Posted on 12/15/2012 5:20:09 PM PST by Libloather
Republicans are 'not giving up' on Benghazi
By Julian Pecquet - 12/15/12 03:24 PM ET
Republican lawmakers are vowing to keep pressing the administration on Benghazi despite Susan Rice’s decision to drop her bid to become secretary of State.
“We'll continue to seek answers,” a Republican Senate aide told The Hill. “We're not giving up on it.”
Rice’s decision to step aside averted a contentious confirmation fight with Republican senators that might have pointed to an end to the political battle over the U.S. consulate attack. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations had become the flash-point for criticism since describing the deadly attack as a protest gone awry three months ago.
Rice’s decision came as the Obama administration has been seeking to mend bridges with lawmakers who have felt deprived of information about the attack. The administration had planned to send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify on Capitol Hill next week about the attack.
However, the State Department said Saturday that Clinton fainted and suffered a concussion after becoming dehydrated due to a stomach virus. She will not testify before House and Senate panels.
Clinton deputies Tom Nides and Bill Burns will testify in her place.
Republicans had promised tough questions for Clinton, and assert they’ll continue to hold the administration’s feet to the fire over how terrorists could have launched a successful attack on the U.S. consulate that left U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three others dead.
“We're not going to let this go,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rice's most prominent critic along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), vowed on Fox News after her decision was made public. “How could, for seven hours, nobody come to the aid of the people during the attack? Why did we leave the consulate open? Where was the president when the British decided to close their consulate in June? And afterwards, how did the intelligence get so screwed up, for lack of a better word?
“So we're going to keep pressing this so we can learn from it and not have it happen again,” Graham said.
McCain made the same promise through his spokesman.
“He will continue to seek all the facts about what happened before, during and after the attack on our consulate in Benghazi that killed four brave Americans,” Brian Rogers said in a statement.
And Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also made it clear he has unanswered questions.
“We expect the secretary of State to come and answer some questions that frankly have been asked by the media and the House and the Senate,” Royce told Fox News. “There are real answers to be given here.”
The Senate remains in Democratic hands however. And in the House, action will largely depend on Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) desire to make Benghazi a priority of his oversight committee, which has subpoena power.
Issa held a hearing on security lapses in Benghazi in October and has requested numerous diplomatic cables and other internal State Department documents, but he has largely stayed silent about the Benghazi attack since the election. His office did not return a request for comment Friday.
Clinton is expected to brief the House and Senate foreign affairs panels about the findings of the independent panel reviewing security lapses in Libya on the day of the September 11 attack and in the days before it.
The State Department vowed Friday that the report would be ready in time after a spokeswoman cast doubts on the timetable the day before, prompting grumblings from lawmakers.
“Right now we anticipate that the ARB [Accountability Review Board] will complete its work early next week,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said at Friday's briefing. “The committees have announced that the secretary will be on the Hill next Thursday, and so that's the plan.”
I don’t recall
Which is caused by amnesia
Which is caused by a concussion
Which is caused by slipping.
She will fain amnesia on everything except where those 900
FBI files are located. Quite frankly, this GOP don’t deserve a majority
in the house. The only raw power Bonehead exerts is on conservatives.
She's not in a hospital, but home. I wonder if she ever went to a hospital? If not, where is the equipment the Dr. took x-rays or MRI? These a__holes can't even make up good lies. These were very serious crimes and they can't ask her questions unless she goes into the Capital?
Did Clinton announce she was resigning before Benghazi, or is the concussion from a bus tire over her head?
Even if Hillary does testify, which now looks unlikely, I doubt we will ever learn the truth. The investigation will get sidetracked on questions about the video story and never get to why Obama refused to order any action.
i wonder if the survivors, who have been kept from the media, have had their minds made right?
I still want to know where the hell Obozo was during the attack, and the hours after, when no one could get ahold of him? On the WH basketball court? In the basement smoking a joint with Jay Z? Where was he?
WHere was BO during the attacks? Why will no one ask this question?
I’ve had 2 concussions in my life.
Minimum mandatory hospital stay; 72 hours, even for the very, *very* minor one.
Those people were there. They have the real answers. They know their CIC ordered no help for them - left them for what he was sure would be their violent deaths, while he watched. Dead people don't talk.
He didn't count on those two heroes mucking things up for him.
Whenever such a raid/rescue/hostage situation like this happens, we always see the survivors as they arrive home and get off the plane to cheers and media and interviews, etc.
This time, they were all spirited away, to separate locations according to initial reports, and haven't been heard from since.
And NO ONE is asking where they are or demanding to see them. Why isn't the press , at least, curious?
We don't actually know if they're still alive - or if theose who ‘don't die from injuries sustained’ will only be released on pain of death if they disclose the truth.
Who are they?
Where are they?
And why aren't the commanders who were going to ignore the stand down order and were summarily - and swiftly (within minutes) releived of command -why isn't the committee interested in hearing from THEM, under oath?
ARe we supposed to be satisfied with only the testimonies of those who have already lied their eyeballs off on this?
Those people were there. They have the real answers. They know their CIC ordered no help for them - left them for what he was sure would be their violent deaths, while he watched. Dead people don't talk.
He didn't count on those two heroes mucking things up for him.
Whenever such a raid/rescue/hostage situation like this happens, we always see the survivors as they arrive home and get off the plane to cheers and media and interviews, etc.
This time, they were all spirited away, to separate locations according to initial reports, and haven't been heard from since.
And NO ONE is asking where they are or demanding to see them. Why isn't the press , at least, curious?
We don't actually know if they're still alive - or if theose who ‘don't die from injuries sustained’ will only be released on pain of death if they disclose the truth.
Who are they?
Where are they?
And why aren't the commanders who were going to ignore the stand down order and were summarily - and swiftly (within minutes) releived of command -why isn't the committee interested in hearing from THEM, under oath?
ARe we supposed to be satisfied with only the testimonies of those who have already lied their eyeballs off on this?
The republican party is DEAD..
Not kinda dead but DEAD as a Boehner after a look at Helen Thomas dead..
Benghazi is not and never has been a US Consulate/Embassy. It was a CIA point of transfer for getting Libyan weapons to Syrian forces (Muslim Brotherhood)
Rusia shut it down quite effectively and delivered a strong message to the one.
Who was it that was forced to testify in one of the investigations of Republicans when he was in the hospital in grave condition?? Dems accused him of faking it, and he died a day or two later.
There are some republicans, though they be the few, working to behave as a Statesman or Stateswoman should at bringing forward the information of the lies and the cover-ups. I pray this effort does not die. What lays in the field is more, much more, than four dead.
Do you think the earlier visit by the other ambassador was the key to turning the lock to verify the prey was in place? I think it is likely, and I agree with your point.
Maybe she was "deemed to have been nominated"...
The Turk ambassador left and safely made it through the roadblocks set up around the entire area by the attackers. This alone speaks volumes. They let him leave.
Where are the Benghazi survivors and where are the calls for their testimony?
Crickets...
They are only alive today because of the heroic actions of the CIA assets who gave their lives fighting back and calling for backup while Hussein and Hillary watched.
I think the truth is they were all supposed to die that night, so the truth about this entire operation would die with them. Dead men tell no tails.
I fear for their safety and hope they have not met with a tragic accident by now.
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