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Like a dog chewing a bone down to nothing, congressional right-wingers have been gnawing on the so-called “scandal” of Benghazi for more than two years, growling that there’s a dark conspiracy inside it involving Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But all of their gnawing and growling has come down to this: Nothing.
The September 2012 terrorist attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya certainly was a night of horror. The American consulate was reduced to rubble and four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. But where others saw the longstanding need to fund better security at these diplomatic hot spots, GOP hotheads sniffed political red meat and jumped on it. They’ve been holding a non-stop, three-ring circus of hearings and media events ever since, alleging a massive cover up of Obama-Clinton perfidy.
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But now comes a report documenting that none of that is true. There was no intelligence failure in the Benghazi attack, no order from on high for a CIA rescue team to “stand down,” no nixing of a military rescue, and no intentional effort by the White House to mislead the public. The significance of this report is that it is not some white wash put out by Democrats, but the product of the GOP-controlled House Intelligence Committee! Chairman Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, says that his committee’s exhaustive, two-year investigation found no wrongdoing by officials in the White House, State Department, CIA, or Benghazi itself. Instead of the loss of life being a product of diabolical political intrigue by US leaders, as the right-wing alleges, it was in fact a horrible result of terrorism.
So that’s that, right? Ha! While the bone of the Benghazi “scandal” is gone, the right-wingers now have their own party’s investigative report to gnaw on. Thus, the zombie of Benghazi lives on.
“Counting our blessings on Benghazi investigation,” Austin American Statesman,” November 29, 2014.
“Panel” No wrongdoing in Benghazi response,” Austin American Statesman, November 22, 2014.