HE BENGHAZI REPORT: THE BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS
The final report from the Republican majority in Congress about the 2012 Benghazi terror attack focuses on five major conclusions:
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FOCUSED ON POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS AS THE ATTACK WAS STILL GOING ON.
A meeting convened with cabinet secretaries' deputies during the attack largely concerned how to frame the terrorists as protesters inspired by an anti-Islam YouTube video.
And in a subsequent memo, a White House national security aide identified one 'goal': 'to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.'
THE U.S. MILITARY NEVER SENT ANY ARMED FORCES TO FIGHT OR MOUNT A RESCUE AS THE BENGHAZI COMPOUND BURNED.
No Pentagon assets were headed to Benghazi at any point in the attack, other than two unarmed observation drones and a detachment of armed men who 'self-deployed' to help, without orders to do so.
One of those volunteers was killed within minutes of arriving.
The report states: 'The first asset to arrive in Libya – a Marine ‘FAST’ platoon – did not arrive until nearly 24 hours after the attack began. What is troubling is that the administration never set in motion a plan to go to Benghazi in the first place. It is one thing to try and fail; it is yet another not to try at all.'
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS ARRESTED JUST ONE TERRORIST WHO WAS ALLEGEDLY CONNECTED TO THE BENGHAZI ATTACK.
Despite the arrest of the filmmaker behind the red-herring YouTube video, only a single person has been captured among the dozens who fired guns and mortars at American personnel.
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TOSSED UP ROADBLOCKS TO IMPEDE THE INVESTIGATION BY REFUSING TO LET KEY WITNESSES TESTIFY.
The White House 'stonewalled at virtually every turn,' the report declares.
Still, the revelation of Hillary Clinton's secret email account was one product of the investigation.
Perhaps as a result, the administration refused Congress any access to people who were in the Situation Room on the night of the attack, and refused to let investigators see any emails between White House aides.
THE BENGHAZI COMPOUND WAS VULNERABLE BECAUSE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DIDN'T WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE WEAKNESSES IN WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ITS CROWNING DIPLOMATIC ACHIEVEMENT BY BEEFING UP SECURITY.
While every other Western country abandoned Libya, America's diplomatic mission remained, and stayed largely unprotected because the State Department designated it 'temporary,' removing the requirement that it have military security at all times.
'Secretary Clinton pushed for the U.S. to intervene in Libya, which at the time represented one of her signature achievements,' the report concludes.
'To leave Benghazi would have been viewed as her failure and prompted unwelcome scrutiny of her choices.'
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