From: Fred Thompson

So now, apparently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is going to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to testify about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya and the ensuing scandal.

Although, the murdered ambassador was working for her and she was in charge of the department responsible for the clearly inadequate protection of the diplomatic facility, she had essentially nothing to say about the matter even before her health difficulties. This follows the Obama Administration’s well-worn game plan and the failed practices of the past: the FBI cites “criminal investigations” to keep from having to discuss this terrorist attack … even with the CIA. Aided and abetted by the media, the White House ignores the matter, and even if it were forced to focus on it, would decline comment, citing the FBI’s criminal investigation. There have been no public hearings or testimony from Departments of Defense, State or the White House national security witnesses, even though it seems apparent that most of the information needed by Congress and the American people is not or should not be classified.

The Democrats are not going to call for hearings in the Senate, and the House has been consumed with fiscal and budgetary matters. Meanwhile this major scandal that unnecessarily caused the death of our ambassador and three other Americans goes unattended. Senate Republicans are having to resort to the threat of holding up John Brennan’s CIA director nomination unless he answers questions on the matter. It’s a well-justified move, but Brennan is one person.

The American people should not fall prey to what I would call the “big fish gambit,” meaning avoiding the temptation to allow the media and the Obama Administration and Democrats to build up “big fish” witnesses ,such as Clinton and Brennan, and then fooling ourselves into thinking that real progress is being made to get to the truth. You don’t start an investigation from the top down. And you never get to the bottom of a complex set of issues involving several major departments of our government without a focused, methodical inquiry involving all relevant witnesses. Besides, it’s often the “little fish” – the State Department analyst who may have written the memo about the lack of security in Benghazi, or the aide who has copies of the memos that outline why the American public should not be told that the attack was a coordinated al Qaeda terrorist attack – who provide Congress and the public with the best information. This matter is too important to have to depend upon the members of Congress’ hallway summaries of closed door testimony, as they hurry to their next meeting.

As I have said before here and elsewhere, there is no hope that we will find out what happened before, during and after this debacle unless a special Congressional committee is appointed to deal with the matter. The Senate cannot be compelled to do it because of the Republicans’ minority status, but the House can. Congressman Frank Wolf has proposed a special committee. Then, when the White House and House Democrats squawk, ask them this question, “At a time when hardly a sparrow can fall without the attention of the federal government, why do the American people not deserve the truth about those responsible for this unmitigated disaster?”

-Fred Thompson