Wrap up Benghazi inquest: Our view

A few words of advice to House Republicans concerning their $4.6 million investigation into a terrorist raid of a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya: Time to wrap it up and tie a bow on it.

Report what findings you have. Declare victory. Do whatever you have to do. And then stop.

Rep. Trey Gowdy: We’re breaking new ground

Your inquest is not shedding much light on the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2012, when terrorists stormed the compound, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others. It is doing even less for the reputation of Congress and the party that controls both of its chambers.

Questions and accusations began swirling days, if not hours, after the incident. In the ensuing months, they migrated to various investigations. Then, in May 2014, they metastasized into a full-blown House Select Committee on Benghazi, which has pursued former secretary of State Hillary Clinton like a dog tearing into a bone.

The transparently partisan goal of the GOP-controlled panel in going after the other party’s leading presidential candidate was underscored last week, when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California boasted to Fox News that the inquest had driven down Clinton’s poll numbers.

McCarthy, who is seeking to move up to House speaker, has since apologized for his remarks, which serve as a near-perfect illustration of journalist Michael Kinsley’s adage that a Washington gaffe is when a politician inadvertently tells the truth.

The Benghazi committee has pressed on despite findings largely exonerating Clinton released by seven prior investigations. The most recent one came last fall from the House Intelligence Committee, a panel that is also controlled by Republicans but has a long tradition of putting national security issues first. It debunked conspiracy theories that had arisen from the attack and found that the mistakes that left the U.S. compound vulnerable to attack were made by career intelligence analysts, not senior officials.

On Wednesday, the House voted 240-183 along party lines not to abolish the Benghazi committee. Yet to continue with its plan to issue a report in the middle of next year’s election year is to invite unintended consequences. Clinton is already running ads accusing Republicans of a taxpayer-funded witch hunt. And given the McCarthy fiasco, her scheduled appearance before the committee in two weeks is as likely to reflect poorly on the accusers than the accused.

What’s more, such an obviously partisan use of Congress’ role as overseer and investigator will undermine future investigations that have more merit, such as the one into Clinton's use of a private email account and server while she was secretary of State. Her unusual email arrangement — which, to be fair, the Benghazi committee helped unearth — represents bad judgment bordering on recklessness. It has considerably more worth looking into than the Benghazi incident itself.

Perhaps yet-to-be-released Clinton emails will reveal something new about Benghazi, though that appears unlikely. Every indication is that the deaths of the four Americans there represent a tragedy in a very dangerous part of the world, for which the finger of blame should be pointed squarely in one direction: at the terrorists who killed them.

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