According to Trey Gowdy (R-SC) , who is heading the most recent of eight investigations into the 2012 Benghazi embassy attack, it is of the utmost importance that the victims of Benghazi, and their families, receive justice. For the family of former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Glen Doherty, justice would be getting his survivor benefits.
Glen Doherty served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan before leaving the military to join a private security firm where he would eventually travel to Libya as a contractor. During all that time Glen Doherty didn’t get married, he didn’t father any children, but he did have a loving family that was devastated by his loss.
Under current contractor rules, however, they are unlikely to be given a dime. Those rules do not allow for benefits to be transferred to other family members if the deceased did not have any dependents even though the contractor is required to take out an insurance policy. As Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) said:
“I think the perfect way to honor Glen’s memory would be to pay the benefits that would have gone to his family. We’re not asking anything that he did not expect here. He paid his premiums when he served in Iraq, in Afghanistan and when he was deployed to Libya.”
The family of Doherty and Rep. Lynch are hoping to change that with the Glen Anthony Doherty Overseas Security Personnel Fairness Act. This bill would allow benefits to be transferred if there aren’t any immediate dependents.
The bill was introduced into the House in January and was referred to a subcommittee, but has yet to be passed by either halves of Congress. The House has also not addressed a bill that would award the four men killed in the Benghazi attack the Congressional Gold Medal.
This situation is reminiscent of the 2011 Zadroga Act, better known as the 9/11 first responders bill. The Zadroga Act was introduced into the House in 2006 and sat there until Jon Stewart learned about it and launched an impressive campaign to get it passed before the December recess of Congress in 2010.
It is disgusting and shameful that men like Trey Gowdy are allowed to grand stand and use horrific tragedies as a means of pushing their agenda. Gowdy doesn’t care about those who died in Benghazi. He isn’t pushing legislation to help their families, and he isn’t fighting to make sure those men are given honors for their service. This current hearing alone has spent in excess of $4.5 million, and the only thing of substance that has been found is that if the committee members keep yelling, then Hillary Clinton looks less electable as president.
In Trey Gowdy’s own words:
“Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods served this country with courage and with honor. And they were killed under circumstances that most of us could never imagine… It is important that we remember how these four men died. It is equally important that we remember how these four men lived and why. They were more than four images on a television screen. They were husbands and fathers and sons and brothers and family and friends. They were Americans who believed in service and sacrifice. Many people speak wistfully of a better world, but do little about it. These four went out and actually tried to make it better and it cost them their lives.”
It’s a shame Gowdy isn’t listening to his own advice.
Featured image by WikiMedia by C-SPAN, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
