**Posted by Phineas

Oh, this is interesting:

Marine Corps Col. George Bristol was in a key position in the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) chain of command the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. As such, he’s high on the list of people that some Republican members of Congress want to interview. But they don’t know where he is and the Pentagon isn’t telling. Pentagon spokesman Major Robert Firman told CBS News that the Department of Defense “cannot compel retired members to testify before Congress.” “They say he’s retired and they can’t reach out to him,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CBS News. “That’s hogwash.” Bristol, a martial arts master, was commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara based in Stuttgart, Germany until he retired last March. In an article in Stars and Stripes, Bristol is quoted at his retirement ceremony as telling his troops that “an evil” has descended on Africa, referring to Islamic militant groups. “It is on us to stomp it out.”

Sure, the Pentagon can’t find him. They have no forwarding address for his mail, no entry for a stateside residence, and no friends who might know how to get in touch with him. Nope. He just retired and walked out that door and vanished, and nobody in the vast US military bureaucracy knows where he is. It’s a real-life case of “Where’s George?”

This is nonsense. At the very least, Col. Bristol has veteran’s benefits, and the VA knows where he lives so they can process those. While Rep. Chaffetz says the DoD has been more forthcoming regarding Benghazi than other government departments, this is a glaring exception. It makes it look very much like the Pentagon (or someone who can give the Pentagon orders) doesn’t want Col. Bristol found, which leads to the question of what he knows about the events of the night of the massacre. Given his position in Africom, if he does know something, it’s likely to do with the failure to send a rescue mission that night, including the orders to the team in Tripoli to stand down. His testimony could be an important piece of the puzzle of what really happened that night. (1) This sounds like a good time for Issa’s committee to subpoena the colonel’s personnel and VA records, so they can look him up.

Passing thought: Bristol has to have known the committee would want to talk to him; he only retired four months ago. So, why hasn’t he come forth on his own, armed with a lawyer, if need be?

Footnote:

(1) Shocking, I know, but I don’t quite trust the White House “official story.”

via Chuck Woolery, who knows how the committee can find the colonel:

Republicans want to talk to Col. George Bristol about Benghazi http://t.co/YKJ8WFduOG via @CBSNews Don’t know where he is? Ask the NSA. — Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) July 5, 2013

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)