Congressional Inquiry into Benghazi Begins

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com



"We were fighting a losing battle. We couldn't even keep what we had," said Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, former head of a 16-member U.S. military team that helped protect the embassy in Tripoli. 


I caught an hour or so of the House Oversight hearings into the Benghazi massacre on C-SPAN while on the treadmill. Testifying were Colonel Andrew Wood, former State Regional Security Officer for Libya, Eric Nordstrom,  State Diplomatic Security head Charlene Lamb and Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/10/diplomatic-security-in-libya-weak-former-military-team-chief-says/

Most all of the questioning came from Republicans. Many of the Democrats were not even present. The 3 Democrats I saw asking questions were lobbing up softballs to the witnesses while the Republicans were hammering away.

Clearly in the hottest water was Lamb, who came across as a pathetic bureaucrat trying to justify her denial of additional security personnel for Libya. The request came from none other than Nordstrom, who was sitting at the same table with her.

Trey Gowdy (R-SC) was visibly angry as he demanded that UN Ambassador Susan Rice and White House spokesman Jay Carney be called to testify as to who gave them the orders to go out and publicly spout information that was so clearly false. The Republicans also hammered home the point that the riots at American diplomatic missions were not caused by any video on YouTube.

At this point, it is expected Rice will be called to testify in a closed hearing in the coming days. The sooner the better.

Meanwhile, the White House is predictably making the intelligence agencies the scapegoat.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/10/white-house-blames-intelligence-agencies-for-benghazi-confusion/

This, of course, is beyond shameful. The State Department and the White House are both  lying in order to cover up their own ineptitude, which has resulted in the deaths of 4 Americans. They have said that the protests and the attack in Benghazi were a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video. They have lied as to the existence of intelligence that screamed for increased security in Libya even as they reduced it and denied requests for more support. They contradict each other's statements with each passing day. It would be laughable if it were not so tragic.

And in the face of it all, they still tell us that Obama leads in the polls and will have an advantage in future debates with Romney in the area of foreign affairs.