Obama Honors Four Americans Slain in Libya
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JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages(ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md.) — The bodies of the four Americans killed in a brazen assault on a diplomatic mission in Libya on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack “have come home,” President Obama said today.
At a ceremony at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, the president and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at a ceremony where the remains of the victims arrived from overseas, sharing some details of the men who they said laid down their lives for their colleagues and for the United States.
“In our grief we will be resolute for we are Americans and we hold our head high,” Obama said, addressing servicemen in the somber audience as a full Marine guard stood watch over four flag-draped coffins. “Because of these patriots, and because of you, this country that we love will always shine as a light onto the world.”
“Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends,” the president said, quoting scripture. “The flag they served under now carries them home. May God bless the memories of these men who laid down their lives for us all.”
Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALs working under the State Department, were killed alongside U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and information management officer Sean Smith when a group of gunman launched an hours-long attack on a small compound in Benghazi in eastern Libya Tuesday.
A senior administration official told reporters Wednesday that Stevens and Smith apparently had been killed in the initial wave of attacks when the building they were in was set on fire. Doherty and Woods died later in a firefight trying to protect other Americans on the ground.
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