Rand Paul called into the radio show this morning to discuss several pertinent issues, including the unfolding situation in Libya as well as the 2012 Presidential election.
"It sure smacks of a coverup and sort of a politization of something that was a serious problem," Paul said. "I would have asked Mr. President where were the uniformed Marines? How come that the ambassador had no Marines protecting himself? And in light of this latest information how come nobody was sent in to help."
"What has really angered me about this whole situation is four days after President Obama turned down the DC3 the plane they wanted for security that they requested, four days later he spent $100,000 greening up the embassy in Vienna promoting his global warming initiative and really when you are making political statements with State Department dollars and you will not provide security for probably the most dangerous country in the world. I think it's inexcusable and unacceptable. If the buck stops with the President somebody should be fired, and he should make a decision that somebody made a grievous error," Senator Paul continued.
Earlier in the month, ABC News obtained an internal State Department email from May 3, 2012, wherein the State Department denied a request from the security team at the Libyan embassy for a DC-3 airplane that would help the team in their duties. Ambassador Stevens was copied on the exchange.
ABC News spoke with a government official who explained the advantages of such a plane. They reported:
The U.S. government official who provided the email to ABC News – and wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the matter – described the small DC-3 plane as an asset for a security team to more freely and safely move throughout the country, and to more easily transport arms and other security equipment. In short, having the plane allowed the security team to better perform its duties, the official said.The State Department official acknowledged that the plane was used to get around Libya, not just to get in and out of the country. But once commercial air service was re-established, the State Department decided that the SST didn’t need the plane anymore. The security team, it would seem, disagreed.
Told of the State Department’s explanation, the House Oversight Committee spokesman said the “State Department’s naive determination to follow rigid bureaucratic policies, instead of making common sense decisions that took the serious threat of terrorism conveyed by those on the ground into account, appears to have been a significant factor in the Benghazi Consulate’s lack of preparedness.”
Glenn also asked Rand Paul about the libertarian point of view and the two party system. Glenn said that while he's libertarian, he believes the process of pulling back the roll of government needs to be a slow and gradual one. This viewpoint contrasts with some libertarians who want radical changes quickly, a philosophy that Glenn believes will cause chaos.
Glenn pointed out that Ron Paul, Rand's father and libertarian hero to many radicals, has refused to acknowledge a difference between Romney and Obama. Glenn wondered if Rand agreed with his father or if he saw a difference.
" To me it's more a general philosophic difference in the sense that President Obama truly believes that the answer to making the economy grow is to grow government and I think Governor Romney believes the opposite. That you have to grow the private sector to have a government sector at all. That it's paid for by the private sector. Those are just two opposite philosophies. Now is my father right sometimes on foreign policy? Do both of them believe in intervening everywhere all the time? I think our foreign policy has been too much everywhere all the time. I think we should moderate where we are and keep in mind the national defense of our country is very important and being everywhere all the time is sometimes counter-productive," Senator Paul said.
"So I think there's some similarities sometimes on the foreign policy. When you watch the debate you don't see a difference really on foreign policy."
