President Obama’s nominee to become the next ambassador to Libya vowed Tuesday to keep up the hunt for those responsible for the September 2012 attacks.
President Obama’s nominee to become the next ambassador to Libya vowed Tuesday to keep up the hunt for those responsible for the September 2012 attacks that killed former Ambassador J. Christopher Stephens and three other Americans in the nation’s eastern city of Benghazi.
“As the president has committed, the perpetrators must be brought to justice,” Deborah K. Jones told senators during a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.
“If confirmed, I will work closely with the Libyan government to see that justice is realized.”
The assertion came during a week in which scrutiny has soared among some lawmakers over the administration’s handling of the Benghazi attacks.
House Republicans are readying for a highly anticipated hearing Wednesday to press once again over why more was not done to halt the attacks, as well as conflicting statements made by the administration in the aftermath of the attack, The Washington Times said.
Jones sought to portray herself Tuesday as well prepared to lead a new American diplomatic charge in Libya.
“The disarming, demobilizing, and integration of the revolutionary brigades and militias whose efforts were so critical to the defeat of Gadhafi’s dictatorship is essential for establishing a national, cohesive security apparatus with clear lines of ‘command and control,’” said Jones, a veteran foreign service officer who speaks Arabic and served as ambassador to Kuwait from 2008 through 2011.
“This will in turn enable the defeat of volatile and deadly rogue militias and prevent a repeat of the tragedy in Benghazi, where Ambassador Stevens and three other of our finest public servants were senselessly killed,” she said.
The US embassy in Tripoli was stormed in September 2012 by unidentified militants, killing the Ambassador J. Christopher Stephens and three other Americans amid violence following the ouster of former dictator Moammar Gaddafi.
