Democrats serving on the special committee examining the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, say the panel’s investigation has passed yet another milestone and has now taken longer than the investigation into the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The calendar gives the five Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi, now in existence for 609 days, a new entry to their oft-repeated refrain that the inquiry has lasted longer those into the attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassination of President Kennedy, Iran-Contra and Watergate.
“The Select Committee’s investigation of the Benghazi attacks has been widely condemned as hyper-partisan and ineffective, and it stands in stark contrast to the bipartisan investigation and report issued by the 9/11 Commission,” ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said in a statement.
“Republicans continue to drag out this political charade closer to the 2016 presidential election, and the American taxpayers continue to pay the price,” he added.
Panel Democrats estimate the investigation has cost nearly $5.6 million and counting.
The timing of the critique is no accident. The Benghazi panel will interview former CIA chief David Petraeus behind closed doors and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday, also in a classified setting, about the deadly siege that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.
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