Monday, May 13, 2013

Republicans Push for More Information on #Benghazi

At the New York Times, "G.O.P. Pushes for More Details of Benghazi Attack":

WASHINGTON — A House committee chairman vowed Sunday to seek additional testimony on the Obama administration’s handling of last year’s deadly attack on the American diplomatic post in Libya as another prominent Republican lawmaker called for a special committee to investigate.

The dispute over the assault in Benghazi, Libya, in September that killed four Americans dominated the network talk shows on Sunday. Leaders of both parties debated whether the administration had paid enough attention to security before the attack, did enough to respond once the violence began and tried to deceive the public afterward in the midst of an election campaign.

“I’d call it a cover-up,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on the ABC News program “This Week.”. “I would call it a cover-up in the extent that there was willful removal of information, which was obvious.”

Mr. McCain called for a select committee to investigate, saying that “there are so many questions that are unanswered.” Last week, several House Republicans called for a special investigation in that chamber as well.

Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also referred to a cover-up as he charged that the administration scrubbed talking points to falsely blame an incendiary anti-Muslim video rather than specific terrorist groups.

“The American people were effectively lied to for a period of about a month,” he said on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.” “They were in fact covering up an easy attack that succeeded, that was from the get-go really about a terrorist attack. It was never about a video.”

Mr. Issa said he would deliver requests for testimony on Monday to former Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering and Adm. Mike Mullen, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who led a State Department review of the episode that critics considered inadequate. Mr. Issa, whose committee has been leading the latest investigation in the House, said he did not believe a special investigation would be necessary.
Continue reading.

EARLIER: "George Will Hammers White House on #Benghazi."

0 comments: