Senators critical of administration after release of Benghazi attack report

WASHINGTON — Georgia’s U.S. senators released statements Tuesday after the House Select Committee on Benghazi released its final investigative report, which accused the Obama administration and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now the presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee, of failure to protect U.S. diplomats in the 2012 Benghazi attack in which four Americans were killed.

“I’ve demanded answers from the Obama administration since it first became clear that Congress and the American people were not getting straight answers,” Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said. “For the families of the four Americans who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, today’s long-awaited report by Congress is a small piece of closure. I am hopeful that the next president will take to heart these findings, correct the deficiencies in our U.S. military response and help prevent future American lives from being lost.”

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations State Department and USAID Management Subcommittee, said, “This report shows a systemic failure of leadership at the highest level. Four innocent Americans died and no one has been held accountable.

“The State Department failed to adequately protect Americans serving overseas and failed to plan ahead for potential terrorist attacks on the anniversary of 9/11 in countries plagued with instability. This cannot continue. It is clear this attack had nothing to do with a video and everything to do with government incompetence.”