Sean Smith

Born in 1978. San Diego, California. United States Air Force veteran. Married, with two children. Transitioned from military to civil service in 2002. Based in the Hague, Netherlands.

Died September 11, 2012. Benghazi, Libya. An American hero.

Sean was an active online gamer. During game play that night, he sent a message to to a friend: "Assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures." His friends probably weren't quite sure how to take that message, I know it would've befuddled me. He should have been safely tucked away inside the American consulate, protected by former Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, along with local militia the State Department he and Ambassador Chris Stevens worked for had hired.

The same State Department that listened to a phone call from the consulate ring the line in Tripoli, but didn't answer "because we didn't recognize the number." The same State Department that held operators on the compound where they stood, knowing their friends were dying. The same State Department that sat on their hands in DC and watched the live feed and did nothing.  The same State Department who allowed talking points to mislead not only the press but the public into thinking some crappy video that nobody ever heard of was the cause of the "protest" that wasn't a protest. The same State Department that watched their Secretary sit before Congress and ask "At this point, what difference does it make?" when asked about who was to blame.

Some of these State Department employees, past and present, will be testifying in front of a Select Committee of the House of Representative tomorrow. Chaired by Trey Gowdy (R-SC), they are tasked with finding the truth amongst the lies. There are many of the latter, and little of the former has been found thus far.

Pray for the Select Committee members. Pray for the witnesses. Above all, pray for the families of the ones lost. They deserve much more, but will settle for the truth.

The justice sought may never be found, but God's justice finds all who are guilty. Longfellow wrote:

Though the mills of God grind slowly;
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience he stands waiting,
With exactness grinds he all.

May his words be true, beginning tomorrow. Sean Smith deserves it.