Remember Benghazi

A House Oversight Committee report to be released next week concludes that the State Department investigation into the 11 September 2012 attack on the US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, was not conducted independently and did not hold top officials accountable. Media outlets obtained embargoed copies of the report this weekend. The Administrative Review Board (ARB) appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed four mid-level State Department officials for the mismanagement of security in Benghazi, but ignored the roles of officials at the highest level of the department. The four mid-level assistant secretary employees placed on paid leave were never told why and were later given new departmental job assignments. The House report states that "the ARB blamed systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies within two bureaus, but it downplayed the importance of decisions made at senior levels of the Department." Witnesses were uncertain how much these decisions impacted the inadequate security position in Benghazi. The House committee's report states that “The ARB’s decision to cite certain officials as accountable for what happened in Benghazi appears to have been based on factors that had little or no connection to the security posture at U.S. diplomatic facilities in Libya.” The House report questions why Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy, who was instrumental in naming the members of the ARB, was never blamed or disciplined even though he admitted to having a role in denying repeated requests for added security at the post before it was attacked on 11 September 2012. As security conditions degraded in the summer of 2012, with documented attacks on western facilities, a State Department officer who served on the Libya desk said Kennedy was asked about the mission's future, and Kennedy said he would first have to check with Secretary Clinton. Based on a conversation between Ambassador Chris Stevens - killed in the September 11 attack - and Clinton, Stevens’ deputy Greg Hicks testified it was the former Secretary of State's personal goal to have a permanent operation in Benghazi. And further implicating Clinton is the report conclusion that “The haphazard decision to place the four officials cited by the ARB on paid administrative leave," created the appearance that "former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s decision to announce action against the individuals named in the ARB report was more of a public relations strategy than a measured response to a tragedy." This, concludes the House report is the real reason why one year after the Benghazi attacks, no one at the State Department has been fired for their role leading up to the Benghazi attacks. It appears increasingly likely the Department’s primary objective was to create the public appearance of accountability." The report also questions Clinton's own awareness of her possible role in the department's missteps that contributed to attack. The Committee said the probe was rushed, taking only 10 weeks. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Douglas Franz told The Daily Beast on Sunday that the Committee, chaired by GOP Representative Darrell Issa, was playing politics with Benghazi, and that the ARB had cooperated fully with Issa's investigation. "In fact, it set a new standard for transparency measured by tens of thousands of pages of documents turned over to Congress, testimony in public and closed hearings and a declassified report for the public." The idea that anything has been hidden or that accountability has been averted requires willful ignorance of these facts." Representative Elijah Cummings, the senior Democrat on the committee, also defended the ARB report, telling CBS News the ARB conducted "one of the most comprehensive reviews in history." ~~~~~ Dear readers, tens of thousands of pages are more likely to hide the truth than to display it. We are still immersed in the muddy waters of yesterday's bloody attack at the Washington Naval Yard, but that must not make us forget about US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US diplomats assassinated in Benghazi one year ago. They were abandoned by borh the State Department and the presidential security that they deserved and were entitled to. And, from 11 September 2012 until today, neither President Obama nor former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has deigned to explain either exactly what happened on that fatal night in Benghazi, or why it happened. Remember Benghazi. It, along with IRS illegal political activities and illegally authorized NSA spying on American citizens, is the real footprint of Barack Obama's presidency.