Members of a congressional committee didn't ask the right questions on Thursday when they had an officer before them to talk about the Benghazi attack, says former Lt. Col. Oliver North.
"We all know they lied. The talking points are bogus. What we know is why they did it: because it was not the narrative that they needed for the election," North said Thursday on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
"What we don't know is why didn't they prepare for this?" North said. "9/11 is going to be a terrorist anniversary for the rest of our days on this planet. It's going to be a time for heightened awareness, increased attention, putting forces in position."
The attacks on the diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, took place on Sept. 11, 2012, the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. The Benghazi attacks killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee should have asked Lovell if his staff warned people about the 9/11 anniversary or communicated with the State Department about the threats that Stevens had already told them about.
In his testimony earlier in the day, Lovell said that it was known immediately that the attack was terrorism and not caused by a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video as the White House later claimed.
He also testified that the military could have made an effort to try to help the victims, though the
White House has previously said that a rescue attempt would not have been viable.
"This administration is criminally negligent," North told Van Susteren.
Lovell's testimony wasn't welcomed on all fronts, including at least one Republican. The powerful chairman of the Armed Services panel, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., challenged the testimony of Lovell, who was in the U.S. Africa Command's headquarters in Germany monitoring the attack, the Associated Press reports.
The general "did not serve in a capacity that gave him reliable insight into operational options available to commanders during the attack, nor did he offer specific courses of action not taken," McKeon said.
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