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Two former Navy SEALs who were killed responding to the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya last September could be honored with a Congressional medal for their bravery, if a group of Republican lawmakers gets its way.
“They went above and beyond the call of duty,” Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told ABC News. With nine fellow Republican co-sponsors, Hunter introduced legislation Thursday that would posthumously award ex-SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest honors given by Congress.
Woods and Doherty, who served nearly three decades in the Navy between them before their discharge, were working as independent contractors with the CIA in Libya when they were killed together on the rooftop of a CIA annex in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.
Hours earlier Woods had raced from the annex to the aid of Americans in another U.S. diplomatic facility that had come under attack, trapping U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and several other officials. While under fire, Woods and his colleagues evacuated the facility and ferried it’s the survivors to the nearby CIA annex. However, they were too late to save Ambassador Stevens and computer specialist Sean Smith, who both died as a result of the attack.
Doherty, who was in Tripoli when word of the initial assault came through, was part of a response team that rushed to charter a private plane to fly into Benghazi to help their distressed colleagues. After arriving at the CIA facility in Benghazi hours later, Doherty went to the roof to check on Woods.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Glen Doherty
It was then that a second attack wave was launched, this time on the CIA annex, and Doherty and Woods were soon killed in the mortar strike.
In an unclassified State Department account of the incident, the department praised the “U.S. personnel on the ground in Benghazi [who] performed with courage and readiness to risk their lives to protect their colleagues, in a near impossible situation.”
PICTURE STORY: Remembering the Fallen in Libya
Kate Quigley, Doherty’s sister, told ABC News today that giving her brother the Congressional Gold Medal would be “awesome.”
“For me, it’s not only about what Glen and Ty did the night of Sept. 11, but about how they lived their lives selflessly on and off the battlefield that makes them so deserving,” she said. “I would just love to know who would vote ‘No.’”
Tyrone Woods’ father, Charles, told U-T San Diego his son never did the dangerous work for the recognition, but, “He deserves it as an inspiration to other people.”
Hunter said he introduced the bill because Woods and Doherty were working as private contractors and therefore weren’t eligible for military or State Department medals for their heroism.
“I think this is a good way to go to recognize them, before the American people and Congress,” said Hunter, himself a Marine veteran.
READ EXCLUSIVE: Glen Doherty, Ex-SEAL Killed in Libya, Helped Track Weapons
The Congressional Gold Medal, which was created to recognize “historical events and outstanding achievements by individuals or institutions,” has been awarded a diverse group of 150 people since 1776, including George Washington, Neil Armstrong and Jackie Robinson, according to a 2012 Congressional report.
The medal has previously been given to “acclaimed lifesavers,” as “Congress has still periodically expressed its own admiration for acts of heroism.” It was also awarded to the “Fallen Heroes of 9/11″ in “honor of the men and women who perished as a result of the terrorist attacks…”
Hunter’s bill has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee.
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They left those guys out there to get killed, now they think they can fix it by giving his dead body a Medal? I hate our politicians, if it was up to me they’d ALL be facing a firing squad for Treason for what they’ve done to this country.
Posted by: Jack | March 15, 2013, 12:02 pm 12:02 pm
Their blood is on Obama’s hands
Posted by: Doug | March 15, 2013, 12:10 pm 12:10 pm
INDEPENDENT contrators… AM sorry to see the carnage..DON’T disparage PAST service… PR stunt? GOtta wunder….HOW I view it…far as Libya and rest of it..TIME will tell how all this pans out…Hope for the best but plan for the worst…..
Posted by: robert | March 15, 2013, 12:24 pm 12:24 pm
No disrespect to the Congressman. This is a bit premature. Let’s first find out how and why they all died and why others where wounded and sequestered. It’s totally ridiculous that we don’t know this and the President and the Secretary of State need to be held accountable. This coverup should not continue and if Congress was worth its salt, it would not proceed any further until the truth is told.
Posted by: Samrrye | March 15, 2013, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
SOrry folks for misspellings… forgot the c in ‘contracters’…. on ambassadors and rest of it…to be HONEST…I have never worked overseas and hard or impossible to plan for incidents like THIS but…in FLUID bad situation like THIS…GET OUT… DONT linger…OR find selves barricaded in and HAVING DO a rescue…and THAT can ESCALATE extremely badly and take on life of own…think BLACK HAWK DOWN among others…or IRAN ’79…. JUST seems this instant insane uncontrollable wave that SOME KNOW how to use to ….You get the idea….
Posted by: robert | March 15, 2013, 12:30 pm 12:30 pm
These men deserve an honor and acknowledgement of their bravery, but it would be hypocritical and insulting to have it presented to them by the Presiden, CIA or State Dept. who are responsible for the failure to save their lives.
Posted by: cathy | March 15, 2013, 1:10 pm 1:10 pm
I’m sure this will make it ALLLLL better. This is the type of simple thinking that put Obama/Biden in the White House in the first place.
Posted by: Bill | March 15, 2013, 1:39 pm 1:39 pm
it not the Congressional Medal, just the Medal of Honor….good job Navy Seal….You guys rock to the death
Posted by: Rudy Jaquez | March 15, 2013, 3:31 pm 3:31 pm
GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES
Posted by: Rudy Jaquez | March 15, 2013, 3:31 pm 3:31 pm
Robert, dude, what’s with the weird capitalization. It’s distracting, Knock it off.
Glad to see you are honest enough to admit to your lack of experience, but I figured that out from your comments. Given your admittedly amateur status, don’t think I’ll be taking any tactical advice from you. Go make your bones, then I’ll pay attention to your opinion.
“Independent contractor” be damned. These men were the epitome of what it means to be a warrior…..running toward the fire to save the lives of others at the risk of their own. They would have made the same sacrifice for your smug self, and never asked for a “thank you”, much less a medal. If my butt was on the line, I’d rather have them show up than you.
Posted by: Ron | March 15, 2013, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
How about a medal of Honor for 0dumbo running to Vegas to party with JZ while Americans were being killed and raped? Piece of.
Posted by: HUH? | March 15, 2013, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
Confused as to why these two contractors would ge the medal and not any of the other hundreds of contractors that died in Iraq and Afghanistan doing the same job (for tons and tons of money) would not be awarded it. Sounds like a Republican PR stunt. At the same time they are cutting funding for State Department security for other embassies and consulates around the world.
Posted by: Chief P | March 15, 2013, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
The deserve the medals and we deserve the truth. If congress continues to let this go they should all lose their jobs.
Posted by: Jeanne | March 15, 2013, 4:02 pm 4:02 pm
Chief P: You sound like one of the kool Aid drinkers that voted for the coward 0dumbo. Maybe you can volunteer for the next (tons of money) job in Benghazi. I’ll be sure to let your hero 0dumbo know you are there.
Posted by: HUH? | March 15, 2013, 4:14 pm 4:14 pm
There were rumors circulating that an Intelligence star was awarded to someone in San Diego, California. The CIA Honor and Awards Board hands the CIA Director the recommendation and the Office of Protocol is notified. This might of occurred in a foreign country, is told to the family members.
Posted by: David E. | March 15, 2013, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm
Just so I understand…. My tax money pays for these guys to get trained. The training is expensive. After they finish a short stint, they go to work for a private security firm. This firm takes nearly ten times the cost of what it would normally cost. This firm keeps a huge profit. I mean: huge. And they guys are doing no more or less than they would have done if they had stayed as SEALS (for which, again, my tax money trained them). They left the military. OK…. so give them the congressional medal. But take back the millions they (and the private security firm) made, after my tax money trained them.
Posted by: tom | March 15, 2013, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm
I rather see criminal charges brought up on Obama, Hilliary, and the rest of the pigs responsible for their deaths.
Posted by: saiditrabbit | March 15, 2013, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm
David E. These guys served our country with honor. I have never read why they separated from the military but I can guess. I served 20 years in a non combat arms capacity and my body feels ten years older than it is. Some days are even worse. These guys train hard and I’m quite sure both deployed to the war zones. Your body can only take so much abuse before it starts to rebel. I don’t know that that is the story with these gentlemen but it is true with many others. They found a job with a contractor, so what. This is America and they are free to do whatever they want. They ran to the danger not from it which shows unequivocally where their hearts were. I agree that nothing should be done until the Obama Administration comes clean with everything that happened that night but these men are heroes no matter how you see it and should be honored for their actions that night.
Posted by: Bill R. | March 16, 2013, 10:52 pm 10:52 pm
The Congressional Medal of Honor is awarded to persons who are active-duty members of the Armed Forces engaged in actual combat. While there are special cases and exemptions in the history books (e.g., Charles Lindbergh), this is not such an occasion. Although trained by the US military, these were civilian contractors who did perform a probably heroic act, resulting in self-sacrifice…but let’s not lessen the value to the CHM to active-duty military. As many of you should be aware…most of the GOP members of congress never served. Why this grandstanding stunt…think it’s gonna deny Obama a second term? Do your job. Why don’t all you chicken hawks call on your GOP reps to try to govern instead of playing politics when people are out of work?
(signed)…a Commissioned Officer, Airborne Infantry.
PS I earned my CIB in the Mekong Delta during 1971. You don’t know what a CIB is? Oh, boy, that proves your credentials to comment on this story.
Posted by: try2bthoughtful | March 19, 2013, 2:37 am 2:37 am
I think that many folks are misunderstanding what is proposed to be given posthumously. What is proposed is the “Congressional Gold Medal” rather than what probably leaps to 99% of people’s minds the “Congressional Medal of Honor”. BIG Difference. CGM is the highest civilian award while CMH (AKA simply the “Medal of Honor”) is the highest military award presented by the President on behalf of Congress. As the two gentlemen were no longer active-duty military but civilian contractors then a potential CGM is appropriate but not a CMH. Now, whether or not one believes these two gentlemen qualify for the CGM might also depend on how much grandstanding you think these Congressmen are doing over their deaths. Especially when you take into account the requirements for the CGM are those “who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long after the achievement”. I’m not sure that what they did was ultimately more than they thought they may have to do as civilian contracted security. They knew the potential danger they signed up for. After all, who hires former SEALS as security if there really isn’t a realistic threat their skills will be needed and that they may be on a suicide detail? Do you know many heroic police/firemen have done equally incredible things under extreme duress post-9/11 and gotten a CGM? NONE. Therefore, I’m going to have to lean towards this being congressional grandstanding, plain and simple. They did their jobs, regrettably they died doing so but was it “major achievement in their field”? Sadly, no it wasn’t. Moreover, dying was always expected as a possibility of the job.
Posted by: Dale | March 20, 2013, 5:40 am 5:40 am