1. No one has been held accountable for Benghazi:
~False. 4 individuals were identified to be at fault in the Accountability Review Board’s (ARB) report, and have been removed from their jobs.
"…all four individuals identified in the ARB have been removed from their job. Secondly, they’ve been placed on administrative leave while we stepped through the personnel process to determine the next steps.
Third, both Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen specifically highlighted the reason why this is complicated, because under federal statute and regulations, unsatisfactory leadership is not grounds for finding a breach of duty. The ARB did not find these four individuals breached their duty.
So I have submitted legislation to this committee, to the Congress, to fix this problem so future ARBs will not face this situation.” -Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
2. Hillary hasn’t taken responsibility for Benghazi:
~False.
"As I have said many times since September 11, I take responsibility. Nobody is more committed to getting this right. I am determined to leave the State Department and our country safer, stronger, and more secure.” -Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
3. Hillary has accepted responsibility with words only:
~False. Hillary launched an Accountability Review Board, removed the 4 individuals identified to be at fault, and implemented the 29 recommendations set forth by the ARB.
"Since 1988, there have been 19 Accountability Review Boards investigating attacks on American diplomats and their facilities. Benghazi joins a long list of tragedies, for our Department and for other agencies: hostages taken in Tehran in 1979, our embassy and Marine barracks bombed in Beirut in 1983, Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, our embassies in East Africa in 1998, consulate staff murdered in Jeddah in 2004, the Khost attack in 2009, and too many others.
…
I have accepted every one of their recommendations — and I asked the Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources to lead a task force to ensure that all 29 of them are implemented quickly and completely.”
-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
4. Hillary Clinton intentionally launched a false narrative about a YouTube video being the cause of Benghazi:
~False. The intelligence community initially thought the YouTube video was related to the Benghazi attack. Hillary Clinton repeated the intelligence communities talking points.
Violent protests had erupted throughout the Middle East simultaneous to Benghazi. Many of the protests throughout the Middle East and in Cairo revolved around the YouTube video, which is why it was initially thought Benghazi was also related to the YouTube video. We now know that although the attackers in Benghazi weren’t directly connected to the protests revolving around the YouTube video, the unstable environment provided by the protests gave the Benghazi perpetrators an opportunity to launch their attack successfully.
5. The Obama Administration did not call Benghazi a “terrorist attack”:
~False.
Senator Joe Lieberman: “Let me begin by asking you whether you would say that Ambassador Stevens and the three other Americans died as a result of a terrorist attack?”
Counterterrorism Director Matthew Olsen: “Certainly on that particular question I would say, yes. They were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy.”
6. Hillary personally denied requests for more security in Benghazi:
~False. 1.43 million cables are sent to the State Department each year. Security requests are handled by security professionals in the State Department. No cables requesting more security reached Hillary’s desk.
7. The Benghazi attacks were “preventable”:
~True. Virtually all tragedies are “preventable” with 20/20 hindsight — including the Beirut bombings under Reagan, 9/11/2001, and the 13 embassy attacks under George Bush’s Administration.
8. Hillary Clinton said, “What difference, at this point, does it make” that 4 men died in Benghazi:
~False. Hillary was referring to the Republican’s obsession with Susan Rice’s talking points, not Benghazi itself.