Not a Single Terrorist Brought to Justice for Benghazi Attack

Why is it that nearly a year after the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi not a single terrorist has been brought to justice? It’s a question many Americans may be asking and this week a federal lawmaker pressed Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel for answers.

In separate letters to the men, Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf blasts the Obama administration for failing to take action against the terrorists who murdered U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in the attack even though “upwards of 100” may have been involved. Months ago a major news organization reported that the U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible, Congressman Wolf points out.

The U.S. has enough evidence to justify seizing the men by military force as suspected terrorists, according to officials cited in the news report, but there is not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers. So, the men remain at large while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gathers evidence, the congressman writes in the letters citing the news report.

“Is this accurate and, if so, who in the administration made the decision not to use military force to bring these terrorists to justice immediately, but instead allow them to walk free until enough evidence is gathered to try them in a U.S. civilian court?” Congressman Wolf writes. “Equally important, who made the decision that a U.S. court is the appropriate venue to bring these terrorists to justice?”

Trial venues for terrorists have been an ongoing controversy in the Obama administration, mainly involving those incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Remember when Holder announced that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four of his fellow al Qaeda cohorts would be tried in a New York courtroom, just blocks from Ground Zero? The preposterous plan blew up in his face and the trials are taking place in military commissions at Gitmo.

Judicial Watch has closely monitored military commission proceedings at Gitmo and has sent investigators to a number of terrorist hearings in the last two years. JW has also been a leader in investigating the Benghazi attacks, filing a dozen public records requests with various federal agencies and several lawsuits to get the Obama administration to tell the truth about what really happened.

Earlier this year JW published a special report featuring an in-depth analysis of Benghazi conducted by former State Department Security Special Agent Raymond Fournier. The report examines the critical time period leading up to the Benghazi attack, when repeated requests for increased security were shunned by top State Department officials. It also looks at the Obama administration’s official claim that “an obscure Internet video” triggered the attacks, as well as apparently false claims that four top State Department officials had resigned in response to the Department’s December 18 Accountability Review Board report on the attack.

Nearly a year later the administration has yet to take action against the terrorists who carried out the plot. Congressman Wolf ends his letter to the nation’s Attorney General and Secretary of Defense by asking: “How long will the families of those killed have to wait before this administration takes any action—whether military or law enforcement—to bring these terrorists to justice?” Stay tuned for the answer but don’t hold your breath.