In the National Journal recently, columnist Ron Fournier put it bluntly: “Everyone’s Lying to You About Benghazi.” He said Americans were faced with a choice of two evils — White House spin and GOP conspiracy theories. Having examined this issue repeatedly since it first burst into the news, The Fact Checker could not agree more. Neither side has covered itself with glory here.
With all due respect to Rep. Gowdy, the chairman of the new select House committee on the Benghazi attacks, many of the questions he posed have already been answered — and fact-checked. Meanwhile, the White House has done itself no favors with aggressive spin on the issue.
As a reader service, we present in chronological order all 14 fact checks we have done on the 2012 tragedy in Libya, in which four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed on and just after the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. We have completed five fact checks of Republican statements, four fact checks of Democratic claims and five neutral or analytic examinations of the issue.
Partisans on both sides will find something they like — or dislike. The Fact Checker drew immediate attention to the factual lapses in Susan Rice’s now-controversial appearance on the Sunday talk shows immediately after the attacks. We also compiled an extensive timeline of administration statements that demonstrated how long the White House, in the midst of a campaign season, tried to avoid calling the attacks terrorism. We also pounced on many unsubstantiated claims by Republicans, including the statements that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had thwarted the movement of Defense Department assets or had denied security for...continued...
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