The long awaited Benghazi report is out. And Hillary Clinton says that it’s time for all of us to “move on” from this ongoing investigation that’s been one of many headaches for her campaign. Congress has been looking into exactly what happened on September 11, 2012, where Islamic terrorists attacked our compound in Benghazi, leading to the murders of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty. The House Select Committee on Benghazi has been combing through documents, emails, and conducting interviews over two years throughout the course of this investigation (via Politico) [emphasis mine]:
“I have said from the very beginning nothing is more important than the security of our diplomats and our development officials to go into dangerous places around the world pursuing American values, interests and our security," Clinton said in Denver. "And I said this when I testified for 11 hours that no one has thought more about or lost more sleep over the lives that we lost, the four Americans, which was devastating. And we owe to those brave Americans that we make sure we learn the right lessons from this tragedy."That’s why I immediately put together an independent committee to go everywhere, look everywhere, come up with what recommendations would help us prevent such tragedies in the future, and that of course should be the goal," she continued. "I understand that after two years and more than $7 million spent by the Benghazi Committee out of taxpayer funds, it had to today report it had found nothing — nothing to contradict the conclusions of the Independent Accountability Board or the conclusions of the prior multiple earlier investigations carried out on a bipartisan basis in the Congress. So while this unfortunately took on a partisan tinge, I want us to stay focused on what I’ve always wanted us to stay focused on and that is the important work of diplomacy and development."
That principle, she continued, is "especially true in dangerous places."
"We cannot withdraw or retreat from the world. America needs a presence for a lot of reasons," she continued. "And the best way to honor the commitment and sacrifice of those we lost is to redouble our efforts to provide the resources and support that our diplomats and our development experts deserve. So I'll leave it to others to characterize this report but I think it is pretty clear it is time to move on."
Earlier this morning, Leah wrote that the administration pushed the narrative that a YouTube video was responsible for the attack. That was false. Al-Qaeda is suspected of executing this assault, which would’ve undercut President Obama’s claim that the terror organization was on the run during the 2012 election. Cortney and Katie wrote that then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta ordered military units to move on Benghazi, but were stalled reportedly over a debate concerning which uniforms our forces should wear.
One of the inconsistencies found post-Benghazi were the talking points from the CIA, which ABC News reported on in 2013. In that discovery, they found that the Obama White House and the State Department suggested edits removing references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia and warnings from the intelligence community about the terrorist elements in the areas prior to the attack. Twelve different sets of talking points were hashed out and delivered by then-U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice. She’s now Obama’s national security adviser.
The report is quite clear that there was failed leadership on the night of the attack.
