US House committee releases final report on Benghazi attack

The U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi Tuesday faulted the U.S. government for lack of preparedness and slow response in sending help during the attacks in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead.

The U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi released Tuesday its 800-page final report on the 2012 attack which marked the culmination of a two-year investigation.

"Despite President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's clear orders to deploy military assets, nothing was sent to Benghazi, and nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost 8 hours after the attacks began," the report said.

In a statement regarding the findings of the report, Republican Representative Mike Pompeo accused the Obama administration of putting politics ahead of the lives of Americans.

"While the administration had made excuses and blamed the challenges posed by time and distance, the truth is that they did not try," Pompeo said.

Four Americans including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens were killed on Sept. 11, 2012 when the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were attacked by armed militants.

Pompeo and Republican Representative Jim Jordan, in an addendum to the report, also criticized the Obama administration for its public explanations of the attacks.

"With the presidential election just 56 days away, rather than tell the American people the truth and increase the risk of losing an election, the administration told one story privately and a different story publicly," the two representatives wrote.

The Democrats have slammed that the Republican-led investigation, which costs more than 7 million U.S. dollars, was intended to undermine Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Clinton, now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has been accused by the Republicans for being responsible for the terror attack as she had denied numerous requests for increased security protection from the U.S. diplomats in Libya.

"The Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee are finishing their work in the same, partisan way that we've seen from them since the beginning," Clinton's spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement in response to the report.

"In refusing to issue its report on a bipartisan basis, the Committee is breaking from the precedent set by other Congressional inquiries into the Benghazi attacks," Fallon said.

The Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Monday released their own report to refute accusations by the Republicans against Clinton for her role in the attack.

The House Democrats said they issued the 339-page report because it is "long past time" for the Republican-led select committee investigating the terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi to conclude its work.

By releasing the report on Monday, the Democrats aim to counteract the Republicans' attack as the presidential race kicks into high gear ahead of the national conventions by the two parties in July.
Source:XINHUA