US officials blocked rescue effort while Benghazi burned, Congress told

Diplomat Gregory Hicks accuses State
Department of cover-up in evidence that
may yet hurt Hillary Clinton's White
House bid
Gregory Hicks claimed he was scolded for
giving critical evidence to investigators
without the presence of a 'minder' from
State.

Dan Roberts in Washington

While US diplomats were pulling bodies
from a burning Libyan consulate and
frantically smashing up hard drives last 11
September, their superiors blocked
rescue efforts and later attempted to
cover up security failings, according to
damaging new evidence that may yet hurt
Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes.
In vivid testimony to Congress on
Wednesday, Gregory Hicks, deputy to
murdered US ambassador Christopher
Stevens, revealed for the first time in
public a detailed account of the desperate
few hours after the terrorist attacks on
the US consulate in Benghazi.
He also said that Stevens went to
Benghazi to beat a 30 September
deadline to convert the mission to a
permanent posting. There was additional
time pressure because Clinton planned to
visit Libya later in the year and to
announce the opening of the post, Hicks
said.
But Hicks and two other state department
witnesses also singled out the
government response for criticism. Until
now that criticism had been largely
dismissed as a partisan effort by
Republican congressman to smear former
Clinton, who was secretary of state at the
time.
Hicks claimed Clinton's chief of staff,
Cheryl Mills, telephoned him to complain
that he had given critical evidence to
congressional investigators without the
presence of a "minder" from the state
department. "A phone call from that
senior a person is generally considered
not to be good news," said Hicks, who
said he had since been demoted. "She
was upset. She was very upset."
The career diplomat also alleged he was
actively discouraged by officials from
asking awkward questions about why
other top Clinton aides, including the UN
ambassador Susan Rice, initially blamed
the attack on a spontaneous protest that
got out of control. He described that
briefing he described as "jaw-dropping,
embarrassing and stunning". It is now
thought the attacks, involving up to 60
heavily armed militia, were co-ordinated
by Ansar al-Sharia, a group affiliated to al-
Qaida, and timed to coincide with the
11th anniversary of the attacks on the
World Trade Center in New York and the
Pentagon in Washington.
The allegations of a state department
cover-up follow equally embarrassing
claims that military leaders blocked
efforts to dispatch special forces troops to
the Benghazi consulate.
In testimony that first emerged on
Monday, Hicks claims that four special
forces soldiers with him in Tripoli were
"furious" when they were told by
superiors in Washington that they could
not join a relief flight to Benghazi
organised by the Libyan government in
the hours after the initial attack.
Mark Thompson, a former marine who
heads the foreign emergency support
team, also alleged that the White House
blocked his efforts to dispatch a specialist
group from the US that is designed to
respond to incidents such as the Benghazi
attaack.
Hicks said he was told that US air force
jets based in Italy could have reached the
consulate in "two to three hours" but
were blocked, out of fear of offending the
Libyan government, and because a
refuelling tanker could not be found.
Pentagon officials have repeatedly argued
that none of the available military assets
could have reached Benghazi in time to
prevent the death of ambassador Stevens
and three other consular staff. But Hicks
insisted even if they had been too late,
better attempts should have been made.
"People in peril in future need to know
that we will go to get them," he said.
"That night we needed to demonstrate
that resolve even if we still had the same
outcome."
Hicks also rejected the defence given by
Hillary Clinton when pressed on the initial
delay in attributing the attack to
terrorists, arguing the US undermined its
Libyan allies who were rightly pointing to
Ansar al-Sharia.
"President Magarief was insulted in front
of his own people, in front of the world.
His credibility was reduced. His ability to
govern was [damaged]. He was angry …
He was still steamed about the talk
shows two weeks later. I definitely
believe it negatively affected our ability
to get the FBI team quickly to Benghazi."
Hicks also testified that part of the reason
that Stevens was in Benghazi was to make
preparations to convert the mission to a
permanent post, and to lay the
groundwork for a visit by Clinton. "At
least one of the reasons the ambassador
was in Benghazi was to further the
secretary's wish that that post become a
permanent constituent post" and because
Clinton "intended to visit later that year"
to announce the conversion.
Democrats on the committee attempted
to play down the significance of the new
evidence. "There is no smoking gun
today," said Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.
"There is not even a lukewarm slingshot."
Deputy chair Elijah Cummings said the
hearing would not be able to get to a full
picture without recalling other military
witnesses.
But the powerful and at times emotional
testimony of the state department
witnesses is likely to rekindle questions
over the government's handling of the
incident. The Obama administration had
hoped that an earlier independent review
panel had drawn a line under the issue.
Republicans characterise their refusal to
let the Benghazi issue go as a
determination to find out what went
wrong. But some Democrats have
suggested that the real intention is to
taint both the White House and Clinton in
a bid to dent her chances in 2016 should
she decide to run.
Hicks described receiving the final
telephone call from ambassador Stephens
revealing he was under attack. He said an
attaché ran into his villa "yelling Greg,
Greg, the consulate's under attack". Hicks
looked at his phone and had two missed
calls. He called back and got ambassador
Stevens. "He said, 'Greg, we're under
attack.'"
"I said 'OK' and the line cut."
Hicks then described how he had taken
refuge in a secure villa that was set alight
with petrol by the attackers. He also told
how the embassy building in Benghazi
was hit by mortar fire and how a tiny
group of soldiers at both sites fought
through the night to prevent both
facilities from being overrun.
"September 11 was a routine day until we
heard the news that our embassy in Cairo
had been stormed and they were trying
to tear down the flag," recalled Hicks.
"I had bad cellphone reception but
walked to the tactical operations centre
and heard that our consulate in Benghazi
had been breached and at least 20 armed
individuals were in the compound."
After twice not recognising the number,
he said he received a short call from
ambassador Stevens, thought to be his
last, who said they "were under attack".
He and an assistant, Sean Smith, were led
to a safe area inside a villa next to the
consulate by security agent Scott
Strickland. It was set on fire with jerry
cans of fuel shortly after 9pm.
"Scott attempted to lead them out but
they didn't follow. He tried to get back in
but was beaten back by the smoke," said
Hicks. "Petroleum-based fires emit
cyanide gas and one full breath can kill
you. They managed to pull Sean out, but
he was dead. They couldn't find Chris."
A second wave was coming to attack and
the remaining consulate staff fell back to
a nearby CIA annex. "After about an hour
and a half of probing attacks from
terrorists that they were able to repulse
they decided to evacuate," said Hicks.
They met with a response team flown
from Tripoli on a Libyan C130 transporter
and retreated back to the capital.
Hicks says at this point he still thought
that ambassador Stevens might be alive
and he received word from the Libyan
government that he was being held in a
hospital run by the same group
responsible for the attack. "I thought we
might need a hostage response team to
get the ambassador out of a hospital
under enemy control," explained Hicks.
At the same time the group was claiming
responsibility for the Benghazi attack on
Twitter, embassy staff began noticing
threats against their facility in Tripoli too.
"We began planning to evacuate, and took
55 people to the annexe," said Hicks. "At
2am Hillary Clinton calls and she asks me
what is going on. I brief her mostly about
ambassador Stevens and told her we
would need to evacuate. At 3am I
received a call from from the prime
minister of Libya who told me that
ambassador Stevens had passed away. It
was the hardest call I have ever had to
take."
Hicks says he has vivid memories of
communications staff in Tripoli destroying
classified equipment including a female
officer manager "smashing hard drives
with an axe". The contingent in Benghazi
then tried to drive to the airport around
dawn but were hit by two mortar rounds.
"The first mortar was long and landed
among the Libyans who were escorting us
– they took casualties. The next was short
and landed on the annex roof, killing one
of our people and seriously wounding
another, David. Mark charged onto the
roof and strapped David, who was a large
man, to his back and carried him down
the ladder."
Hicks says he wanted to send further
reinforcements to Benghazi where they
had been fighting through the night but
was unable.
Eric Nordstrom, a security officer who also
gave evidence to Congress said the
lessons state department employees
have taken from Benghazi were scathing:
"Whether you're at a mission, preparing
for a hearing or you're standing on top of
a building "surrounded by a mob," he
says, "The message is the same: You're
on your own."
• This article was amended on 8 May 2013
to make clear that mortar attacks took
place in Benghazi, not Tripoli.g