Videos: Highlights from today's Oversight Committee hearing on Benghazi attacks

The Oversight Committee on Government Reform, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa convened a hearing today on the 9/11/12 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi Libya. There were two primary issues addressed relative to the attacks. One dealt with the huge lapse in security that led to the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The other was the Obama administration's insistence for days afterward that the attack was "spontaneous" and the result of the Innocence of Muslims video.

Four people testified today - two good guys and two questionable characters. First the good guys.

Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, Utah National Guard who headed a security team in Benghazi. You can read his testimony here. As I wrote previously, he is a whistleblower who decided it was better to come forward than to sit back, regardless of consequences.

Eric Nordstrom, Regional Security Officer (RSO), U.S. State Department. He asserts that he asked State main to provide additional security but was denied. His testimony can be found here.

Now on to the bureaucrats...

Ms. Charlene R. Lamb, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. State Department. She was one of Nordstrom's points of contact when the RSO contacted the State Department for more security in Libya. She was on the hot seat much of the day, and rightfully so. Here is her written testimony.

Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management U.S. Department of State. Like Lamb, Kennedy took some tough questions. Here is his testimony.

As for the clips, many of the same congressmen you saw go after the Justice Department witnesses in Fast and Furious picked up right where they left off.

Here is Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC). Remember, he is a freshman. If only establishment guys were this tough:



Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who recently returned from a trip to Libya:



Here is Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) grilling Ambassador Kennedy for defending U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's assertions on September 16th that the attacks were due to the video. Notice how Kennedy equivocates about whether the attack was known to have been pre-meditated or the result of the video. Labrador then goes to Lt. Col. Wood, who says it was "instantly recognizable as a terrorist attack". This exchange highlights perfectly the contrast between bureaucrats and people who use reason:



Here is Chairman Issa, ripping the two bureaucrats - Kennedy and Lamb. Note Kennedy's argument at the beginning of this exchange. When Issa asks him about multiple unclassified documents, Kennedy actually argues that while the individual documents may be unclassified, they should be considered classified when viewed in their totality. Fortunately, Issa calls him on it and is clearly agitated at the nonsense:



More video exchanges from today's hearing at Oversight YouTube channel.

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