Former US official describes Libya attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former top diplomat in Libya on Wednesday described a 2 a.m. call from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the middle of the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, amid confusion about the fate of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and fears about the safety of additional American personnel.

"She asked me what was going on and I briefed her on developments. Most of the conversation was about the search for Ambassador Stevens," Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in Libya, told the House oversight committee. "It was also about what we were going to do with our personnel in Benghazi and I told her we would need to evacuate and she said that was the right thing to do."

Haltingly, Hicks recounted "the saddest phone call in my life"_getting word from a Libyan official that Stevens had been killed.

The politically charged hearing on the Sept. 11, 2012 attack is the latest in a long-running and bitter dispute between the administration and congressional Republicans who have challenged the White House's actions before and after the deadly assault, in which when Stevens and three other Americans.

The target of much of the conservative wrath is Clinton, a potential presidential candidate in 2016, who stepped down after four grueling years with very high approval ratings. In her last appearance on Capitol Hill in January, a defiant Clinton took responsibility for the department's missteps leading up to the assault, while rejecting suggestions the administration had tried to mislead the country about the attack.

The witnesses Wednesday were Mark Thompson, acting deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism; Hicks, the former deputy of mission in Libya; and Eric Nordstrom, a former regional security officer in Libya who testified before the panel in October.

Hicks said that shortly after he was told Stevens was dead, unidentified Libyans called Hicks' staff from the phone that had been with Stevens that night. These Libyans said Stevens was with them, and U.S. officials should come fetch the ambassador, Hicks said. Hicks said he believed Stevens' body was at a hospital at that point, but he could not be certain.

"We suspected we were being baited into a trap," Hicks told the committee, so the U.S. personnel did not follow the callers' instructions. "We did not want to send our people into an ambush," Hicks testified.

An independent panel led by former top diplomat Thomas Pickering and retired Gen. Mike Mullen concluded that management and leadership failures at the State Department led to "grossly" inadequate security at the mission. The panel's report singled out the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs.

The report has failed to placate GOP lawmakers, conservatives and outside groups, some of whom contend that Benghazi is comparable to the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals and deserves a more thorough examination. They contend that the Obama administration is covering up information.

Republicans at the hearing focused on the widely debunked talking points used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice five days after the attack in which she said the attacks appeared to be associated with demonstrations in Egype and Libya over an anti-Islam video.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., assailed Rice's televised comments and said they contradicted statements by Libyan leaders and others who called the attacks pre-meditated assaults by terrorists.

Gowdy said Rice's comments "perpetuated a demonstrably false narrative." Hicks, asked his reaction to the Rice's remarks on five Sunday talk shows, said: "I was stunned. My jaw dropped and I was embarrassed."

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U.S. diplomat recounts frustration at lack of help during Benghazi attack

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. diplomat in Libya gave a dramatic account on Wednesday of the attack on the mission in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador, and told lawmakers that more could have been done to stop the assault by suspected Islamist militants.

Gregory Hicks, the second in command at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time, expressed his frustration in an emotionally charged congressional hearing that a U.S. military jet and special forces were not sent to help in Benghazi.

"They were furious," Hicks said of the four special operations members in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, who wanted to go to Benghazi, but were told not to.

As the first U.S. official who was in Libya during the attack to testify publicly, Hicks detailed a series of frantic phone calls to Washington and between Tripoli and Benghazi the night of the attack on September 11, 2012.

One call from U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was cut off after Stevens said, "Greg, we're under attack."

Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack by suspected Islamists linked to al Qaeda on a lightly defended U.S. diplomatic mission and a more fortified CIA compound in Benghazi.

The testimony from Hicks and two other U.S. officials gave Republicans new fuel to assail President Barack Obama's administration over security lapses in Benghazi as well as early, conflicting accounts of what happened there.

The Benghazi incident followed Obama as he campaigned for re-election, with Republicans accusing him of being weak on foreign affairs. But after months of criticism, there is little sign it posed a serious threat to his reputation or his poll numbers.

Hicks gave an emotional account during the hearing of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee. His eyes grew teary and he choked up, collecting himself by sipping water as he gave a minute-by-minute description of the hectic night.

Hicks learned of Stevens' death in a 3 a.m. call from the Libyan prime minister. "I think it is the saddest phone call I have ever had in my life," he said.

If a U.S. jet had been scrambled and sent over the eastern Libyan city when the assault on the diplomatic facilities began, Hicks said, it might have deterred the assailants.

He was asked at one point how he responded to news that more resources would not be sent to Benghazi to help. He answered: "My reaction was that, 'OK, we're on our own. We're going to have to try to pull this off with the resources that we have available.'"

PARTISANSHIP

Democrats charged Republicans during the hearing - the latest of a series - with politicizing the attacks and making false accusations about members of the Obama administration.

"What we have seen over the past two weeks is a full- scale media campaign that is not designed to investigate what happened in a responsible and bipartisan way, but rather to launch ... unfounded accusations to smear public officials," said U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee.

Republicans focused their criticism on security, early accounts of the report and the conduct of the investigation, such as witness Eric Nordstrom not being questioned by the board probing Benghazi, although he had first-hand knowledge of the attacks.

"The witnesses before us are actual experts on what really happened before, during and after the Benghazi attacks," said Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight Panel, who referred to Hicks, Mark Thompson and Nordstrom as "whistleblowers."

"These witnesses deserve to be heard on the Benghazi attacks, the flaws in the accountability review board's methodology, process and conclusion," he said.

Democratic members of Congress closely questioned Hicks and the other two witnesses: Thompson, the acting deputy assistant secretary for counterrorism at the State Department; and Nordstrom, a regional security officer in Libya.

Some noted, for example, that Hicks' assertion that a U.S. military plane could have been sent from Italy to help contradicted testimony by U.S. military commanders, including General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"I have seen nothing to make me question the truthfulness of our nation's military commanders," Cummings said.

Benghazi became the topic of the day in Washington, featuring in media briefings at the State Department, Pentagon and White House as Obama administration officials tried to get out ahead of Republican criticism.

"It is a simple fact that from first hours of Benghazi attack there have been attempts by Republicans to politicize it," White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

A State Department official said the department had participated in eight hearings, more than 20 inter-agency briefings and responded to more than 100 letters and questions since September 11.

Republicans deny that they are motivated by a desire to discredit a Democratic White House or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, considered a favorite to be the party's presidential nominee in 2016.

An official inquiry into the incident released in December concluded that "leadership and management failures" in two State Department bureaus led to a security posture "inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place."

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Alistair Bell, Jim Loney and Peter Cooney)

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Giffords Staffer Memorial Shadowed by Gun Debate, Boston Attack

Gabe Zimmerman

WASHINGTON - Amid a national debate on gun control, a meeting room in the Capitol was dedicated today to a congressional aide killed in the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz.

Gabe Zimmerman was killed when a gunman opened fire at a constituent meet-and-greet event hosted outside a Tucson supermarket by then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killing six and shooting the congresswoman in the head. Giffords, her former staff members, and husband Mark Kelly were among those in attendance at the ceremony for her lost colleague.

"He was called the constituent whisperer," Kelly said. "Because if there was ever a grumpy or agitated constituent at the office or at an event, Gabe was the only person that could figure out how to console them. He had a gift with people."

The afternoon event was not intentionally timed with the national debate on gun rights, but Kelly, an astronaut who has taken an ardent role as a gun control activist with his wife since the tragedy, remarked on the coincidence.

"Some people say that a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun," he continued. "I always remind people that there was a good guy with a gun at the Safeway that morning. But in the chaotic 15 seconds that unfolded where 33 rounds were shot, he didn't have any time to react."

Kelly said it was "no surprise" to him to learn that Zimmerman reportedly ran towards the gunfire unarmed during the shooting.

Giffords had difficulty speaking at the event due to head injuries she sustained in Tucson, and allowed her husband to speak on her behalf. The ceremony was also attended by Zimmerman's family, Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker John Boehner, and representatives Nancy Pelosi, Jeff Flake, Steny Hoyer, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and Ron Barber - the last a former staffer for Giffords and her successor in office.

Along with the remembrance of Zimmerman today came an added tone from the bombings Monday at the Boston Marathon.

"You probably more than anyone in this room today can understand how the people in Boston feel today," Biden told the assembled family. "Lots of times we're united in our victories, but more often we're united in our tragedies. It gives you a window into how difficult things are for other people."

Although he admitted words of encouragement in a time of tragedy could seem "hollow," he recollected a conversation with his own mother following the death of his first wife and daughter in a car accident.

"She said, 'Joey, if you look hard enough something good will come out of everything bad,'" he said, gesturing to Gabe Zimmerman's father, Ross Zimmerman. "We will come out of what's happened in Boston stronger, and believe it or not you will be stronger. He's in your bloodstream, pal. He's part of you. There's no way - there's no way it ever goes away."

Ross Zimmerman said the fact that the dedication of the room to his son would come a day after the attack on the Boston Marathon was "strange and surreal," as he and his son were avid marathon runners. But he asked for future lawmakers roaming the halls of congress to see the plaque hanging in the Zimmerman Meeting Room and remember the ideals of public service for which his son strove.

"An echo of Gabriel will persist, perhaps for centuries," Ross Zimmerman said. "That isn't worth the loss but the echo is good and true."

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