I pray you have the courage to believe the truth. It’s there for those who choose to seek and acknowledge it.

About the Author

Steve Knepp is a husband, father, grandfather and avid baseball fan. He has authored numerous online articles and many posts relating to his concerns about our government.

Steve is a Marine Corps veteran, having served in the immediate post-Vietnam era. His MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) was 1371, Combat Engineer. The hardest part was building roads and bridges, the fun was blowing them up! His experience in this field has caused him to be skeptical about notorious explosions such as occurred at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, and the implosions that occurred in the World Trade Center complex, in particular Buildings 1, 2 and 7.

Prior to semi-retirement Steve worked in technology and communications, serving as Vice President of Education and Vice President of Operations for several firms.

Steve’s favorite TV show is NCIS starring Mark Harmon as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and his favorite movie is A Few Good Men starring Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan Jessup. As a Marine, what else would one expect? Agent Gibbs’ passion and unrelenting quest for justice mirrors Steve’s fundamental belief in one of the most famous quotes of all time; Colonel Nathan Jessup’s declaration, You can’t handle the truth! Today many Americans simply cannot fathom the possibility that their government is far from what they were raised to believe it is. The truth is out there, and it’s up to us to find it. It’s usually hiding in plain sight, if only we’re willing to seek it, and only if we have the courage to believe the truth.

If a single adjective would be assigned to describe Steve’s political views, cynic might be the best choice. Politically he is a registered Libertarian who has voted for Democratic, Republican, Independent and Libertarian candidates over the past 40 years, but is partial to any politician whose views are fiscally conservative and morally responsible.

Steve’s opinions and politically incorrect memes can be found on Twitter at @steveknepp69; or he can be contacted at [e-mail].

Author’s Preface

As a former Marine and like millions of Americans, the subject of the Benghazi attacks captivates me. When the Select Committee Proposed Report was released I read through it completely with minimal breaks. Within a day or two day I rented the film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, based on a book written by Kris Paronto, one of the contracted GRS agents whose collective heroism is indescribable.

In any branch of the military the S.O.P. is to leave no one behind, ever. Witnessing the heroic efforts of our security forces in Benghazi refusing to leave anyone behind helped me feel like I was there, and served as my inspiration to dig deeper.

To aid in my understanding of these events, I took the Select Committee documents, extracted the pertinent communications and placed them in timeline format. As I researched key points that concerned me I began to observe peculiar patterns. Upon obtaining declassified material from other sources, a document and an email that was not addressed by the Select Committee caused me some trepidation. To me the content was, and remains of major significance; and it was difficult to comprehend why it was not addressed.

My efforts in placing calls, sending emails, and attempting to engage Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy were not successful. Refusing to quit, I contacted the CIA, news agencies, the source of one of the emails, and reached out to the author of the document in question. Suddenly it hit me … SMACK! Friends have told me for years that I should write a book, so why wasn’t I writing about this myself? After several days of my left-brain and right-brain debating each other; I embarked down the pathway of numerous nights of late research, documenting, writing, editing; and then writing and editing, and even more editing. Authors are our own worst critics, aren’t we?

It wasn’t difficult to find all the resources I needed to form a hypothesis. The real challenge was knowing when to stop digging! The internet is a fabulous tool, kudos to Al Gore for inventing it! The internet provided everything needed to accomplish this labor of love; not love of researching, not love of writing, but the love of telling a story that desperately cries out to be told. The facts can, and will only lead us to one place, a logical conclusion.

As you will see, my writing style is in the first person and conversational. Personally, I’d rather have a conversation than be spoken at, and I trust you’ll feel the same way as you find yourself asking and answering questions right along with me. To those with a background in journalism, it may become obvious I never have taken a course in writing; however, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! My goal is to inform, but not to the point of overload. Benghazi was a topic that challenged me on knowing where to stop shooting, so to speak. You’ll quickly notice when I become tired or bored I sometimes resort to sarcasm to break the monotony, hence Chapter 1.

Through life’s experiences I have developed an uncanny sense of discernment, and the companion instinct to know when someone is not being truthful. In my former industry deceit was rampant and integrity never showed up for work, so ferreting out dishonesty became second nature. In the case of Benghazi, upon examining the evidence at my disposal I became convinced the truth has not fully been disclosed, and the souls of four selfless Americans cry out for that truth to be articulated. Humbly and with great pride I accept the challenge to share what I’ve since learned; not about the attacks, not about if help was or was not on the way, but about the cover-up, and yes, there was a concerted effort to conceal the truth. Boldly I am committed to telling the truth about what the administration knew, and when they knew it regarding the tragedy of Benghazi.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of my first self-published book!

Tips for Consuming this Information

Benghazi: Timeline of Truth has been authored for the benefit of those who are not inclined to read the Select Committee Report in its entirety.

The book was designed to be read in sections depending upon the reader’s knowledge, or their personal interest level of the events of Benghazi. It was also taken into consideration that no matter where a reader started, all of the material would make sense.

Appetizer – Chapters 1 through 7 are a background of the events in Libya leading up to the attacks. Reading these chapters will either serve as a primer or a refresher. These chapters can easily be read in less than 30 minutes. If you’re well versed on the subject matter you may elect to skip these chapters.

Main Course – If you’re knowledgeable about topics relating to the history of Benghazi, or you simply aren’t interested in the background and just want to get to the main course, this is the place to begin. You can always go back and have your appetizer later.

Chapter 8 – A factual summary of the timeline of the pertinent events that occurred, which led to the narrative that was promulgated to America.

Chapter 9 – A comprehensive analysis and commentary of the contents contained in Chapter 8.

Chapter 10 – The highly controversial Talking Points are addressed and detail how the story evolved based on what was known to be true, versus what was hoped to be factual.

Chapter 11 – This bullet point summary aggregates all the documentable facts and statements from the prior three chapters.

Dessert – It’s been said, life is short, eat dessert first. Our friend April makes such delectable chocolate concoctions that upon sampling just one bite, you could instantly become a chocoholic! If you start here you’ll still be enlightened, but you’ll want to go back to the beginning of the line to see what you may have missed.

Chapter 12 –One email and one document that may not have been adequately addressed by the Select Committee. We present both for the reader to ask their own questions and draw their own conclusions.

Chapter 13 – Americans’ trust in the news media is at an all-time low. This discussion of the role that the news media plays in shaping many stories, and in particular the tragedy of Benghazi will shed light on why you need to search outside traditional media sources for your news.

Chapter 14 – Finally, my fact-filled and highly-entertaining indictment of those who have perpetrated this hoax on the American public is presented fairly. Anyone choosing to attempt to refute documentable facts is welcome to take their best shot!

Bonus – For those who just can’t get enough documentation, Chapter 8 is formatted extensively with links to each corresponding timeline event in Appendix A as documented in the Select Committee Report; and Chapters 9 and 10 contain extensive links to declassified emails obtained from external sources.

No matter where you choose to start, you’ll be enlightened, informed and hopefully entertained!

What this book is not intended to do:

Dissect every word of every page of every document of the Select Committee Report;

Provide detailed analysis of the attacks;

Draw conclusions about military units or assets that may have been deployed, or determine who or what was responsible for the loss of four Americans; or

Provide the reader with a comprehensive analysis of what can be read independently.

DISCLAIMER: This book was researched in its entirety by one individual, not a team of researchers. In reviewing thousands of pages of documentation, I will never claim that the book is without error. However, I do believe it is 99% accurate. In the course of my research I have found errors and conflicts within certain documents, and due to those conflicts that document cannot be cited. If an error in my work is detected please contact me with the details and if confirmed, I will correct the discrepancy immediately and re-publish the resource.

Introduction

On September 11, 2012, and continuing into the next morning, violent attacks commenced on the United States Embassy and CIA Annex in Benghazi, Libya. These attacks killed four Americans; Ambassador Christopher Stevens, CIA Information Officer Sean Smith, and contracted security agents Glenn Dougherty and Tyrone Woods. It is to their memory this book has been dedicated.

The weeks following the attacks were mired in seemingly constant controversy over what was communicated to the American public through the media, and what was learned independently via alternate sources. Almost immediately members of the United States Congress began to question why these attacks continued for nearly 13 hours, yet little to no military support was available from any source. Also questioned was sending an inexperienced, unqualified spokesman to five Sunday TV shows on September 16th to explain to the American public what happened.

The chosen spokesperson Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations created immediate controversy with a version of the events that seemed improbable, and was not palatable to the public. The controversy was two-fold. The first point of contention was the alleged role an anti-Islamic video may have had in the attacks. The second and more controversial point was the administration of President Barack Obama had not classified the attacks as a terrorism event.

Ultimately the United States House of Representatives convened a Select Committee to investigate the facts surrounding the attack; and the aftermath of events, statements and documents exchanged over the incident. After the committee began to issue subpoenas for documents, it became publicly known in March 2015 that Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton used her private email server clintonemail.com to conduct 100% of her official State Department business.1

On June 28, 2016, Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy submitted the Select Committee Report to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. The report came under immediate fire from the Clinton presidential campaign, who was quick to condemn the report as partisan political conspiracy-theory rhetoric. However, analysis of the report indicates that then Secretary of State Clinton promoted her own version of the events in the immediate post-attack period, and by following the timeline of documented communications indications are that her critics were justifiably outraged. Numerous contradictions exist between committee subjects’ public statements in the immediate aftermath, versus the findings of the report based on documented communications and witness testimony.

The focus of this book is to analyze internal communications as memorialized in the Select Committee Final Report, which was approved on July 8, 2016. These communications will be presented chronologically and footnoted as to where they are referenced in the Final Report. Only relevant communications will be presented and when appropriate, external sources supporting pertinent material will be referenced as well. The desired outcome is to determine if key members of the Obama administration were truthful in her testimony before the Select Committee, and whether their public statements are either in harmony with, or in contradiction to their sworn testimony.

1 – Benghazi for Beginners

For those on a tight schedule, we hereby present a somewhat sarcastic and comical, yet accurate and succinct summary of everything required to fully comprehend the breadth