–Rand Paul: 'Benghazi Was the Definition of an Intelligence Failure'

by Sen. Rand Paul 

The House Intelligence Committee released its long-awaited Benghazi report Friday, claiming, “There was no intelligence failure prior to the attacks.” 

This one sentence tells us how seriously we should take this report.

Benghazi was the definition of an intelligence failure. It was, in fact, one of the worst intelligence failures in our history, a strategic blunder that resulted in the murder of a U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans.




The ultimate blame lies with the Obama Administration and more directly with Hillary Clinton who oversaw this tragedy during her tenure as Secretary of State. No rational person has ever disputed that our government failed horribly in protecting the U.S. embassy and our diplomats.

Americans just wanted to know who was responsible.

Now, a Congressional Committee chaired by Rep. Mike Rogers is telling us no one is responsible because there was no intelligence failure to begin with.

It might be time to rename the House “Intelligence” Committee.

This administration has changed the talking points and ignored important questions about Benghazi throughout—when the administration knew what was happening, why did it happen, was it terrorism, who ignored Ambassador Christopher Stevens security requests, who told Susan Rice the consulate was secure, the list of questions goes on. These questions remain unanswered or insufficiently answered and are crucial to getting to the bottom of what really happened.

The Associated Press claims the report debunks, “A series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.”

None of these accusations contain even a modicum of truth?

Three CIA security members have said their team was intentionally delayed by the administration in conducting a rescue effort. Are they being untruthful, or is this report perhaps not telling the full story? Multiple highly-respected news outlets reported on arms possibly being smuggled from Libya to Syria, before and after the attacks in Benghazi. Were all these stories fabricated? Or did they contain some useful or pertinent information related to this investigation?

The Obama Administration has tried to paint members of Congress who ask these questions as somehow being extreme or crazy—and perhaps the House Intelligence Committee will now follow suit,

But remember, this is the same administration that called the investigation into the IRS scandal a product of a “conspiracy theory.”

When Clinton was asked during her Benghazi testimony almost two years ago who first floated the story about an anti-Islamic video supposedly being the catalyst for the attacks, she shot back, “What difference at this point does it make?”

It makes a huge difference, Mrs. Clinton. All of these questions make a difference—about your judgment and the basic competency of this administration. They make a difference to the families of the victims.

They make a difference to the American people who deserve to know the truth.

From the beginning of this controversy, Obama officials have used smoke and mirrors at every opportunity to evade blame. They have ducked and weaved to avoid anything that could possibly cast the administration in a bad light.

“C.Y.A.” is a term many Americans are familiar with that was invented by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. This new Benghazi “intelligence” report is little more than a C.Y.A. attempt designed to protect incompetent politicians and government agents at the expense of justice for the victims of September 11, 2012.

They will continue to cover up. I will continue to seek the truth until those at the top of this two-year chain of deception are finally held accountable.

And yes Hillary, it still matters.