Periodically, the American public needs to be reminded that on September 11, 2012, four Americans—including the ambassador to Libya—were murdered in Benghazi. Investigations into what happened, who was responsible for the lack of security, why the military sent no help, who was involved in the attack, etc., have been ongoing. One of the main problems with getting answers is that the Obama administration has refused to cooperate fully. Some people who were on the ground in Libya and others in the loop have not been allowed to testify. A wall of silence has greeted investigators in both houses of Congress.
Finally, the long-delayed, long-awaited report on Benghazi from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was released this week, 16 months after the event. For those who may think this report may be partisan against the administration, it is instructive to note it is a Senate report, the chamber controlled by Democrats. The chair of the committee was Democrat Diane Feinstein of California. Here’s a short summary of the committee’s findings:
- At least four Al Qaeda-affiliated groups were involved in the attack. This makes the administration’s line that there was no Al Qaeda participation a lie.
- The State Department was responsible for security, yet failed to act on repeated requests for enhanced protection. Officials at State seemingly paid no attention to the facts: attacks on other Western outposts, genuine warnings of threats, evacuations of Westerners from a deteriorating situation.
- The Department of Defense had no real contingency plans in case of an attack and didn’t position military assets in a way that would allow them to come to anyone’s aid. Later comments that there was no way the military could have done anything to help are less credible when the lack of foresight is taken into consideration.
- Internal e-mails show that President Obama and all top-level people were informed immediately that this was a terrorist attack. This exposes another big lie. For two weeks, this administration tried to blame an obscure internet video for a “spontaneous” demonstration. In fact, there was no demonstration; this was a pre-planned terrorist activity, and they knew that’s what it was.
The majority portion of this report, written by Democrats, does its best to avoid mentioning Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State, Leon Panetta, the Secretary of Defense, and, of course, the man at the top, Barack Obama, on whose shoulders ultimate responsibility lies. The Republicans on the committee, writing the minority report, show no such reluctance in naming names. You could call that partisan, if you wish, but they have the facts on their side.
Will Obama and his people ever be held responsible for their reprehensible actions and non-actions in this tragedy?
That’s going to depend on whether the media will ever take their job seriously and whether the American people will ever realize that all the obfuscation spewing from the administration over this event was their attempt to hide the truth less than two months before the election. The people were fooled in November 2012 once again. Have they learned their lesson?