Murkowski 'outraged' by developments on Libyan terrorist attack

By Ramsey Cox - 11/01/12 12:44 PM ET

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Wednesday that she’s “outraged” over recent reports on the terrorist attack of the U.S consulate in Libya.

“I am outraged to hear reports that the United States government failed to address security needs in Libya, even more with reports that trained personnel on the ground were discouraged from responding to reports of trouble at our Consulate in Benghazi,” Murkowski said in a statement Wednesday. “The administration owes the American people straight and honest answers about what happened, whether it was preventable and what lessons they have learned from this tragedy.”

On Sept. 11, 2012, four Americans were killed, including U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, when terrorists attacked the U.S consulate in Benghazi.

Republicans have criticized the administration for not delivering a consistent message on what truly happened in Libya and more recently for reports that the administration decided not to send a military task force to help those inside the consulate.

“I have no patience for the constantly changing stories coming out of the White House and even less for the empty explanations from senior administration officials who cannot or will not explain why things went wrong,” Murkowski said.

Last week, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced that she would hold a hearing on the attack in Benghazi after the election. The House has already started an investigation.

Murkowski demanded that someone in the White House be held accountable for the incident.

“I strongly encourage the White House to step up and take responsibility for any mistakes made,” Murkowski said. “Even more importantly, though, I ask them to step forward with the truth of what happened, didn’t happen and why — so that the American people have the full story.”

Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she'd take responsibility for the lack of security during the attack in order "to avoid some kind of political 'gotcha' " for the administration.

In an interview with MSNBC that aired last week, Obama vowed he would find the people responsible and urged lawmakers to allow the administration to conduct a full probe into the attack, acknowledging that as commander in chief, he was “ultimately” responsible for the security of U.S. diplomats.