Tulsa World: Rep. Tom Cole joins call for committee to investigate Benghazi attack

Tulsa World

Fourth District Rep. Tom Cole joined Republicans on Monday clamoring for further investigation into last year's terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Cole said he is signing on as a co-sponsor of House Resolution 36, which would create a select committee to investigate the matter. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack, and Republicans say the Obama administration mishandled its initial response and then tried to cover up its failures.

“Eight months after the unthinkable terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, we are still seeking answers to what happened that night," Cole said. "After all this time, we should have resolved what circumstances led to the murder of four Americans, what was done to prevent the attack and how it was handled and presented by President (Barack) Obama and Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton."

Late last week U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said on a conservative radio program that the Benghazi incident is the worst scandal in U.S. history and could lead to Obama's impeachment. Two other Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and John McCain of Arizona, said over the weekend that they were not ready to go that far but consider the situation serious.

Skeptics say some Republicans have overstated the issue for political purposes, pointing to more than a dozen attacks on U.S. embassies, consulates and diplomats during the previous GOP administration. Among those killed during those attacks was David Foy, a State Department official assigned to the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

Online: Tulsa World