Tuesday, June 28, 2016

GOP-Led House Benghazi Panel Issues 800 Page Report - No Bombshell

Benghazi committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy

After two years and more than $7 million dollars, the GOP-led House investigation into the Benghazi attack of 2012 has concluded with no "bombshell" or new revelations.

CNN reports:

The more than 800-page report paints a picture of a perfect storm of bureaucratic inertia, rapidly worsening security in Libya and inadequate resources in the months that led up to the killings of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three colleagues on September 11, 2012.

The attack was initially thought to be perpetrated by an angry mob responding to a video made in the U.S. mocking Islam and the Prophet Mohammed, but the assault was later determined to be a terrorist attack -- a finding Republicans accused the White House of covering up to protect President Barack Obama's re-election prospects.

The House Benghazi Committee report doesn't directly blame Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time and is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, for the attacks. But it does suggest she and other administration officials did not adequately address the risks involved. It also found Stevens himself bore responsibility for securing his post.

At the end of the day, House Republicans were unable to actually pin blame on Hillary Clinton for the attack. The most they could attach to Clinton was that she should have realized the situation in Libya was dangerous from available intelligence.

I'm guessing they mean that in the same way that President George W. Bush "should" have been able to avoid 9/11 after intelligence reports were available saying "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In US?"

Oddly, I don't recall House Republicans holding investigations into Dubya's culpability.

The Republican-run Congress spent more time investigating Benghazi than both 9/11 and the Iraq War combined, and yet thousands more Americans died in those conflicts.

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