Whoa: US Cut Security at Benghazi Consulate in Months Before the Terrorist Attack

Eli Lake pulls the pin on another bombshell.

In the six months leading up to the assault on the United States consulate in Benghazi, the State Department reduced the number of trained Americans guarding U.S. facilities in Libya, according to a leading House Republican investigating the Sept. 11 anniversary attacks. The reduction in U.S. security personnel increased America’s reliance on local Libyan guards for the protection of its diplomats.

This is the latest charge from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican leading a House investigation on the Benghazi attacks, regarding alleged security defects in Benghazi. Chaffetz said the information comes from whistleblowers who have approached the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The State Department says it’s investigating. But the FBI still hasn’t even secured the sacked consulate.

On Tuesday, Clinton wrote in a letter to Chaffetz and Issa that she intended to cooperate with the House committee’s investigation. But in the letter she did not promise to turn over all of the cables and documents requested by Chaffetz, saying she had empowered her own accountability review board to find out what had happened in Benghazi. “Nobody will hold this department more accountable than we hold ourselves,” she wrote.

Hillary Clinton has been playing this game for decades now. She won’t cooperate, and she will not hold anyone accountable. She will use her “accountability review board” to stonewall past the election and, supposing Obama wins, she will resign. She never planned to serve a second term at State anyway. Her successor won’t go after her. If Obama loses, she is probably off the hook. She just has to string things out over the next month and she’s probably home free.

This is a cover-up. It’s a cover-up of how poor decisions in Washington ended up getting four Americans killed. The cover-up goes all the way to the top, and evidently involves President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, and Ambassador Susan Rice, at least. They made ideological rather than practical decisions about security in a war zone, four Americans died, and the administration lied to the American people about what happened. Open and shut. Each new revelation just adds detail.

This cover-up should be on the front pages of every major paper and lead the nightly newscasts every single night. But everyone knows why it isn’t.