Special ops vets call for congressional probe of Benghazi

Hundreds of members of a special operations veterans group are calling for House members to create a committee to investigate the fatal September terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The group, Special Operations Speaks, is unsatisfied with the given accounts of the Sept. 11 attack in which U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed. Roughly 700 members of the group signed a letter to Congress, urging for a more comprehensive probe.

“It appears that many of the facts and details surrounding the terrorist attack which resulted in four American deaths and an undetermined number of American casualties have not yet been ascertained by previous hearings and inquiries,” the letter said. “A comprehensive bipartisan inquiry [is] an imperative.”

The letter includes more than 20 questions to the committee:

• Why was there no military response to the events in Benghazi?

• Why have the survivors of the attack not been questioned?

• Where were then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey during the crisis, and what inputs and recommendations did they make?

• Who gave the order to “stand down” that was heard repeatedly during the attacks?

• Why did the commander in chief and secretary of state never once check in during the night to find out the status of the crisis situation in Benghazi?

“We ask that you fulfill your responsibilities to the American people and take appropriate action regarding Benghazi,” the letter states. “With over 60 members of the U.S. House of Representatives calling for this Select Committee already, it seems that the time is right to take appropriate action on Benghazi.”