By: Ross K. Baker, USA TODAY
Select committee investigation into what happened in Libya more about politics than truth.
Select committees of Congress have probed the causes of the Titanic sinking and gotten to the bottom of the Iran-contra scandal. Some have served the public interest, while others have been little more than backdrops for partisan posturing and political messaging.
The select committee established recently by House Speaker John Boehner is more likely to resemble the latter than the former, despite promises to get at the real truth behind the events in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, that led to the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
But hasn’t that topic been thoroughly explored already by Rep. Darrell Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform?
It certainly has, but any opponent’s political liability worth exploring with one of the permanent committees of Congress is worth even deeper investigations with a “select committee,” a term that suggests that this time, you really mean business. The new panel, established with only the most minimal Democratic support, accomplishes many things for Boehner.
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