Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East Senior Fellow Karim Mezran is quoted by MSNBC News on the political implications of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi:
Karim Mezran, a senior fellow with the Washington D.C.-based Atlantic Council said because the report blames the State Department so much “it will hurt her and be utilized to blame Hillary Clinton for an oversight even though it’s clear to everyone she wasn’t directly responsible for the attack.”
Even though the bipartisan report discredits many right-wing criticisms, conservatives are already pouncing on it. The report concluded that intel analysts inaccurately cited a protest at the consulate as the reason for the attack without enough information or eyewitness accounts. But the report also said National Security Adviser Susan Rice did not deliberately mislead the public when she used those talking points.