House intel panel debunks many Benghazi theories
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An armed man waves his rifle as buildings and cars are
engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the US consulate
compound in Benghazi late on September 11, 2012.
"We spent thousands of hours asking questions, poring over
documents, reviewing intelligence assessments, reading cables and
emails, and held a total of 20 committee events and hearings," said Rep.
Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the committee's chairman, and Rep. C.A. Dutch
Ruppersberger of Maryland, the ranking Democrat, in a joint statement."We
conducted detailed interviews with senior intelligence officials from
Benghazi and Tripoli as well as eight security personnel on the ground
in Benghazi that night. Based on the testimony and the documents we
reviewed, we concluded that all the CIA officers in Benghazi were
heroes. Their actions saved lives," they said.Rep. Adam Schiff, a
California Democrat who serves on the intelligence panel and the
Benghazi select committee, said, "It's my hope that this report will put
to rest many of the questions that have been asked and answered yet
again, and that the Benghazi Select Committee will accept these findings
and instead focus its attention on the State Department's progress in
securing our facilities around the world and standing up our fast
response capabilities."Some of the harshest charges have been
leveled at Rice, now Obama's national security adviser, who represented
the Obama administration on Sunday talk shows the weekend after the
attack. Rice repeated talking points that wrongly described a protest
over a video deemed offensive to Muslims.But Rice's comments were
based on faulty intelligence from multiple agencies, according to the
report. Analysts received 21 reports that a protest occurred in
Benghazi, the report said —14 from the Open Source Center, which reviews
news reports; one from the CIA; two from the Defense Department; and
four from the National Security Agency.In the years since, some
participants in the attack have said they were motivated by the video.
The attackers were a mix of extremists and hangers on, the investigation
found."To this day," the report said, "significant intelligence
gaps regarding the identities, affiliations and motivations of the
attackers remain."
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