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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTop GOP Benghazi Investigator Debunks Conservative Myths: Nothing ‘Could Have Been Done Differently’
These statements undermine one of the GOPs most heavily recycled and completely unfounded talking points about the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans. Republicans have repeatedly and baselessly claimed that President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered the military to "stand down" and not respond to the attacks.
A former three-star general who served as the Republicans chief counsel on the Benghazi Select Committee repeatedly acknowledged as he interviewed witnesses during the committees investigation that nothing could have been done differently to affect the outcome in Benghazi.
The quotes, which came from multiple interviews conducted by the committee, were revealed publicly for the first time in a letter to Benghazi Select Committee chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., from ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash.
Although he is not identified by name in the letter, it has been publicly reported that Gowdy had hired Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman to lead the panel's legal team. Chipman left the committee earlier this year.
While interviewing former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in January, the then-chief counsel acknowledged, I think you ordered exactly the right forces to move out and to head toward a position where they could reinforce what was occurring in Benghazi or in Tripoli or elsewhere in the region. And, sir, I dont disagree with the actions you took, the recommendations you made, and the decisions you directed. (Emphasis added)
Later in the interview he told Panetta, And again, sir, I dont mean to suggest that anything could have been done differently to affect the outcome in Benghazi, and I think you would agree with that.
These statements undermine one of the GOPs most heavily recycled and completely unfounded talking points about the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans. Republicans have repeatedly and baselessly claimed that President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered the military to "stand down" and not respond to the attacks.
Gowdy praised Chipman when he brought him onto the committees legal team, remarking, If you are serious about conducting a fair, thorough, fact-centric investigation devoid of gratuitous partisanship, it stands to reason you would select someone with those same characteristics to lead the investigation."
In the committees Interim Progress Update, released in May 2015, Gowdy boasted of the highly-qualified staff he had gathered to aid the investigation, specifically mentioning Chipman.
In an interview with Defense Department Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash, the form chief council made similar comments to those he had made to Panetta. I would posit that from my perspective, having looked at all the materials over the last 18 months, we could not have affected the response to what occurred by 5:15 in the morning on the 12th of September in Benghazi, Libya, he said. So let me start with that positing or that stipulation.
During the same interview, he also noted, I dont see any way to influence what occurred there. But what I am worried about is were caught by surprise on 9/11, weve got nothing postured to respond in a timely manner and you can debate whats timely, whats untimely, but nothing could have affected what occurred in Benghazi.
These statements are all in line with the conclusions of previous investigations, including those conducted by the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee. They also match statements by military leaders including Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey.
Yet Gowdy continues to claim that his committee is uncovering ground-breaking new information, saying in a statement last week that the committee has identified new facts that significantly impact our understanding of what happened before, during, and after Benghazi.
Gowdy, in an apparently desperate attempt to find damning information about the administrations response to the attack, has sought to call as witnesses a man who anonymously called in to a right-wing radio show claiming to have previously undisclosed knowledge of the events and a purported whistleblower who recently spoke with Fox News.
Despite Gowdys desperate attempts to salvage the image of his committee, Chipmans statements raise serious questions about what the Benghazi Select Committee has accomplished in the course of its two-year, $6.9 million investigation
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/top-gop-benghazi-investigator-debunks-conservative-myths-nothing-could-have-been-done-differ
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Top GOP Benghazi Investigator Debunks Conservative Myths: Nothing ‘Could Have Been Done Differently’ (Original Post)
factfinder_77
May 2016
OP
and still a sizeable portion of the American populace will believe otherwise
NoMoreRepugs
May 2016
#6
Gothmog
(145,046 posts)1. Great article
jpak
(41,757 posts)2. Required reading for teh morans - not that they would care
yup
lastlib
(23,191 posts)9. You presume that they are able to read....
...and comprehend. These creatures still walk on their knuckles.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)3. Benghazi,,,, Drink!
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)4. gee, what a shocker
We've had 25 years of GOP investigations that have turned up Jack Shit and a blowjob.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)5. Gowdy and his committee should repay the $6.9 million
of taxpayer money that has been spent on this desperate witchhunt.
titanicdave
(429 posts)11. Agreed
but then jerkwater Gowdy and his ilk just poo-pooed their own former lawyer, so unfortunately, their minds are closed, and so their witch hunt continues......next thing you know, they will be investigating what one of the tabloids has to say about Benghazi......
NoMoreRepugs
(9,400 posts)6. and still a sizeable portion of the American populace will believe otherwise
face it folks - we live amongst maroons
iandhr
(6,852 posts)7. Who says facts matter to these people?
Response to factfinder_77 (Original post)
IHateTheGOP This message was self-deleted by its author.
beastie boy
(9,274 posts)10. Another expensive Hillary witch hunt down the crapper...
Anyone still holding on to the fantasy that the FBI will come up with anything more than a slap on the wrist?