Late Friday afternoon, the House Intelligence Committee released a report on Benghazi. It is an article of faith among conservatives that Benghazi, Libya, was the site not only of a terrorist attack on an American diplomatic site but a heinous cover-up by the Obama administration in 2012. The Committee, which is led by Republicans, instead concluded that the administration did not order security to “stand down,” nor did the Obama administration deliberately mislead the public about what was happening.
The ramifications of this report are clear: The conspiracy that has engulfed the Obama administration has gotten to the House Republicans, too. Lindsey Graham, who has gained cover on the right for his attempts to strike an immigration deal by branding himself as the ultimate Benghazi scandal-monger, calls the report “full of crap.” Mollie Z. Hemmingway of the Federalist argues that the committee simply failed to uncover the conspiracy:
“The conclusion to the report claims “This report is the result of nearly two years of intensive investigation.” I’d like to see how they define intensive.
Because if you spend two years to come up with a report that one of our worst failures was not preventable and you don’t even explore, say, whether we were sold out by supposed friends who turn out to be al Qaeda affiliated, what are you doing with your time?
If I wanted to read a bunch of unconvincing explanations for bad behavior, I’d talk to a group of poorly disciplined children. We should expect a bit more from an oversight committee.”
So, yes, obviously the two year-long investigation overseen by Republicans abjectly failed to expose the administration’s Benghazi scandal.
But is simple incompetence the explanation? Or is there some deeper explanation for the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee abetting the scandal?
“The Intelligence report did not interview anyone in the White House, or in the State Department,” concludes Breitbart’s Joel Pollack, “Some of its findings, moreover, will continue to be disputed. Regardless, the core of the Benghazi scandal remains, and the enthusiasm with which the left has greeted the report suggests a continued attempt to distract from the facts.”
Newt Gingrich, as always, has theories, too:
The best conspiracies always involve the CIA.
