WASHINGTON, Apr 30: A senior Pentagon official criticised the House Republican-led investigation into the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, saying the panel has made a “crescendo” of costly, duplicative and unnecessary requests, including some based on claims made on Facebook or talk radio.
Stephen C Hedger, an assistant secretary of defence, expressed frustration with the Benghazi panel’s potentially futile calls for witnesses and information, including some that were later withdrawn. Hedger also challenged a line of questioning of current and former military officials that focused on hypotheticals suggested by committee members or staff.
“This type of questioning poses the risk that your final report may be based on speculation rather than a fact-based analysis of what a military officer did do or could have done given his or her knowledge at the time of the attacks,” Hedger wrote Thursday in a letter to Rep Trey Gowdy, R-S C, chairman of the House Benghazi panel.
Four Americans, including US Ambassador Chris Stevens, died during the twin assaults on Sept 11, 2012. Questions about security at the diplomatic facility have dogged Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time.
Hedger complained in the three-page letter that the committee asked the Pentagon to track down four pilots who did not deploy to Benghazi on the night of the attacks, as well an unnamed mechanic at an air base in Europe who claimed on Facebook that planes could have been sent to Benghazi to respond.
The panel also requested an interview with a person identified only as “John from Iowa,” who told a talk radio show he operated a camera for a remotely piloted aircraft and saw a video feed related to Benghazi on the night of the attacks, Hedger said.
The request to interview the four pilots was later withdrawn. Hedger called the proposed interview with the mechanic unnecessary and said officials were unable to locate John from Iowa, despite expending “significant resources to locate anyone who might match the description.”
The mechanic’s claim is “easily dismissed” by statements from a number of high-level officials already interviewed by the Benghazi panel, Hedger said. (AGENCIES)
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