{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20131123004841/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2326", "Wolf Renews Call For Select Committee On Benghazi", "2013-10-30", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Frank Wolf", "W000672", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Contact: Jill Shatzen  \n\t(202) 225-5136\n\n\tWOLF RENEWS CALL FOR SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI  \n\tSays We Have \u2018Reached the Threshold\u2019\n\n\tWashington, D.C. (October 30, 2013) \u2013 In a 30-minute speech today on the House floor, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) again called on House leadership to create a Select Committee on Benghazi, saying the threshold for creating the special panel has been reached in terms of the number of cosponsors and endorsements of the measure, as well as several revelations about the attack that have been covered in the press in recent weeks. Wolf said that in the nearly 11 months since he first introduced the measure, the broad support that has been built \u201cmakes it clear we have more than passed the threshold for a Select Committee now \u2026 Let\u2019s get to the truth once and for all so we can find out what happened and restore the American people\u2019s confidence in congressional oversight.\u201d Just last week, a bipartisan national poll revealed that 63 percent of Americans think the Obama Administration is covering up the facts about the Benghazi attack, and just 29 percent of registered voters believe the administration has been honest.\u00a0 Further, 83 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of Independents support the idea, and notably, nearly half of Democrats said it was important to create a bipartisan committee to learn the truth. \u201cBottom line: Americans from across the political spectrum recognize that not only are they not being told the truth [about Benghazi], but they feel Congress needs to change its approach to the investigation by creating a special committee,\u201d Wolf said. \u00a0 Wolf also pointed to several recent developments that confirm the individuals involved in the Benghazi attack were senior al Qaeda associates with ties to the group going back decades, and that the plot appears to have been weeks, if not months, in the making. Wolf said that according to Fox News\u2019 Catherine Herridge, \u201csources said one of the suspects was believed to be a courier for the Al Qaeda network, and the other a bodyguard in Afghanistan prior to the 2001 terror attacks,\u201d noting that \u201cthe direct ties to the Al Qaeda senior leadership undercut early characterizations by the Obama administration that the attackers in Benghazi were isolated \u201cextremists\" \u2013 not Al Qaeda terrorists \u2013 with no organizational structure or affiliation.\u201d Further, Wolf described a 60 Minutes piece that aired this past Sunday in which CBS\u2019 sources confirmed what Wolf had detailed on the House floor this past July: \u201ca quick reaction force from the CIA Annex ignored orders to wait and raced to the compound, at time running and shooting their way through the streets just to get there.\u201d\u00a0 Alarmingly, the piece also included information saying that when the terrorists stormed the consulate property, they said \u201cWe\u2019re here to kill Americans, not Libyans\u201d and spared the lives of the Libyan guards, Wolf said. CBS\u2019 Lara Logan also addressed the pressure on witnesses she encountered during the 60 Minutes investigation, saying \u201cAn extraordinary amount of pressure on anyone in the government \u2013 the military side, the political side \u2013 not to say anything outside of official channels.\u201d \u201cThis is consistence with the concerns I have repeatedly raised on the House floor about efforts by this administration to silence survivors and witnesses to the Benghazi attack and response,\u201d Wolf said.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are they afraid of these witnesses sharing with the American people?\u00a0 And how can the Congress stand by and allow this to happen, knowing full well it is taking place?\u201d Wolf pointed out numerous intelligence failures that occurred prior to and following the attack. \u201cThe administration\u2019s response to the Benghazi attack over the last year has been nothing short of shameful \u2013 and that also merits a full investigation by a Select Committee,\u201d Wolf said.\u00a0 \u201cFrom the first hours of the attack, when it became apparent that no help was coming to assist those under attack \u2013 either from U.S. forces or our allies in the region \u2013 to the failure of the FBI to gain access to key suspects in Tunisia and Egypt over the last year, this administration has sent a signal to terrorists that the U.S. will not strongly respond to an attack on Americans abroad.\u201d Wolf\u2019s measure to create a House Select Committee on Benghazi currently has 178 cosponsors \u2013 more than a supermajority in the House.\u00a0 It has been endorsed by the family members of the victims, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Special Operations community and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents the Diplomatic Security agents who were at the consulate in Benghazi. For a full list of endorsements, click here. For more on Wolf\u2019s work on Benghazi, click here.  \n\t\u00a0  \n\tThe full text of Wolf\u2019s floor speech is below. Mr. Speaker, last week a new national poll was released by respected pollsters Pat Caddell, a Democrat, and John McLaughlin, a Republican, making clear the American people still don\u2019t feel they know the truth about what happened in Benghazi nearly 14 months ago. \u00a0 According to the poll, commissioned by Secure America Now, 63 percent of Americans \u201cthink the Obama Administration is covering up the facts about Benghazi\u201d and \u201conly 29 percent of registered voters say the Obama Administration has been honest about Benghazi.\u201d \u00a0 Think about that for a moment: a supermajority of Americans believe they have been misled by their government about what happened in Benghazi.\u00a0 This is remarkable. \u00a0 The American people know how significant it is that Ambassador Stevens, the president\u2019s personal envoy to Libya, was the first ambassador killed in the line of duty in four decades on September 11 \u2013 11 years to the day that nearly 3,000 people were killed by al-Qaeda terrorists.\u00a0 The American people intuitively understands that a plot of this scale was not \u201cspontaneously inspired,\u201d as claimed in the administration\u2019s now-infamous talking points.\u00a0 The American people also know that it\u2019s remarkable that no effort was made by Washington to rescue the Americans in Benghazi, or dispatch a hostage rescue team after the ambassador went missing that night. \u00a0 I think the American people also wonder just what the CIA was doing in Benghazi.\u00a0 Was it involved in the collection and transfer of weapons to foreign countries, possibly to support the Syrian rebels?\u00a0 And could some of those weapons fallen into the wrong hands, like Syrian jihadists? \u00a0 It is too easy to just say this is \u201cclassified\u201d information and expect the American people to look away.\u00a0 Four Americans were killed that night and no one came to help them. \u00a0 Was it because the CIA was conducting a covert operation and if something went wrong, that was the price of doing business?\u00a0 Were the CIA activities in Benghazi part of the reason the consulate and annex were targeted?\u00a0 These are legitimate questions the American people are asking that deserve clear answers. \u00a0 The McLaughlin-Caddell poll also found that 62 percent of the American public support creating a \u201cspecial bipartisan committee with broad powers to get to the truth about the attack in Benghazi.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 83 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of Independents support the idea; notably, nearly half of Democrats said it was important to create a bipartisan committee to learn the truth. \u00a0 Bottom line: Americans from across the political spectrum recognize that not only are they not being told the truth, but they feel Congress needs to change its approach to the investigation by creating a special committee. \u00a0 Why is it, despite more than a year of investigations in five separate committees, the American people feel they still don\u2019t know the truth about what happened? Perhaps it\u2019s because, despite more than a year of investigations by five committees, most of the questions raised about that night remain unanswered.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s because, despite more than a year of investigations by five committees, hardly any of the key witnesses responsible for the government\u2019s response that night \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013 have publicly testified.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s because, despite more than a year of investigations, none of the survivors that could help answer key questions have publicly testified before Congress.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s because, despite more than a year of investigations, so few public committee hearings have been held. Or perhaps it\u2019s because, despite more than a year of investigations, what little the American people have learned have come from news reports from CNN, CBS, FOX, and other news organizations, not from congressional hearings or testimony. \u00a0 I think all of these factors have contributed to the sense among the American people that the Congress has failed in its oversight responsibility.\u00a0 The American people know they haven\u2019t been told the full story about what happened that night, and they believe they have been intentionally misled by the administration. I have come to the floor today to once again call on my leadership to create a House Select Committee on Benghazi. I am often asked what is holding up the creation of a Select Committee.\u00a0\u00a0 The simple answer is because the Speaker hasn\u2019t agreed to it.\u00a0 I like the Speaker.\u00a0 He has a tough job.\u00a0 And he may have a good reason for not wanting to establish a Select Committee, but I don\u2019t know what it is.\u00a0 More important, I don\u2019t think the American people know what it is.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Let me be clear: my not criticism is not with any chairmen of committees that are looking into this.\u00a0 They are all good men.\u00a0 But their hands are tied.\u00a0 They are required to stay within their own jurisdictional lanes, examining only what they are allowed to investigate according to their committee charter. \u00a0 What happened in Benghazi is interrelated.\u00a0 The \u201clanes\u201d crisscross. The White House, the State Department, the CIA and the Defense Department were all involved, resulting in overlapping but uncoordinated investigations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Benghazi was a terrorist attack.\u00a0\u00a0 We need a team effort to find out what happened, why it happened and how we are going to bring the perpetrators to justice.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Any of these chairmen would be capable of leading the Select Committee, and other members of their committees would be good to serve as well. And let me be clear: I have no intention of chairing or serving on the Select Committee.\u00a0\u00a0 I just want to learn the truth, just like the American people. \u00a0 There is a history in Congress that when things overlap between committees and transcends jurisdictions select committees are established.\u00a0 Two well-known examples: Watergate and Iran-Contra.\u00a0 I am submitting for the Record a list of past House Select Committees over the last 50 years.\u00a0 A Select Committee would take members from each committee, with their individual expertise, and have them work on this investigation day in and day out with no other distractions.\u00a0 It also would prevent the administration from saying one thing to one committee of jurisdiction and something else to another. I am reminded of the poem, the \u201cBlind Men and the Elephant,\u201d which is said to have originated in India. \u00a0 In the poem, six blind men touch a part of an elephant and each provides a different description of what the elephant must look like.\u00a0 They argue at great length between themselves and the poem ends by saying while each is partly right, they are all wrong.\u00a0 The moral of the poem is that independently, people may think their understanding of the situation is correct.\u00a0 Yet they don\u2019t know the truth until the full picture comes into focus.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Each of the five committees may not be seeing the entire picture of what happened that night.\u00a0 Regular order has limited the committees from going beyond their jurisdiction. \u00a0 One group ought to have the responsibility to get to the bottom of all parts of this tragedy.\u00a0 One group needs to lay out a roadmap to obtaining and reporting that information to the American people, so we can restore confidence that Congress has a serious oversight plan on Benghazi.\u00a0 Remember, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.\u00a0 We need to see the whole of this tragedy. My bill to create a Select Committee, H. Res. 36, now has 178 cosponsors \u2013 more than three-quarters of the Republican Conference; more than a supermajority of the Majority.\u00a0 Nearly three-quarters of the Republican members who serve on the committees already investigating Benghazi now support a Select Committee.\u00a0 That means a plurality of the Members who have been directly involved in committee investigations believe a Select Committee would be a more effective approach. \u00a0 The bill has been endorsed by: The American Legion.\u00a0 The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents the diplomatic security agents that were present in Benghazi.\u00a0 Groups representing the Special Ops community. The editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. Perhaps most important, it has been endorsed by some family members of the Benghazi victims, like Sean Smith\u2019s mother and Ty Woods\u2019 father, who want to know the truth about what happened to their children that night and why their country fell short in its response.\u00a0 Nothing will bring their children back, but we can at least provide them with clear answers and assign accountability for those responsible for intelligence failures and the inept response that night. \u00a0 The best way to do this is to break down the stovepipes between the five committees, hold public hearings and issue subpoenas to all of the survivors from Benghazi, those who were in Tripoli and those who were in Washington responding that night. \u00a0 We need a public hearing with the principals involved in the decision making process in Washington on September 11, 2012, including former Secretary Panetta, former Secretary Clinton, former CIA Director Petraeus, former White House advisor and current CIA director John Brennan and former AFRICOM commander General Ham, as well as the White House. We also need a similar hearing with each of their deputies and others who were witness to the calls for help and the decisions surrounding the response. \u00a0 Unless we hear from these people publicly, the American people will never learn the truth about whether there were warnings prior to the attack, what calls for help were made that night, whether the CIA security team was in fact delayed in leaving to respond to the initial attack at the consulate and what the response was from Washington, among many other questions. \u00a0 Until these key individuals are sitting side-by-side answering questions under oath, we will never get a clear picture of who made decisions that night and why.\u00a0 Failure to get those answers means there will never be any accountability, which further erodes public confidence in government. Absent a Select Committee, the Congress will fail to learn the truth about what happened that night because the administration will continue to use the jurisdictional barriers between each committee to continue to slow walk or deny information. There are a number of new developments in recent weeks that make a Select Committee more timely than ever. \u00a0 First, our colleague Mike Rogers, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, confirmed earlier reports telling Fox News that the plot against the consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi appears to have been weeks, if not months, in the making and that at least two of the plot\u2019s leaders had close connections to senior al Qaeda leadership. \u00a0 Nearly a year ago, I circulated a memo to all Members prepared by respected terrorism analyst Thomas Joscelyn detailing the apparent connections and likely coordination between al-Qaeda affiliates in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen that resulted in threats and attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in those countries the week of September 11, 2012.\u00a0 Unfortunately the committees have not held public hearings looking at the connection between these threats. \u00a0 Last week, Fox News\u2019 Catherine Herridge first reported that: \u201cAt least two of the key suspects in the Benghazi terror attack were at one point working with Al Qaeda senior leadership, sources familiar with the investigation tell Fox News. The sources said one of the suspects was believed to be a courier for the Al Qaeda network, and the other a bodyguard in Afghanistan prior to the 2001 terror attacks.\u201d Herridge noted that, \u201cThe direct ties to the Al Qaeda senior leadership undercut early characterizations by the Obama administration that the attackers in Benghazi were isolated \u201cextremists\" -- not Al Qaeda terrorists -- with no organizational structure or affiliation.\u201d Then, on Sunday, CBS\u2019 60 Minutes aired a segment by Lara Logan further explaining what happened that night and the increasingly clear connection to al-Qaeda.\u00a0 Logan reported that \u201cJust a few weeks ago, Abu Anas al-Libi was captured for his role in the Africa bombings and the U.S. is still investigating what part he may have played in Benghazi.\u00a0 We\u2019ve learned that this man, Sufian bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and long-time al Qaeda operative, was one of the lead planners along with Faraj al-Chalabi, whose ties to Osama bin Laden go back more than 15 years.\u00a0 He\u2019s believed to have carried documents from the compound to the head of al Qaeda in Pakistan.\u201d It is particularly notable that al-Chalabi reportedly delivered documents from U.S. facilities in Benghazi to \u201cthe head of al Qaeda in Pakistan,\u201d establishing a direct link between the Benghazi attacks and most senior leadership of al Qaeda.\u00a0 \u00a0  \n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0  \n\tAmong the other revelations in the 60 Minutes segment: \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Al-Qaeda stated its intent to attack Americans in Benghazi, along with the Red Cross and the British mission well in advance of September 11.\u00a0 Lt. Col. Andy Wood, the top American security official in Libya in the months leading up to the attack told CBS that both the State Department and Defense Department were well aware of the threat and the attacks on the Red Cross and British mission and it was \u201cobvious\u201d to the Americans in Libya that it was only a matter of time until an attack on the U.S. facilities. \u00a0 \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0When the terrorists stormed the consulate property, they said: \u201cWe\u2019re here to kill Americans, not Libyans\u201d and spared the lives of the Libyan guards. \u00a0 \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Confirmation of information I detailed on the House floor in July noting that \u201ca quick reaction force from the CIA Annex ignored orders to wait and raced to the compound, at times running and shooting their way through the streets just to get there.\u201d \u00a0 \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Americans faced a \u201cprofessional enemy\u201d as they encountered waves of intense fighting on the CIA annex in Benghazi during the early morning of September 12.\u00a0\u00a0 Mortars fired during the final wave of the assault hit the roof of the annex three times in the dark.\u00a0 Lt. Col. Wood described hitting a target like that as \u201cgetting the basketball through the hoop over your shoulder\u201d and that it took \u201ccoordination, planning training, experienced personnel\u201d to pull off such a \u201cwell executed attack.\u201d \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Two Delta Force operators who fought at the CIA annex, apparently as part of the impromptu team that flew in from Tripoli with Glen Doherty during the attack without permission from Washington, have \u201cbeen awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross \u2013 two of the military\u2019s highest honors.\u201d \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The U.S. already knew that senior al Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Libi was in Libya and was \u201ctasked by the head of al Qaeda to establish a clandestine terrorist network inside the country.\u00a0 Al-Libi was already wanted for his role in bombing two U.S. embassies in Africa.\u201d\u00a0 Notably, the administration made no mention of his connection to the Benghazi attacks in its announcement of his capture last month.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Some of the key questions that remain unanswered are why the CIA security team was ordered not to respond to the attack at the consulate and \u201cwhy no larger military response ever crossed the border into Libya \u2013 something [U.S. deputy chief of mission] Greg Hicks realized wasn\u2019t going to happen just an hour into the attack.\u201d It\u2019s particularly noteworthy that Logan addressed the pressure on witnesses she encountered during her investigation, saying: \u201cAn extraordinary amount of pressure on the people involved not to talk.\u00a0 And an extraordinary amount of pressure on anyone in the government \u2013 the military side, the political side \u2013 not to say anything outside of official channels.\u201d  \n\tThis is consistent with the concerns I have repeatedly raised on the House floor about efforts by this administration to silence survivors and witnesses to the Benghazi attack and response. What are they afraid of these witnesses sharing with the American people?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And how can the Congress stand by and allow this to happen, knowing full well it is taking place? \u00a0  \n\tCNN in July reported that: \u201cSince January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency\u2019s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency\u2019s workings. The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.\u201d Fox News, in a separate piece in July, reported: \u201cAt least five CIA employees were forced to sign additional nondisclosure agreements this past spring in the wake of the Benghazi attack.\u201d As someone who represents thousands of federal employees and contractors, including many who work for the CIA, FBI, State Department and the Defense Department, I know from years of firsthand experience how agencies can sometimes use various forms of pressure and intimidation to keep employees from sharing information of concern with Congress. \u00a0  \n\tI know the Benghazi survivors and other witnesses that night from those agencies need the protection of a \u201cfriendly subpoena\u201d to compel their testimony before Congress, particularly on a matter as sensitive as this.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 So far, the committees have failed to provide this protection to allow survivors and other witnesses to allow them to share their story publicly. \u00a0  \n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0  \n\tBased on disclosures in recent news reports, I now believe that the Benghazi plot represents a significant intelligence failure by the U.S. at several levels.\u00a0 Understanding these failures \u2013 as well as the government\u2019s inexplicable response during and after the attack \u2013 is critical to preventing future attacks. \u00a0 I want to outline a number of the apparent intelligence failures leading up to the attack, which I believe a Select Committee investigation would confirm: First, the State Department and CIA apparently failed in their assessment of the militia groups working for the Americans in Benghazi, including the February 17 Martyrs Brigade responsible for guarding the consulate property, which abandoned the Americans and may have even facilitated access to the compound for the terrorists.\u00a0 According to a May 21 article by Eli Lake on The Daily Beast, CIA \u201cofficers were responsible for vetting the February 17 Martyrs Brigade, the militia that was supposed to be the first responder on the night of the attack, but melted away when the diplomatic mission was attacked.\u201d \u00a0 Second, the State Department, Defense Department and CIA apparently failed to adjust their security posture to support the Americans in Benghazi based on the growing number of attacks on Western targets in Benghazi during the summer of 2012.\u00a0 To date, no one has explained or been held accountable for why the U.S. mission was so poorly secured, despite pleas for assistances from the Embassy staff in Tripoli to Washington.\u00a0 No one has adequately explained why the Defense Department\u2019s emergency response team was on a routine training mission in Croatia during the week of September 11, when it should have been on alert to respond \u2013 especially given the threats to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt earlier in the day before the Benghazi attacks.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0  \n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0  \n\tThird, the intelligence community apparently failed to understand the size and scope of the attack brewing in Benghazi in the months leading up to September 11.\u00a0 As Chairman Rogers acknowledged to Fox News\u2019 Catherine Herridge last week, this was a well-coordinated attack that was many weeks, if not months in the making.\u00a0 Earlier this year, CNN reported on the number of foreign fighters that arrived in Benghazi to participate in the attack in the days leading up to September 11. \u00a0 A witness in the 60 Minutes report noted how black al-Qaeda flags were openly flying in the months before the attack, and also noted the announced threat against U.S., British and Red Cross facilities.\u00a0 How did the government miss these warnings?\u00a0 Or were they simply ignored?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Fourth, the intelligence community seems to have more broadly failed to understand and anticipate how al-Qaeda was metastasizing in North Africa. \u00a0 This administration has been quick to take credit for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011 and declared throughout the 2012 presidential campaign that as a result of its efforts that \u201ccore al-Qaeda\u201d had been decimated. \u00a0 However, the facts don\u2019t support the administration\u2019s narrative. \u00a0 As CNN reported on Monday, terrorist attacks hit a record high in 2012 and, \u201cMore than 8,500 terrorist attacks killed more than 15,500 people last year as violence tore through Africa, Asia and the Middle East.\u201d\u00a0 Increasingly, this includes North African countries, like Libya.\u00a0 \u00a0 CNN also said that \u201cDespite the death of Osama bin Laden and capture of other key al Qaeda leaders, the group has exported its brand of terrorism to other militant Muslims.\u201d\u00a0 These groups include affiliates like Ansar al Sharia in Libya. \u00a0 Additionally, CBS\u2019 Lara Logan noted earlier this week following her report on Benghazi that, \u201cit became evident to us during the course of our research that very little is known publicly about the true nature of al Qaeda's network in Libya.\u00a0 And that has consequences beyond Benghazi and beyond Libya. It has consequences that speak to the national security interests of the United States of America.\u201d  \n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0  \n\tMost of these affiliate terrorist groups have sworn an allegiance to al-Qaeda and appear to closely coordinate their activities and plots with the \u201ccore al-Qaeda\u201d leadership, including Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden\u2019s successor.\u00a0 To dismiss or minimize their relationship with al-Qaeda\u2019s senior leadership is misguided and dangerous, as we have seen over the last several years. \u00a0 I fear that this administration\u2019s insistence in treating \u201ccore al-Qaeda\u201d in Afghanistan and Pakistan differently than groups like Ansar al Sharia in Libya has led to a dangerous mischaracterization of the threat \u2013 and has apparently resulted in a failure to anticipate attacks like the one that occurred in Benghazi. \u00a0 Fifth, it appears that documents were taken from the consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi in the wake of the attacks.\u00a0 As I said earlier, 60 Minutes reported that terrorist Faraj al-Chalabi, whose ties to bin Laden go back nearly two decades, is \u201cbelieved to have carried documents from the compound to the head of al Qaeda in Pakistan.\u201d\u00a0 What was taken from the consulate and annex and given to al Qaeda\u2019s leadership? \u00a0 Additionally, as Lara Logan noted following her report, \u201cWe did not expect that we would find the U.S. compound in the state that we found it.\u00a0 There was still debris and ammunition boxes and a whiteboard that had the day\u2019s assignment for the security personnel at the compound as of September 11, 2012.\u201d\u00a0 Clearly in the chaos of the fighting and evacuation that night, information was left behind at the facilities that may have consequences for Americans operating in the region. \u00a0 I also believe the administration\u2019s response to the Benghazi attack over the last year has been nothing short of shameful \u2013 and that also merits a full investigation by a Select Committee.\u00a0 From the first hours of the attack, when it became apparent that no help was coming to assist those under attack \u2013 either from U.S. forces or our allies in the region \u2013 to the failure of the FBI to gain access to key suspects in Tunisia and Egypt over the last year, this administration has sent a signal to terrorists that the U.S. will not strongly respond to an attack on Americans abroad.\u00a0 The failure to either arrest or kill any of the scores of terrorists responsible for the attacks more than a year later is inexcusable and reflects unwillingness by this administration to bring diplomatic pressure to bear on countries harboring these terrorists. \u00a0 I am increasingly convinced that this administration is more comfortable using the ongoing FBI investigation as an excuse not to answer questions than they are in bringing these terrorists to justice.\u00a0 As I said on the House floor in July, last year, Tunisia detained the first suspect in the Benghazi terror attacks, Ali Harzi, after he was deported from Turkey in the weeks following the attack.\u00a0 Tunisia, despite being the beneficiary of more than $300 million in U.S. foreign aid, refused to allow the FBI access to this suspect for nearly five weeks.\u00a0 It was only after Congressional threats to cut off the aid that the government of Tunisia reconsidered its position.\u00a0 Ultimately, the FBI interrogation team returned to Tunisia and was allowed just three hours to interview Harzi, with his lawyer and a Tunisian judge present.\u00a0 Not long after the FBI interview, Harzi was inexplicably released by Tunisian authorities, and his release was celebrated by Ansar al Sharia terrorists. \u00a0 Last month, it was confirmed that Harzi has been involved in at least one assassination of a Tunisian political leader. \u00a0 In another equally concerning case in Egypt, the FBI has been denied access to Muhammed Jamal, an al Qaeda-connected terrorist who ran training camps in Egypt and eastern Libya prior to the Benghazi attacks.\u00a0 Several of Jamal\u2019s associates are believed to have participated in the Benghazi plot, and terrorism analysts believe that Jamal may have communicated directly with Zawahiri and al Qaeda leadership about this and other terrorist attacks.\u00a0 Although Jamal has been in Egyptian custody for more than a year on other terrorism-related charges, the U.S. has never been provided access to him under both the Morsi government and now the military government.\u00a0 I personally delivered a letter to former Ambassador Patterson in Cairo asking then-President Morsi to provide the FBI access to Jamal and his documents.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe the ambassador ever even delivered my letter, despite her assurances.\u00a0 Jamal\u2019s connection to the Benghazi attack is particularly noteworthy given that both the U.S. and the United Nations formally designated him as a terrorist earlier this month.\u00a0 However, in another example of this administration\u2019s aversion to discussing terrorist connections to the Benghazi attack, the UN designation clearly notes Jamal\u2019s connection to the Benghazi attack, whereas the State Department designation omits it.\u00a0 \u00a0 I believe there has been pressure from the administration to omit this type of information from U.S. intelligence products, sending conflicting signals to both our allies and to countries that may have Benghazi suspects of interest to the FBI.\u00a0 But if we\u2019re unwilling to identify their involvement in the attacks, it further erodes U.S. credibility in asking for access to these individuals.\u00a0 This willful blindness is disingenuous and, ultimately, dangerous. In early January, when I offered an amendment to create a Select Committee in the House Rules package for the 113th Congress, Speaker Boehner told the Republican Conference he didn\u2019t believe that we had \u201creached the threshold\u201d for a Select Committee.\u00a0 He suggested that we might get to the threshold, but the committees of jurisdiction just needed a little more time. \u00a0 That may have been the case in January, but nearly 11 months later, I think the broad support that has built over the last year makes clear we have more than passed the threshold for a Select Committee now.\u00a0 I believe the \u201cthreshold\u201d has clearly been reached in terms of cosponsors, endorsements and new revelations from press reports. \u00a0 I was particularly struck by comments made by Ambassador Stevens\u2019 deputy Greg Hicks in the 60 Minutes segment on Sunday: \u201cfor us, for the people that go out onto the edge, to represent our country, we believe that if we get in trouble, they\u2019re coming to get us.\u00a0 That our back is covered.\u00a0 To hear that it\u2019s not, it\u2019s a terrible, terrible experience.\u201d \u00a0 It is not enough for the administration to just say there\u2019s nothing more that could have been done, especially given that evidence indicates that they didn\u2019t try much at all to assist the Americans under fire in Benghazi. \u00a0 Mr. Speaker, it\u2019s time for a unified, bipartisan Select Committee. Let\u2019s get to the truth once and for all so we can find out what happened and restore the American peoples\u2019 confidence in congressional oversight.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20131123004841/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2326"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8693481795489788, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}