Washington, D.C. – While the media are crowing that a new report by the House Intelligence Committee about the 2012 Benghazi, Libya terrorist attacks largely exonerates the Obama administration from charges of dereliction of duty and a cover-up, it could not be further from the truth. Clare Lopez, a member of the Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi (CCB), systematically exposes how the report’s authors used selective language and ignored recent revelations in order to promote a false narrative about the attacks, in a new rebuttal on behalf of the CCB. The report conveys “very inaccurate” impressions about these events, and is “misleading,” according to Lopez, who herself served at the CIA for 20 years.
“To sum up, then, the November 21, 2014 Rogers report on the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi leaves far too many misperceptions to go unchallenged,” writes Lopez. “From intelligence community warnings about the impending attack, to the unambiguous CIA Chief of Base ‘Stand Down’ order to the Annex security team, to the Al Qaeda terrorist identity of the attackers, and finally to the gun-running operation itself, there is still a great deal to be investigated here.”
“The Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi…calls on Rep. Trey Gowdy and the entire Select Committee on Benghazi to keep investigating this tragic fiasco until there is full accountability and as much transparency as possible for the American people—and especially, for the families of those who gave their lives in Benghazi,” writes Lopez on behalf of the CCB.
In this report you will find out
- That, although the intelligence committee’s report insists otherwise, key witnesses to the attack insist they were told to “Stand Down” before they unilaterally decided to assist the Diplomatic Security personnel at the Special Mission Compound.
- That these security personnel and those at the Special Mission Compound were not notified by the intelligence community about the unrest in Cairo, Egypt leading up to the attacks, although this was relevant to their duties.
- That the Annex Security Team was, likewise, not notified about Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Al Qaeda video threatening revenge for the death of Abu Yahya al Libi, issued September 10, 2012.
- That the intelligence community report makes key caveats with regard to possible gun-running to Syria.
“This systematic rebuttal leaves no room for doubt that the newly-released intelligence committee report misses the mark on Benghazi,” said Accuracy in Media’s editor Roger Aronoff. “It downplays or provides misleading information on a number of points. We call on the Select Committee on Benghazi to persist in its pursuit of the truth.”
To arrange an interview with Clare Lopez, contact Spencer Irvine at 202-364-4401, ext. 103, or preferably by email at firstname.lastname@example.org.