Benghazi Accountability Coalition: Call Panetta to Testify ASAP

The Benghazi Accountability Coalition has called on Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, to depose former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta as soon as possible. Whether Gowdy agrees remains to be seen.

Why call committee members back less than three weeks before the mid-term election, rather than wait for November? The Benghazi Accountability Coalition, which includes numerous national security experts as well as family members of the four Americans who lost their lives in Benghazi in 2012, focus in the letter they sent on two pressing reasons to reconvene the investigative committee at the earliest possible moment:

1) Panetta’s new memoir of his time with the Obama administration, “Worthy Fights,” contains striking revelations of the administration’s handling of the Benghazi scandal, as have his interviews on the news circuit since the book’s publication earlier this month. Some of these revelations are at odds with Panetta’s previous testimony on the Hill.

2) U.S. embassies and diplomatic outposts, such as Yemen and Baghdad, still experience attacks and are in fact at growing risk from terrorists. This summer, the U.S. embassy in Tripoli had to be closed down under threat from extremists.

Various Benghazi-related remarks by Panetta have caused waves. In an interview with Bill O’Reilly, Panetta said he told the president “there was an attack by terrorists” as soon as he learned that the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was under fire. As for the White House talking points used by UN Ambassador Susan Rice on the Sunday talk shows, which blamed a demonstration and a video, Panetta said “I thought those talking points, frankly, were not on point […] there was no question in my mind that it was a terrorist attack.”

Furthermore, Panetta agreed that more hearings are warranted, based on assertions by the CIA security consultants in their new book “13 Hours in Benghazi.” The four were working at the CIA Annex in Benghazi when the attack took place and tried to rush to the scene within minutes. They were stopped by a superior for a half-hour, which possibly cost the lives of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and communications expert Sean Smith. “I have no reason not to believe them,” about the CIA contractors, said Panetta, who added that Congress should investigate their claims.

States the Coalition’s letter:

“[I]t is clear that there is more–and likely much more–that has yet to be established about the murderous Sept. 11, 2012 jihadist attack on American facilities in Benghazi and those assigned to them. Indeed, former Secretary Panetta is providing an account of the Benghazi attacks that differs dramatically from what President Obama and his spokesmen presented in the hours, days and weeks after the attack.