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Washington
Times
Obama,
Clinton blew Benghazi
response: Republican report
By Stephen Dinan
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
House
Republicans have concluded
that the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies bear no blame for
failing to
halt the terrorist assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya,
last year,
releasing a report Tuesday that said President Obama and the State
Department
set up the military for failure.
The
report also found that plenty
of intelligence presaged the attack, but the White House and State
Department —
including the secretary at the time, Hillary Rodham Clinton — failed to
heed
the warnings.
In
the most damning conclusion,
House Republicans said Mr. Obama’s team lied about the attacks
afterward, first
by blaming mob violence spawned by an anti-Muslim video, and then
wrongly
saying it had misled the public because it was trying to protect an FBI
investigation.
“This
progress report reveals a
fundamental lack of understanding at the highest levels of the State
Department
as to the dangers presented in Benghazi, Libya, as well as a concerted
attempt
to insulate the Department of State from blame following the terrorist
attacks,” the GOP investigation concluded in its 46-page report.
The
White House dismissed the
report as a rehash of questions the administration has answered, and
said it
has provided extraordinary cooperation.
The
report was released after
rank-and-file Republicans feared the pressure to get answers on the
Benghazi
attacks was subsiding.
Some
House Republicans want to
create a Watergate-style special committee to investigate the attacks,
but
leaders have resisted, saying the existing investigative, defense,
foreign
affairs, intelligence and judiciary committees can handle it. Tuesday’s
interim
report is the result.
The
report also could dog Mrs.
Clinton if she returns to politics.
The
GOP report said the White House
was responsible for prohibiting the mention of terrorism, and the
report said
administration officials were trying to shield themselves from
criticism that
they had been too lax in security.
“It
is clear that the State
Department expressed concerns — and was backed by the White House —
that the
information be removed to avoid criticism for ignoring the general
threat
environment in Benghazi,” the report said…
Read
the rest of the article at the Washington
Times
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