Secretary of State John Kerry said it not once but twice during his House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday: Let’s move on from investigating Benghazi to “more important things.”
This was not just an unfortunate turn of phrase. As the repetition shows, it clearly reveals Kerry’s thinking: We must get this Benghazi investigation over with because it is such an inconvenience.
Furthermore, the phrasing is troublingly reminiscent of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s intemperate outburst during her Senate Benghazi hearing in January. Senator Ron Johnson (R–WI) legitimately wanted to know why the Administration put out such a misleading storyline in the aftermath of the terrorist attack, blaming it on a spontaneous reaction to an amateurish anti-Islam video, when Administration officials already knew better.
“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans!” Clinton snapped back. “Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans?! What difference at this point does it make?!” As many have since pointed out, the difference is huge.
Here is Kerry talking about Benghazi on Wednesday in response to questioning by the irate Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R–CA), who demanded access for Congress to the survivors of the attack in order to learn what happened: “I will appoint someone tomorrow” to work with Congress to get answers. “Let’s get this done with. Let’s find out together what happened so we can move on to far more important things.”
And here is Kerry in response to a question by Representative Mo Brooks (R–AL) on whether U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s misleading Sunday show appearances on September 16 should be investigated further. While Kerry said “no” to investigating his colleague Rice, he said, “I will work with you in good faith. Let’s put this behind us. Let us clear the air. We have far more important things to deal with together.”
The statements by two Secretaries of State are part and parcel of the Obama Administration’s entire attitude toward the Benghazi terrorist attack. As congressional hearings revealed, security at the Benghazi consulate was woefully inadequate. When the attack happened, the President was monumentally disengaged, and the Pentagon failed to mobilize assets that might have come to the victims’ aid. In the aftermath, the President’s first action was to apologize to the Muslim world for the video, which had nothing to do with the incident. No wonder Kerry wants to get Congress to “move on.”
