A third report on the 2012 terrorist attacks on Benghazi was released Wednesday. The 16-member Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi revealed their own research centered on “failure of leadership” during the 2012 events, specifically citing Mrs. Clinton and the Obama administration. The analysis, titled “Betrayal in Benghazi: A Dereliction of Duty”, can be found here.
An independent project by the press watchdog Accuracy in Media, the 72-page report offers more details about local al Qaeda-linked militias, plus evidence that advance warnings about an impending attack “were ignored” and available U.S. military were held back from a rescue effort.
“We view these attacks as a sort of Rosetta stone, revealing much about the ideology and disposition of the Barack Obama administration,” the research stated. “It wasn’t just that the administration failed to secure our diplomatic mission or come to the aid of Americans sent there in harm’s way: it was a much broader narrative.
“We watched the story unfold just two months before a presidential election, and saw how the media botched the story, providing cover for Obama as he headed toward re-election,” the report said. “Congress and the State Department-appointed Accountability Review Board seemed to be intent on obscuring the truth, rather than exposing it.”
Democratic lawmakers on Monday released their own 338-page analysis about what happened almost four years ago during the terrorist attacks on the diplomatic compound, resulting in the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.
The role of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was downplayed in the Democratic findings, which were deemed “dishonest” and “partisan talking points” by the Republican-led House Select Committee on Benghazi, which issued its 802-page final analysis Tuesday.
The independent report was authored primarily by Roger Aronoff, editor of Accuracy In Media, along with Clare Lopez, vice president of the Center for Security Policy; retired Air Force Gen. Thomas McInerney and retired Navy Adm. James Lyons.
The independent commission itself was founded three years ago to investigate the attack, and has a clear directive.
“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country, to help explain, ’What difference does it make’ how and why these people died in Libya. Did our elected and appointed leaders do enough to protect our ambassador and other Americans involved, and if not, why not?” the commission asks in its mission statement, citing a now-familiar quotation from Mrs. Clinton when she testified before Congress on the attacks.
Find them here: Aim.org
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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