Benghazi, Libya

One congressman says the Obama administration ignored the warning signs in Libya and then tried to cover up the source of the violence.

As Jeff Abell WBFF in Baltimore reports, Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah went to the Middle Eastern country and found a much different story than the one told by the White House.

One month after attackers torched the U.S. Embassy in Libya, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others, there are signs that workers here were long concerned, and had asked the State Department to beef up security.

"Those requests were denied and led to part of the reason that the Benghazi facility was attacked," Chaffetz said.

Chaffetz recently visited Libya and returned with a troubling story -- he insists the U.S. knew that terrorism was mounting in that country, but did little about it.

"I think the Obama administration wanted a narrative that things are calm, cool and collected in Libya," Chaffetz said.

Abell reported that when the violence broke out, there was little mention of the rising tide of violence in Libya. Instead, federal officials pointed to a recently released anti-Islam video for inciting all that anger.

In a video posted to YouTube, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there "is no justification for responding to this video with violence."

Chaffetz said to suggest that it was a video gone awry “was misleading and patently false.”

Democrats say the Republican congressman who is condemning the government’s actions has a motive of his own.

KUTV in Utah reported that "there's a reason for this rush and it has to do a lot more with Jason Chaffetz’s political objectives than a serious look at what happened and why. "

But Chaffetz argues it's the White House playing political games and putting people's lives at risk.

Jim Dabakis of the Utah Democratic Party said the Obama administration “wanted the appearance of normalization as swiftly as possible rather than security dictating security. I'm concerned they were making political decisions."

One month after the attack in Libya, there is a political war being waged in the United States.

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