Following White House senior advisor David Plouffe’s comments today on NBC’s “Meet the Press” defending the Obama administration’s initial assessment that the deadly attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya were spontaneous acts rather than acts of terrorism, Senator Bob Corker today said the administration’s “deafening silence” on the terrorist attacks in Libya is evidence of “gross negligence or incompetence” and may mean “what has been done in Libya has resulted in a failed state.”
Senator Corker said, “The deafening silence from this administration on the terrorist attacks in Libya combined with seeing the President's senior advisor stumble around on Meet the Press regarding the situation in Benghazi leads one to conclude one of two things: The administration was either involved in gross negligence or incompetence that cost the lives of four Americans or what has been done in Libya has resulted in a failed state where our best trained FBI agents cannot even travel to Benghazi.
“This ongoing development is occurring as we are seeing increased murders of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan by Afghan soldiers we are partnering with, Iran is flying over Iraqi airspace to deliver weapons to Assad in Syria, the top leadership of Iran sees us as a nation in decline and continues to move rapidly towards enriching uranium,and as Russia is apparently hoping for President Obama to be re-elected so they can work with us to water down our missile defense systems. This administration has weakened the country by piling trillions of dollars of debt with no end in sight, and they know that current U.S. interests abroad are sinking like quick sand.”
In a letter yesterday to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Senator Corker asked for “substantive answers very quickly” regarding what has led to such a precipitous security decline in Benghazi that is preventing FBI agents from entering the city to investigate the attacks that occurred there more than 18 days ago.
Senator Corker is the cosponsor of legislation with Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to require an investigation and report on recent attacks at U.S. missions in Libya, Egypt and Yemen.
On Tuesday, Senator Corker joined Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding more details regarding the increasing threats and security concerns that preceded attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. He also was among all 19 members of the Foreign Relations Committee, Republicans and Democrats, to sign an additional letter this week to the State Department asking for information requested in the DeMint-Corker bill and an interim report and briefing regarding security and intelligence leading up to the Benghazi attack.