Sen. John Barrasso says he hopes to finally get some answers about events surrounding the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya during a briefing today for members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by national security officials.
"We've gotten so many reports that are conflicting. We need to know the truth and the American people deserve to know the truth," the Wyoming Republican told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Monday.
"There are four dead Americans who I believe didn't have to die," he added, referring to U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others who were killed during the attack on the 11th anniversary of September 11.
Barrasso said he also believes that former CIA Director David Petraeus, who recently went to Libya himself to debrief CIA officials on the attack, should be called to testify before Congress, despite the controversy surrounding the extramarital affair that prompted his resignation last Friday.
"I expect at some point . . . Petraeus is going to need to do it and there's a bipartisan call for that," he said, adding that he also wants Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify as well.
"There are contradictions in the timelines, what comes out from the state department as well as the CIA," Barrasso said. "And I want to know what's happened afterwards. What did the president know, when did he know it, and what did he do?"
The senator expressed frustration at what he called the apparent "stonewalling" by the Obama administration, saying, "I don't think the American people yet know what happened."
For example, he cited the requests by U.S. diplomatic personnel in Libya in the weeks leading up to the attack for more security.
"They never got the additional security at all. I need to know why," he said.
"We've had conflicting and evasive answers. We want to make sure this never happens again," Barrasso added.
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