First Coast Benghazi Tribute honors fallen

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To honor and remember U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, U.S. Navy Veteran SEAL Glen Doherty, U.S. Navy Veteran SEAL Tyrone Woods and U.S. Veteran Information Officer Sean Smith, the We Can Be Heroes Foundation hosted the seventh annual First Coast Benghazi Tribute on Saturday, Oct. 26. The four men gave their last, full measure during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA annex in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. 

Seven years later, interested Americans still seek the truth about how events unfolded. Charles Woods, father of Tyrone Woods who was killed in the attack on the CIA annex, flew from Hawaii to speak at the tribute. Woods choked back tears as he spoke about his son and asked, “Why was there no rescue at Benghazi?” 

Ken Timmerman is an investigative reporter and author of several books including “Dark Forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi.” Initially, it was reported that the attacks were the result of a spontaneous uprising caused by inflammatory material posted on the internet. Timmerman disagrees. 

“The Benghazi attacks were acts of state-sponsored terrorism,” he said. “It was the government of Iran that backed it.” 

Clare Lopez, who served as operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, presented “New Administration – Same as Old Administration” at the tribute. She said a key to revealing the whole truth about how Benghazi happened is to declassify former President Obama’s Presidential Study Directive 11, also known as PSD-11.  

PolitiChicks Morgan Brittany and Ann-Marie Burrell took questions and explained how “citizen journalists” have kept stories like Benghazi alive. They encourage everyone to be citizen journalists by using the internet and social media platforms to report the truth about events they are passionate about. 

Several attendees daid that events like the annual First Coast Benghazi Tribute are important to remember the fallen and to continue to seek the truth. 

“Heroes from the past cannot be forgotten,” Morgan Brittany said.