Response to attacks in Benghazi shameful

Re: For the first time, I am not proud of our country

Many headlines of “Bush lied, people died” were common during the Bush years but President Bush actually believed the intelligence reports on Iraq weapons of mass destruction, as did most every member of Congress. They said he lied, that somehow Bush knew what none of the entire world’s intelligence agencies knew, that there were no WMD. He believed it, but he was wrong.

With the testimony of eyewitnesses in Benghazi, we now have proof that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lied and four of our Libya diplomats died. Both Obama and Clinton knew the original intelligence reports of a terrorist attack were correct, but instead, both of them lied — outright lied — for weeks. They repeatedly were taped saying the attack on our embassy in Benghazi was the result of a YouTube video, while they intimidated the CIA to revise their report — 12 times! They know better! They even arrested the man who recorded the video (and he’s still in prison, by the way). And Obama won.

It’s taken eight months for the rest of the press to wake up and smell the stench, but at least it’s happened. It’s so obvious that deciding to lie to prevent the truth from surfacing was indeed a vile political calculation, to protect themselves. The rest of the world now knows Obama for what he is, and our nation’s security is even more at risk.

We have gone from a policy of “no man left behind” to one of “each man fends for himself.” If you were a family member of one of the four murdered at Benghazi, would you have wanted our military to intervene to at least try to save them? After all, in the beginning hours, there was no way of knowing how long the attack would last. I’m not proud of our country right now.

PHILIP FORTIN

Sandpoint