Did the White House send then-UN Ambassador Susan Rice out on Sunday morning talk shows to mislead Americans about the attacks? No, the report said, she was merely stating what were at the time the best assessments of the intelligence community on what happened in Benghazi.

Was there an intelligence failure prior to the attacks? No, the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi was well-chronicled, but there was no specific warning about a possible attack.

Was the military prevented from offering support or even worse given a stand-down order by the White House? No, there were not any US military assets able to respond quickly enough.

Were whistleblowers silenced, intimidated, or prevented from testifying before Congress? No.

These sober findings are not only consistent with two years of statements from the White House, the State Department, and the intelligence community, but they stand in stark contrast to the unceasing stream of innuendo and unsupported allegations of wrongdoing that have been irresponsibly alleged ever since four Americans were killed during a terrorist attack on US diplomatic facilities.

The report’s release gives us the opportunity to focus on the real Benghazi scandal: the shameless and irresponsible politicization of this tragedy by the Republican Party. For two years, party graybeards like John McCain accused the Obama administration of engaging in a “cover-up’’ on Benghazi; Speaker of the House John Boehner brazenly asserted that the Obama administration was “misleading the American people;” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina accused the president of having “failed as commander-in-chief before, during, and after the attack;” and House committee chairman Representative Darrell Issa floated unfounded “suspicions” that Hillary Clinton gave a “stand down” order to prevent military resources from being sent to help those under attack.

Then there was the steady stream of conservative pundits who claimed, among other things, that the White House was blackmailing then-CIA Director David Petraeus to keep him quiet about Benghazi. There was the accusation hurled at Hillary Clinton that she faked a concussion to avoid testifying before Congress about the matter and the almost routine assertion that the White House had left those in Benghazi to die. None of it was true.

This is certainly not the first ginned up partisan attack. But the consequences of “Benghazi’’ have been significant.

First there are the costs of more than a dozen public hearings, 50 member and staff briefings, and the turning over of 25,000 pages of documents. According to the Pentagon, “the total cost of compliance with Benghazi-related congressional requests sent to the department and other agencies is estimated to be in the millions of dollars.”


he goes on:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/...cuhP/story.html

Rand Paul Wants to Rename House ‘Intelligence’ Committee After Benghazi Report

Paul trashed the committee’s recent report that deflated a good number of the right’s talking points about the 2012 attack on the American consulate in Libya, wondering if the report was “perhaps not telling the full story.” Now, a Congressional Committee chaired by Rep. Mike Rogers is telling us no one is responsible because there was no intelligence failure to begin with,” Paul wrote. “It might be time to rename the House ‘Intelligence’ Committee.”

“This new Benghazi ‘intelligence’ report is little more than a C.Y.A. attempt designed to protect incompetent politicians and government agents at the expense of justice for the victims of September 11, 2012,” he wrote, finishing with a dig at Hillary Clinton, whom he’s been after over Benghazi for more than a year. http://www.mediaite.com/online/rand-paul...enghazi-report/

This Intelligence Committee report released in November is hardly the last word on Benghazi-gate. Michael Cohen's gloating happy dance is way too premature. Boehner has assigned Trey Gowdy to lead this, just beginning House Select Committee investigation, which Gowdy promises will be much more in-depth and will interview many key principals, people who were not allowed to testisfy previously but who want to have their chance to speak.

Gowdy's House Select Committee report will be the true last word on Benghazi and he is just beginning.

Enjoy this moment in time Mr. Cohen for it won't last. As much as he and the liberals would like Benghazi to go away, it is not going away. There has been Zero accountability and much obfuscation. So much we do not know even after much talking. Gowdy will ferret out the truth. He will be using a new format and his prosecutor skills at interrogation.....unlike the grandstanding that occurred in front of Rep Darrell Issa.

The libs are dancing prematurely over this one. But it won't be for long now.....