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To: THE WATSONYOUTH who wrote (711604)	4/23/2013 7:46:07 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1571443

House GOP concludes Hillary Clinton blew Benghazi response .......................................................... By Stephen Dinan The Washington Times Tuesday, April 23, 2013 washingtontimes.com House Republicans have concluded that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was responsible for cutting security at the consulate in Benghazi ahead of last year’s attack there, and that the administration lied about why it downplayed terrorism as the cause of the assault. A new report — the result of months of investigation by five different House committees — says there was plenty of intelligence that presaged the attack, but the State Department and President Obama failed to heed the warnings or give the Defense Department the authority to respond to such an attack. SPECIAL COVERAGE: Benghazi Attack Under Microscope The report exonerates the Pentagon itself, saying the military did what it could to respond once the attack began, but “was hindered on account of U.S. military forces not being properly postured” beforehand. In the most damning finding, House Republicans said Mr. Obama and his team lied about the attacks afterward, first by blaming mob violence spawned by an anti-Muslim video, and then wrongly saying it had misled the public because it was trying to protect an FBI investigation. “This progress report reveals a fundamental lack of understanding at the highest levels of the State Department as to the dangers presented in Benghazi, Libya, as well as a concerted attempt to insulate the Department of State from blame following the terrorist attacks,” the GOP investigation concluded in its 46-page report. The Obama administration has acknowledged providing an inaccurate explanation for the attacks early on — even though officials at the Defense Department said they knew it was a terrorist assault from the beginning. But Mr. Obama has vehemently denied he intended to deceive the public. Tuesday’s report comes after Republicans feared the pressure to get answers on the Benghazi attacks was dying out. Earlier this year Senate Republicans had threatened to hold up some of Mr. Obama’s top nominees in order to extract more information about the timeline on the night of the attacks. But over the last two months the Benghazi questions had slipped into the background amid debates over guns, immigration and the budget sequesters.

To: THE WATSONYOUTH who wrote (711604)	4/23/2013 7:48:42 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1571443

GOP Benghazi report blames Clinton ................................................... By Julian Pecquet - 04/23/13 House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a report on last year's Benghazi attack that blames former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for approving lax security measures and accuses her of seeking to cover up her department's failures. The 46-page report is a compilation of five committees' conclusions after seven months of investigation since the attack on the U.S. Consulate killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. It was distributed to Republican House members on Tuesday. The report aims in part to inoculate Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his committee leaders from conservative criticism that they're giving the Obama administration a free pass by opposing the creation of a select committee endorsed by more than half the Republican conference. It's also a first shot at Clinton's legacy at the State Department as she begins to lay the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2016. According to the report's summary: --Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. This fact contradicts her testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on January 23, 2013; --In the days following the attacks, White House and senior State Department officials altered accurate talking points drafted by the Intelligence Community in order to protect the State Department; and --Contrary to Administration rhetoric, the talking points were not edited to protect classified information. Concern for classified information is never mentioned in email traffic among senior Administration officials. The report says Clinton had been informed of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi but signed off on cuts anyway. The conclusions are at odds with Clinton's testimony that she did not personally read the cables about the security situation in Benghazi. “Senior State Department officials knew that the threat environment in Benghazi was high and that the Benghazi compound was vulnerable and unable to withstand an attack, yet the Department continued to systematically withdraw security personnel,” the report states. “Repeated requests for additional security were denied at the highest levels of the State Department. For example, an April 2012 State Department cable bearing Secretary Hillary Clinton’s signature acknowledged then-Ambassador [Gene] Cretz’s formal request for additional security assets but ordered the withdrawal of security elements to proceed as planned.” It also says Clinton's State Department changed the talking points that United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice used on television five days after the attacks in order to “insulate” the department from criticism, not to protect the FBI's investigation. “Senior State Department officials requested – and the White House approved – that the details of the threats, specifics of the previous attacks, and previous warnings be removed to insulate the Department from criticism that it ignored the threat environment in Benghazi,” the report states. “Evidence rebuts Administration claims that the talking points were modified to protect classified information or to protect an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Email exchanges during the interagency process do not reveal any concern with protecting classified information. Additionally, the Bureau itself approved a version of the talking points with significantly more information about the attacks and previous threats than the version that the State Department requested. Thus, the claim that the State Department’s edits were made solely to protect that investigation is not credible.” President Obama also comes in for some criticism. “The President, as Commander-in-Chief, failed to proactively anticipate the significance of September 11 and provide the Department of Defense with the authority to launch offensive operations beyond self-defense. Defense Department assets were correctly positioned for the general threat across the region, but the assets were not authorized at an alert posture to launch offensive.” The report also takes the administration to task for failing to bring anyone to justice more than seven months after the attack. “The failure to respond more assertively to the attacks and to impose meaningful consequences on those who planned and perpetrated them has contributed to a perception of U.S. weakness and retreat,” the report concludes. Read more: thehill.com