Rep. Peter King, New York Republican, said Friday there are many unanswered questions surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on Benghazi, but that to make it a political attack on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is “wrong.”
“To me, there are major questions here as to why more action was not taken to provide security beforehand, and also when was this decision made, and why was it was made, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, to say it was caused by a video when nothing on the ground was saying that?” Mr. King, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN.
Mr. King said officials in the CIA, the White House and State Department were coming up with what “appears to be, I believe, a cover story after the fact.”
“And I think Americans deserve more than that - certainly, the families of those who were murdered deserve more than that,” he said.
But, he added, “I think to make it a personal attack on Hillary Clinton is wrong. I think that when you’re [dealing with] a bureaucracy such as the State Department, not everything makes it to the top.”
Mr. King pointed out that there have been security failures in the past, such as the 1983 bombing on a Marine compound in Beirut that killed more than 200 U.S. service personnel, but said there appeared to be a political spin put on Benghazi in the immediate aftermath that could have broader implications for U.S. foreign policy.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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