Sen. Coburn: ‘Glaring omission’ in Benghazi information from State Dept.

[Valin]

The Hill:

Justin Sink

05/09/13

 

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Thursday warned that congressional hearings into Benghazi could create “real trouble” for the State Department and said there was a “glaring omission” in the information provided to lawmakers about the administration’s response to the deadly attack.

 

"I think the State Department has real trouble," Coburn said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and suggested there was another shoe waiting to drop.

 

"Having sat on the Intelligence Committee and having seen the review of emails that went back and forth that developed the list, there's a glaring problem there that will eventually come out, and I can't talk about it now, but there was an omission that was given to the Intelligence Committee,” he said.

 

"I cannot do that and keep my obligation - you know, I can't talk about it, other to say that I think there was a glaring omission in terms of what was submitted to the Intelligence Committee," he said.

 

(Snip)

 

 

Vid at Link

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House Armed Service chair denied access to Benghazi files

Ed Morrissey

5/9/13

 

One question left mainly unaddressed by yesterday’s hearing on Benghazi — and by others, as well — is the lack of preparation by the Obama administration and the US military for the potential for attack in Benghazi. After all, terrorist attacks had been increasing steadily since the fall of the Qaddafi regime in 2011. Other Western nations had already withdrawn from Benghazi due to the security risks in the region, specifically from the radical Islamist terror networks able to operate freely in eastern Libya because of the removal of Qaddafi. Our own State Department personnel in Libya repeatedly warned Washington about the threat.

 

Put all of that together with the approach of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and lights should have been flashing red across the board regarding our outpost in Benghazi. Instead, the White House, State Department, and Pentagon have repeatedly claimed for months that the US had no assets in place to respond quickly to an attack, even though anyone with a calendar could have pointed out the risk. One might wonder why the Pentagon didn’t connect those dots on its own, and that seems like a good question for the two Congressional committees overseeing the Department of Defense.

 

House Armed Services Chair Buck McKeon agrees. The Pentagon apparently does not, not even to the limited extent of its response to the actual attack:

 

Pentagon officials have denied a request from a House Republican chairman for access to documents on last year’s terrorist attack in Benghazi.

(Snip)

 

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Were I Buck I would gather the boys and girls on the committee, drive over to the Pentagon, walk in and (in very strong language) ask the question...WTF is going on? Then mention if they don't get the Memos/E-mails, the next time they come up to the Hill, it will not go well for them....Pentagon office budgets will be cut....severely.

[Valin]

The Three Martini Lunch: Hearings & Verdicts

 

Jim Geraghty and Greg Corombos discuss the Benghazi hearings, Dem efforts at distraction, and the media preferring to cover the Jodi Arias verdict.