Report: Air Force could have reached Benghazi before attack ended (Update)

Last night Fox News’ Adam Housley interviewed a witness to events that took place on the night of the Benghazi attack who has never spoken to reporters before. “I feel like some things need to come to light,” the source said, his face obscured and his voice altered to protect him from official retribution for speaking out on the issue.

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The source claims he was part of an air squadron at Aviano Airbase in Italy that night when they were told there was a situation. He claims planes were readied and were being armed with weapons. “I definitely believe that our aircraft could have taken off and got there in a timely manner, maybe three hours at the most,” the source claims.

A three hour delay would have been long after the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens or Sean Smith, but they might have arrived before a later attack killed Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

But the call for the squadron to move apparently never came. The source says, “They just kept telling me we’re waiting on a call.” “I still feel a sense of fault for not being there when we were needed. We could have been there and that’s the worst part,” he says.

A second source, described as Mike, says he was at Delta Force headquarters when the attacks took place but returned to Libya soon afterwards. Mike says there were opportunities to kill or capture the people responsible for the attack but they were denied by the State Department. “It was political,” Mike says, adding “I read the emails, I read the emails where they were saying, hey, we can’t do this now…now’s not the right time.”

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Update: Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy issued a statement in response to the story. It reads in part:

As a former federal prosecutor, I find it deeply troubling there are individuals who would like to share their stories, but have not because they are afraid of retaliation from their superiors. No one should be afraid of talking to their elected representatives in Congress.

The committee has not interviewed these individuals and therefore cannot vouch for the credibility of their allegations. I can promise these witnesses and others, if they talk to our committee they will be treated fairly, and both Republican and Democrat members will have questions for them. Nearly 100 people have testified before the committee, and not one witness has said they were treated otherwise.

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