Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Defense Department’s response to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Photo: Department of Defense | FlickrCC.
The attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya on September 11th, 2012 left four dead, including J. Christopher Stevens, who was at the time the ambassador to Libya. Now, over three years later, the investigation is not only on-going, but has become a nasty part of the current political scene, with Republicans and Democrats constantly fighting over it.
The Republican led commission to investigate the attack has, over the last few years, leaked or simply released statements about the attack that seem to have ben chosen specifically to harm Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party, especially of late, when Clinton is competing for the Democratic nomination for president. According to Clinton and the Dems, this was intentional, and recently, California representative Kevin McCarthy, who is gunning for the position of Speaker of the House, went on TV to boast that the commission had hurt Clinton’s poll numbers.
Though he clarified that hurting Clinton wasn’t the goal of the commission, it certainly gives the Democrats some proof that the commission has not been run with integrity, and isn’t so much concerned with the truth as with smearing Clinton. In light of that, the Democratic minority of the commission has declared that they will be releasing an otherwise sealed testimony from one of Clinton’s former aides, presumably a testimony that will make Clinton look better, or the Republicans look worse.
The Republicans are, of course, saying that this is nothing but a dirty political move by the Democrats, who they claim have no interest in pursuing justice or the truth. But that’s exactly what they’ve been doing in the first place. And frankly, nobody is happy about this situation. Clinton was livid on NBC News when she spoke about thee situation, claiming that the Republicans are using the deaths of four Americans to sling mud during the primaries. And frankly, it’s hard to disagree with her.
