Benghazi Review Board Co-Chairs Ask GOP To Testify In Public - Issa wants "closed doors" testimony

[Bill USA]

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/16/2020371/national-security-brief-pickering-mullen-issa/


National Security Brief: Benghazi Review Board Co-Chairs Ask GOP To Testify In Public

By ThinkProgress on May 16, 2013 at 9:08 am



The co-chairs of the independent review board tasked with investigating the Obama administration’s response to the Benghazi terror attacks last year are asking House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for a chance to testify in public.

Issa and former review board co-chairs Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen have been engaged in a recent back and forth over whether Issa invited them to testify at his hearing on Benghazi last week. Pickering and Mullen said they’d be willing to testify but Issa refused their participation. Issa has also challenged the credibility of the review board’s findings, which blame State Department officials for lack of diplomatic security in Benghazi last September.

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“Recently, you seem to have changed your position on the terms of our appearance, apparently asking for a transcribed interview behind closed doors,” Pickering and Mullen wrote in a letter to Issa, which was obtained by CNN. “In our view, requiring such a closed-door proceeding before we testify publicly is an inappropriate precondition.

“Having taken liberal license to call into question the Board’s work, it is surprising that you now maintain that members of the committee need a closed-door proceeding before being able to ask informed questions’ at a public hearing,” they said. “The public deserves to hear your questions and our answers.”

[font size=3"]Meanwhile, McClatchy reports that in the month before the Benghazi attacks, Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in assault, “twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military official in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still secret memorandum.” [/font]

[Tx4obama]

1. McClatchy: Ambassador Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security, U.S. officials say

McClatchy: Ambassador Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security, U.S. officials say

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/101663798

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. The Benghazi "scandal" is collapsing faster than a cheap lawn chair.

[chelsea0011]

5. That's why the IRS story is becoming their go to story.

[Turbineguy]

3. Well....

it's more fun to waste taxpayer money without making a fool of yourself.

[Andy823]

4. Pickering and Mullen should go public

I would think that the Sunday talk shows would be happy to get these two on to tell their story if Issa won't let them speak publicly. If the media wants to ignore them, then they should hold their own news conference. I also would think that the democrats would be finding some way to get them out in the public eye. Isn't there a committee in the Senate that could get them to tell their story to the public?

Some how they need to go public and make damn sure they point out that Issa is playing games and trying to keep them from speaking out.

I also hope some committee holds hearing on the email that was tampered with by some republican. We need to find out who it was that put out the "false" information.