In the fourteen months since Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has become an epicenter of outrage over the incident.
Its Republican members have criticized the Obama administration for failing to keep U.S. diplomatic personnel safe and, they allege, for covering up details of the attack.
Last weekend, four committee members — including Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) — traveled to Libya to review the State Department’s progress in implementing security improvements to American embassies. It was a rare chance, Welch says, to put aside the partisan rancor and focus on substantive changes.
“The Oversight Committee, I think, unfortunately politicized what happened in Benghazi,” he says. “But this trip, I thought, was an opportunity for two Republicans, two Democrats to start looking at this in a broader perspective and hopefully bring that back to the committee.”
Joining Welch on the four-day trip to Libya, Egypt and Malta were U.S. Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.). Chaffetz, a conservative Republican who chairs an oversight subcommittee focusing on national security and foreign operations, has been particularly critical of the administration’s handling of the embassy attack.
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“”The Oversight Committee, I think, unfortunately politicized what happened in Benghazi,” he says.”
I think this statement politicizes it. Welch is being the good Dem he is in dodging the complete and utter failure of the administration in it’s handling of Benghazi. It’s really a shame because I would have alot more respect for anyone on the left that said, ‘ hey you know what we messed up, and we deeply regret it. We will learn and move forward. ‘ Actually it applies to pretty much everyone in DC right or left leaning. It has always struck me as odd how hard it is for people to admit when they make a mistake… how can you learn from it if you won’t acknowledge it….
I wonder if Welch even knows what happened. I don’t mean that as a slam- I think there are secrets involved here that the Administration is still trying to keep. The government keeps so many secrets-60 Minutes once did a piece on this, including the fact that secrets are still held from World War I- that I wonder if even a man as highly placed as Peter Welch can ever be certain he is hearing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.