Allen West

Dear Patriot-

Greetings to our Constituents, fellow Floridians, and indeed all Americans.  It is Friday, October 12th and time to prepare our weekly update for dissemination.

I must begin by discussing what has to be a most disturbing issue for the American people, the Benghazi Consulate terrorist attack. This week, the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee held a hearing on this incident and we are still receiving conflicting messages and information.

Anyone suggesting this is a “politicized” issue is just trying to preclude the truth from becoming evident to the American people. A very serious mistake was made and it cost the lives of four Americans. The intelligence of the American people was insulted, and continues to be insulted with "excuses" and "blame games." It has been one month and we are still not any closer to having a definitive statement from the Obama Administration on the truth about this terrorist attack. Vice President Joe Biden’s dodging of the question during Thursday's debate on whether the attack was indeed an "intelligence failure" shows the Administration is still not willing to accept responsibility.

The testimony this week of the Benghazi Consulate's Regional Security Officer in front of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee hearing, clearly outlined that prior to the attack, there had been a request for security personnel. This request had been denied, not because of any budget cuts, but because of someone’s inaccurate assessment of the security situation. As a matter of record,  the Regional Security Officer had received additional “hostile duty” pay, so budget cuts would have had nothing to do with this incident. Yet somehow, someone deemed it not “hostile” enough to fulfill his additional security request.

Consider President Obama’s actions in the immediate week following the attack.  He took a trip to Las Vegas, partied with music stars Jayzee and Beyonce, and did television interviews with Dave Letterman and The View. This is an unacceptable and insensitive course of action from a President after a terrorist attack on the 11th anniversary of 9-11.

I find it unconscionable that President Obama stated just this week in San Francisco that “Al Qaeda is on its heels.”Perhaps the President should listen in on more of those “intel briefs” by actually sitting, being briefed and asking questions, rather than just taking the briefing papers and reading them on his own.  If so, he would hear firsthand how Al Qaeda is not nearly decimated or "on its heels."  The terrorist network continues to exist in the Maghreb (North Africa), Arabian Peninsula (Yemen), is resurging in Iraq (a large jailbreak of terrorists recently in Tikrit), is operating in Syria, collaborating with the Afghan Taliban, and joining forces with Al Shabab in Somalia and extending into Sudan.

The Obama Administration has already destroyed our economic security.  Refusing to call this Radical Islamic Fundamentalist enemy out for what it is, the Administration seems bent on destroying our national security as well.

During his speech to the United Nations, President Obama stated, “The future does not belong to those who would slander the prophet of Islam.”  Our President should have stood strong and supportive of his own country and said"The future does not belong to those who will not support and defend our United States Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

In closing, last week I had the honor of being invited to the 70th birthday celebration of a dear supporter, friend, mentor and Town of Palm Beach Councilman, David Rosow, hosted by his lovely wife, Jeanne. The birthday dinner party was held on Palm Beach Island at the Sailfish Club and one of the many distinguished attendees was Mr. Rush Limbaugh, who happens to be a constituent of the district I represent.  Into this illustrious setting, walked the son of Herman Sr. and Elizabeth West born respectively in 1920 in South Alabama and 1931 in South Georgia, accompanied by the daughter of Marine Security Guard (Ret) Keith and Patricia Graham, Jamaican immigrants to America. When my parents and the parents of my wife, Angela, were born, our parents would not have been able to visit Palm Beach Island, much less attend an event like this. However, it is because of the vision and dream of our parents that all things are possible in America, that Angela and I would be right there some 51 years later.

Herman Sr. and Elizabeth’s son is the Congressional Representative for one of the highest per capita income zip codes in America, the Town of Palm Beach. By my side that evening was my wife of 23 years, mother of our two daughters, and an accomplished woman with an MBA and a PhD.  It did not require President Obama and his economic and social justice policies of fairness, fair share, fair shot, or economic patriotism to enable my wife and I to walk into the Sailfish Club last Sunday. It was Thomas Jefferson, who articulated that we have the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness endowed to us by our Creator,  not man, and therefore not government. We are all created equal and have the access to the equality of opportunity this country has perfected and affords to its citizens and all who come to our beautiful shores.

America is a great and exceptional nation, and as Angela and I drove home that night we were reminded of such. I pray all of you realize how blessed we are to live in the greatest Constitutional Republic the world has ever known.

ALLEN WEST