Florida Congressman Allen West joined Glenn on the radio program this morning. West is currently in a tight race in his Florida district, causing Glenn, and likely most of his radio audience, to question everything they know about common sense and America. The Congressman shared his thoughts of the presidential election, the situation in Benghazi, and the countries need for principled leadership.
We have Allen West on the phone. As we talk about Benghazi, there's nobody better to tell us exactly what we're prepared for and that we he don't leave any man behind than Allen West who's running again in Florida in a tight race, which makes me question everything that I think I know about America. But Allen, welcome to the program, sir.
WEST: It's always good to be with you, Glenn. How are you doing?
GLENN: I'm very good. Before we even start, thank you for everything you've done in the Service but thank you for being somebody who actually says the tough things. You're one of the only people that will really say the tough things. You and people like you, Michele Bachmann and Jim DeMint, you'll go right out on the front lines and you don't mind if you're shot even by your own side, and I appreciate that.
WEST: Well, that's what it takes. We have to have principled leadership that will go out there with courage and conviction and character.
GLENN: So tell me about Libya, Benghazi.
WEST: Well, I have to tell you first and foremost, you have to ask your he feels why was an ambassador at a consulate that was established basically in a combat zone. You know, one of the things I did not agree with first and foremost was that we did get involved in Libya. It was, you know, past the War Powers Act. So the president actually violated that. And I think he's kind of taking a hands‑off approach thereof. The most important thing is, you know, me being a former combat battalion commander, if you ever have men and women that are pinned down, if I ever send anybody out on a patrol that got pinned down and they called and asked for additional resources, the only response is how soon we can get it to them. And when I think about the highly technologically advanced military that we have, I just don't see how we were not able to provide the resources necessary for those individuals that are being engaged by radical Islamist terrorists, and we knew Al‑Qaeda was there, we knew that Al (inaudible) who was released in 2007 from Guantanamo Bay had stabbed and Al Sharia.
PAT: Allen, what do you make of Panetta's comments is one of our deals is that we don't send our military into any situation where we don't know the details?
GLENN: That's ridiculous.
PAT: That doesn't ring true to me at all. Is that accurate?
WEST: No, it does not ring true. And that really is not what the military is about. We go to the sound of the guns and we don't wait for the perfect situation. If you have people that are on the ground, that are engaged and they are requesting the help, you know, you don't sit around and try to develop the best possible scenario.
I'll give you another example in a short history back during the Clinton administration. I think everyone remembers the battle of Mogadishu and Black Hawk Down, the book and the movie. Well, those Rangers and Delta Force operators, General Garrison had asked for a C‑130 gunship support and also armored support. Then it was Secretary of Defense Les Aspen during the Clinton administration who denied that. And what was the result? 18 rangers and operators were killed, 75, 76 I believe were wounded. Yeah, they did kill over 2,000 Somali militiamen but it should have never gotten to that point. And I think that there's something deeper here that we have to look into.
Also no one's talking about the fact that the commander of Africom, General Carter Ham, who I know somewhat well has stepped down from commander of the African command and now just yesterday it says he's retiring. You don't find a combatant commander that is relieved out of his position early and then the next thing you know he's being retired. So there's a lot of questions we have to answer. But first and foremost, Glenn, we've got to relieve the current commander‑in‑chief.
GLENN: Okay. Let me just, let me clear something up. We've done a lot of work on General Ham, and General Ham's wife is terminal. This was something that he had been talking about for a while. However, it was expediated, I believe by his choice, and we have sources saying that he did stand up against Panetta and say, "What are you talking about?" And that's what has moved things forward. But it was his choice to leave. I just wish some of these guys would actually come out and say something because, you know, Napoleon's line has come to my head a lot. When they said, you know, where are you going to be? And he said, "Listen for the sound of the guns. That is where you'll find me."
WEST: You're exactly right and that's what leadership is. Leadership is being where the action is and that's how you are able to make the best possible decisions. And look, Glenn, always, you trust the person that's on the ground, the person that is engaged. And when you have two former Navy SEALs who are, you know, quite skilled and from what I understand they also had the targeted capability to lase these mortar positions and enemy positions. We could have gotten them support if just F‑16ing to go by and do a low fly‑by over those individuals to disrupt their operations.
GLENN: Thank you. You know, I was talking to a Navy pilot ‑‑ or an Air Force pilot the other day and he said, Glenn, you know what we should have done? We should have launched our fighter jets. He said we do this all the time. You fly at the speed of sound; they never see you coming.
PAT: 100 feet off the ground.
GLENN: 100 feet off the ground. He said we would have broken every window for blocks and he said we do it all the time. You're not hurting anybody, you're not launching anything. He said it freaks people out and you disperse a crowd that fast. Why didn't we do that?
WEST: Yeah.
GLENN: I mean, how easy is that? That's ten minutes away.
WEST: You know, furthermore if as President Obama said that he gave an order to get the people on the ground everything they need, well, first of all, where is that written order? And if the commander‑in‑chief gave an order and some people subordinate to him disobeyed the order, then I want to though who disobeyed the order. This cannot go away. But I say most importantly we've got four days to make an incredible decision about the path of this constitutional republic. But then even after that, we're going to continue to press on and get the answers on this Benghazi thing. Because we cannot have something like this ever happen again.
GLENN: See, I have to tell you this is ‑‑ this goes to the election because I think we've lost common sense and common decency. I mean, the president is saying that he didn't ‑‑ we had to find out if it was a terrorist attack. Fox is now reporting this morning that they have a cable or they have seen a cable, they're not ‑‑ some of these cables are not being released but they're being shown to reporters. They have seen a cable from the State Department identifying the Benghazi attack as a terrorist attack four hours into the seven‑hour gunfight.
WEST: Yeah.
GLENN: So he absolutely knew. But this goes to decency. The president was out on the campaign trail just the other day saying, you know ‑‑ he said this in four different speeches exactly the same way all on prompter: "You know, you've got to know if you can trust the president of the United States, and you know what I mean what I say." Really?
WEST: Well, you know, it's that. And also, I mean, all of a sudden you see him taking the pictures in the situation room for Hurricane Sandy. Why was he not in the situation room in on the 11th anniversary of September 11th we had countless amounts of embassies being attacked, being ransacked, we have the American flag being torn down. That's an act of war. That's your sovereign American territory. When you have a country like Sudan saying that we're not going to allow you to land your Marines to protect your embassy, that's where you've got to have leadership and that's what we are lacking right now and that's what we've got to replace in the White House.
GLENN: What do you ‑‑ who is the guy running ‑‑ you don't have to give him a name shout‑out but who is the guy running against you and what is different with you and the other guy?
WEST: Well, what you're looking at in my opponent, Mr. Murphy is, you know, a privileged young man who has had his father pretty much give him and do everything for him. His father has been funding, you know, six‑figure dollars into a House majority PAC which is a liberal Democrat PAC and then also establish for his son against me.
GLENN: Isn't he the guy ‑‑
WEST: He is a person who doesn't talk about any of the issues. All he is talking about is the reason why people should hate me. And I think that when you look at the high unemployment that we have in this country still and down here in the Treasure Coast area, the lack of opportunity for people to get out and get work, the tax situation, the regulatory environment, he stops talking about solutions, he just tries to demonize me, which is what you see all across with liberal progressive socialists, the Saul Alinsky school of thought. And we're going to do fine against him. We're going to be successful next Tuesday night. Don't worry.
GLENN: I'm not worried. I think that, I believe in the protection of divine and I believe there are millions of Americans that are ‑‑ still believe in that and are still harkening to the spirit and harkening to God and God is not neutral in freedom of all of mankind. And if America falls, freedom all over the world takes a mighty blow and it may take 1,000 years to be able to recover from it. And he's not neutral. His work isn't done. And as long as we are decent, God‑fearing people, we will be preserved to do his will. And I think that's exactly what you're going to see on Tuesday. I do.
WEST: Well, you're absolutely right. And as I always share with people, one of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 54‑17 where it says no weapon formed against me shall prosper and every tongue which rises against me in judgment, you know, I shall condemn. But that's the heritage of those who will call and love the Lord.
So you know, I stand with my faith and my conviction. And I just want to thank you and so many others that are out there praying very hard for us down here. We've even got people that came in from Texas to help volunteer to get out in some neighborhoods for us. But this is a great event that it's going to be a great testimony to the strength and the courage of the United States of America next Tuesday night.
GLENN: Thank you very much, Allen West, appreciate it, and you have a good ‑‑ and you'll have a good election day.
WEST: Always a pleasure. Thanks, Glenn. God ‑‑
GLENN: Thank you, sir. Bye‑bye. Congressman Allen West on the program.