Benghazi controversy explained
By Kaye Foley
It’s been nearly three years since the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and the events of that night still remain a political controversy. The eighth investigation into the tragedy is currently under way. But, as previously expected, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not be called upon to testify, just yet. According to Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, she won’t be asked to testify until the State Department has provided additional related documents.
On the night of Sept. 11, 2012, Islamic militants attacked a U.S. diplomatic outpost and a CIA annex. Four Americans were killed, including J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya.
In the immediate aftermath, officials from the Obama administration and U.S. intelligence said that they believed the violence stemmed from a protest against an anti-Islamic film, “Innocence of Muslims.” Similar protests took place across the world on that Sept. 11, most outside U.S. embassies, including the embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows on Sept. 16, 2012, with talking points on the events in Benghazi supplied to her by the CIA. She said on “Meet the Press,” “What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video.”
Many in the intelligence community challenged those statements after Rice made them. They said there were no protests before the attacks began, and that this was an act of terrorism carried out by extremists, some with connections to al-Qaida. The CIA later determined that there were no protests.
Many also blamed the State Department and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for not providing enough security in Libya. They pointed to cables sent from Ambassador Stevens to his superiors in the summer of 2012, asking for more security assets. Those requests were not met.
With so many unknowns, multiple investigations were launched to get to the bottom of what happened outside the U.S. Embassy compound in Benghazi. Not all the questions have been answered, but the next time someone brings up Benghazi, at least after watching this video, you can say, “Now I get it.”
