Thread: Republican-led report debunks Benghazi theories and accusations

Republican-led report debunks Benghazi theories and accusations

By Adam Levine, CNN
updated 8:13 PM EST, Fri November 21, 2014

Attackers set the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, on fire on September 11, 2012. The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other U.S. nationals were killed during the attack. The Obama administration initially thought the attack was carried out by an angry mob responding to a video, made in the United States, that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. But the storming of the mission was later determined to have been a terrorist attack.

Washington (CNN) -- An investigative report prepared by the House Intelligence Committee finds little to support questions raised about CIA actions on the ground in Benghazi, Libya, the night of a deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound.

Read the full report

The report, from Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, and ranking member Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland, concludes there was no intelligence failure prior to the attack, no stand-down order to CIA operatives trying to go assist at the besieged consular building, and found conflicting intelligence in the wake of the attack about the motive and cause, which were reflected in early public comments by the administration.

But the investigation also found the security at the diplomatic outpost was weak and also described a "flawed" process used to create talking points for House members and also then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, whose public statements after the attack incensed critics who said the administration was avoiding calling the attack terrorism.

Fast Facts: Benghazi attack

The report attempts to knock down other accusations about the Benghazi incident and aftermath, finding no evidence of CIA employees being intimidated from testifying and also no indication the CIA presence in Benghazi was partially to secretly ship arms from Libya to Syria.

The September 11, 2012, attack left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods dead, and immediately sparked controversy, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of mishandling the attack and manipulating the talking points used to discuss it for political reasons.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/politi...html?hpt=hp_t2

http://www.alipac.us/f9/boehner-form...oenaed-302049/

No Cover-Up, Intelligence Failure or Military Inaction in Benghazi Attacks, House Panel Finds

Josh Siegel / @JoshDailySignal / November 22, 2014


'All the CIA officers in Benghazi were heroes,' a new House report says of those who fought attackers like this one. (Photo: AFP/GettyImages/Newscom)

Intelligence and military officials responded appropriately during the terrorist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, a House committee concluded in a report released Friday evening.

The report by the House Select Committee on Intelligence also found no cover-ups and no deliberate misconduct by Obama administration officials following the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks.

Nor were there intelligence failures before the attacks, the report said.

The bipartisan report by the Republican-led panel dismissed many allegations surrounding the attacks, which led to the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty.

The report did confirm one widely reported fact, however: The State Department facility where Stevens and Smith died was poorly secured, and State Department security agents knew they were vulnerable to attack.

Previous reports concluded that the White House did not act upon requests for security improvements.

>>> Commentary: Panetta Joins Critics of Obama Over Benghazi

The new report confirms that the White House was wrong when it initially claimed the attacks on the American facilities in Benghazi grew out of an impromptu protest over an Internet video promoting an anti-Islam movie.

“There was no protest,” the report says.

“We spent thousands of hours asking questions, poring over documents, reviewing intelligence assessments, reading cables and emails, and held a total of 20 committee events and hearings,” committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the ranking Democrat, said in a joint statement. They added:

We conducted detailed interviews with senior intelligence officials from Benghazi and Tripoli as well as eight security personnel on the ground in Benghazi that night. Based on the testimony and the documents we reviewed, we concluded that all the CIA officers in Benghazi were heroes. Their actions saved lives.

In May, House Speaker John Boehner appointed a Select Committee on Benghazi that became the eighth group to look into the attacks.

That newest committee, led by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., continues to investigate and has held one public hearing. The intelligence panel’s findings will “aid” its work, Gowdy’s committee said in a brief release.

Although early intelligence indicated the attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi evolved from a protest over the video, contrary evidence that there was no protest proved to be correct.

Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on the job in 2012. (Photo: Newscom)

Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrongly asserted on five Sunday talk shows after the attacks that such a protest instigated the attacks.

Rice has been roundly criticized for those comments. The new report says the performance wasn’t her fault, however, because her talking points came from bad intelligence from multiple agencies — not from a politically motivated directive from higher-ups to mislead the public.

The House panel found that analysts received 21 reports saying a protest had occurred, including 14 from public reports and others from the CIA, the Defense Department and the National Security Agency.

The CIA changed its initial assessment nearly a week after Rice appeared on the Sunday shows.

The committee found no evidence that the military was ordered to “stand down” during the attacks in Benghazi, as some alleged, and that “appropriate U.S. personnel made reasonable tactical decisions that night.”

The panel also determined that the CIA was not secretly shipping arms from Libya to Syria, one allegation advanced to explain the firefight involving CIA operatives.

Libyan terrorist Ahmed Abu Khatallah, 43, identified by authorities as a leader of the attacks, was captured in a June raid and faces murder charges in the U.S.
Although some known terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda participated in the attacks, the report says, “to this day, significant intelligence gaps regarding the identities, affiliations and motivations of the attackers remain.”

http://dailysignal.com/2014/11/22/no...e-panel-finds/

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