Benghazi Survivor Says U.S. Hasn’t Learned from Mistakes a Decade Ago
On the tenth anniversary of the terror attacks in Benghazi, survivor Mark “Oz” Geist said the U.S. government hasn’t learned from the mistakes it made a decade ago.
“People are making decisions and not listening to the guys and gals on the ground,” Geist told Fox News in an interview. “And that’s what they should be doing. You can’t fight a war from Washington, D.C.”
On September 11, 2012, members of the Ansar al-Sharia militant group attacked the U.S. diplomatic outpost, killing Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service information-management officer Sean Smith. The CIA annex was attacked hours later with mortar fire and machine guns, and the militant group killed CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.
Geist was a CIA security contractor at the time, and climbed on the roof of the CIA annex after the attacks began. He and a team of security operators fought the attackers for hours without help from the U.S. government, Fox News reported. Geist suffered a broken arm, and his colleagues, Doherty and Woods, died in the attack.
Geist criticized the U.S. government response, led by then-President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for delays in deploying aid.
“We heard over the time after Benghazi that well, there was no assistance anywhere that could have got there in time,” Geist told Fox News. “You can get a lot of places in 13 hours. To say that was kind of heart-wrenching for us because we knew better.”
Geist added that Clinton and other top officials don’t have the “intestinal fortitude” to accept responsibility for mistakes committed during Benghazi, including their slow response time.
“Glen, Tyrone, Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith put their hand up in the air and swore to uphold the Constitution,” Geist concluded, saying that he hopes the U.S. will remember the fallen men Sunday, amid the anniversary of 9/11.
“They chose to go into harm’s way. We have a lot of Americans around the world that are doing that, and we need to remember them as well,” he said.
