California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said Sunday the lack of security in Libya should have been addressed when professionals warned there were problems.
But Issa, appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said the State Department “didn’t want the appearance of needing the security.”
“If security professionals are giving the warning that they need more security . . . and that’s not being heard . . . then it isn’t just Ambassador [Christopher] Stevens, who is now dead, it’s everybody who works throughout the Middle East is at risk if we cannot get the security level right,” he said.
“They are making a decision not to put the security in because they don’t want the presence of security. That is not how you do security.”
In addition to the warning signs, money was available to address the issue, Issa said.
“In this case, the money was there,” he said. “They chose not to have those security personnel on the ground in Libya.”
He said the administration should not be in denial about the terrorist attack, which also killed three others.
“This is not very Republican, if you will, but when President George W. Bush went aboard an aircraft carrier and said, ‘Mission accomplished,’ I listened, rightfully so, to people saying, ‘Look, but there’s still problems . . .’ We’re going through a mission-accomplished moment 11 years after Sept. 11th. Americans were attacked on September 11th by terrorists who pre-planned to kill Americans. That happened, and we can’t be in denial.”
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