WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today took to the Senate floor and called on the President to set the record straight on Benghazi at the State of the Union address. Video of the speech is here.

“Mr. President, I simply ask that you be forthright with the American people,” Roberts said. “Help us get beyond this tragedy. Help us restore confidence and faith for our personnel serving overseas and in harm’s way that the sacred bond of always having their back is not gone.”

Roberts has been an outspoken critic of the Administration’s handling of the attack in Benghazi. Last year, Roberts, the most senior Marine in the Congress, wrote the President a letter urging him to set the record straight about his Administration’s failure to help Americans murdered in the terrorist attack in Benghazi on September 11. Roberts asserts it caused Americans serving in harm’s way, especially members of the armed forces, to question the sacred bond of never leaving a comrade in distress or danger. The full text of the Senator’s letter can be found here. To date, Senator Roberts has not received a response.

Senator Roberts has cosponsored Senate Resolution 225, a resolution to express the sense of the Senate that Congress should establish a joint select committee to investigate and report on the attack on the United States diplomatic facility and American personnel in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012.

                The following is text of Senator Roberts’ floor speech as prepared for delivery:

Madame President, it has been an agonizing 16 months.

But this week -- through the investigation efforts of the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee -- we have learned that circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks on our U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and the murder of four Americans…as told by this Administration…simply are not factual.

A year of news reporting and these congressional findings confirm an egregious disconnect between what the Administration has alleged and the facts of what happened.

As we say in Kansas, simply put, it just doesn’t add up.

We now know this tragedy did not have to happen and most certainly the hard to understand actions and behaviors of those involved have added unneeded hubris, scandal, and conduct difficult to comprehend.

This is a mess that has to be cleaned up – it demands clarity, honesty, and simply owning up to the truth.

I come to the floor today to discuss this tragedy not so much as a Republican Senator, but as a Marine.

I fear our lack of truth and understanding has broken a bond that those who risk their lives for our nation all share and believe in.

The bond that if they come in harm’s way – we have their back, we will be there for them.

Madame President, this is a speech I wish I never had to make.

But I feel compelled to make my plea to this Administration yet again….and specifically to President Obama…to give the American people and the families whose lives were lost in Benghazi a full accounting.

It is long overdue.  

A month after the attacks, I wrote President Obama…as a Marine… with the deepest concern regarding his personal handling - and that of his Administration - of the Benghazi attacks and the damage it continues to do to that sacred bond our men and women in uniform have of “sacrifice for each other.”

And that extends to those who serve our country overseas in a civilian capacity.

I am once again asking this president, our Commander in Chief, to actively restore the trust and sincerity once made with that promise to never leave anyone behind.

If he and others responsible for this tragedy do not restore this trust, I truly believe the future morale and effectiveness of our military services are at stake.

As I travel through Kansas and speak with my constituents, regardless of their background…they want to know “what really happened in Benghazi…and why?

Why has it taken so long to get the answers?

Many ask me directly, “When will the President be forthright with the families of those killed and injured in the attacks?”

When will the president stop covering up the bad decisions made on September 11, 2012?

Most emphatically, they say,
“Please do not forget about Benghazi.”

However, the response has been a dogged all too familiar tactic of delay, non-response and the hope somehow it will all just go away.

Well, this is not going away.

I applaud my colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee for the recent release of over 450 pages documenting their classified hearings held over the past year.

I applaud my colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee for their report released yesterday detailing the events surrounding the attacks.

The headlines from this report now read: “Benghazi could have been prevented.”

While the results of these investigations have brought more truth to light, they have also brought more questions to mind.

As a Marine, I know that there is no mission our Marines cannot complete.

If press reports are accurate, I do not understand why our Marine’s rapid response unit was delayed by an hour – required to change out of their uniforms and into plain, civilian clothing – and ultimately, turned away.

Our commanders have testified it was the State Department that declined the Marines in Benghazi. Yet, they have been reluctant to point the finger at the State Department.

Well, someone made this call. Someone gave this order.

Facts are stubborn things and as more relevant facts are now becoming public, the obvious questions increase.

In the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report, it is made clear that individuals within the Administration have continued to stonewall Congress from the truth.

I am not going to go into every detail here on the floor, it is all here in this report, but enough is enough.

Congress has the constitutional duty to ensure the Executive Branch does not abuse its power.

That power has been abused.

No one who has played a role in this debacle has been held accountable, let alone brought to justice.

In fact, just the opposite. We have released individuals who have returned to start working on the next terrorist attack.

Likewise, this report makes it clear that U.S. personnel raised alarms for months before the attacks. 

Requests for additional security were made by the previous Ambassador as early as February 2012.

Yet, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for International Programs, Charlene Lamb rejected the requests because Libya was a “political game” and the Administration did not want to “look bad,” according to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report.

The absurdity and egregious behavior of putting politics before security is overwhelming.

Lives were at stake.

And…it has been confirmed that our top military leaders…General Ham, General Dempsey, and Secretary Panetta knew immediately this was a “terrorist attack” and not a protest.

And so did the President.

We knew AQIM, AQAP, the Mohammed Jamal Network, and Ansar al-Sharia – founded by Sufian bin Qumu, a former detainee - were all involved.

This just raises more questions.

Why were there no contingency plans in place?

We had actionable intelligence.

The British left, the Red Cross left, there were no flags flying in Benghazi by any Western nation, and the consulate had already been attacked.

Why didn’t we deploy immediately with the assumption that there would be follow-on attacks?

Why were those who paid the ultimate sacrifice left to their own devices on a day – September 11-- that anyone could anticipate would bring trouble?

Our Generals have testified that the United States was not looking at Libya, but rather Tunisia, Egypt, and Sudan.

Less than one year after Gadhafi and no one was concerned about safety in Libya?

Does anyone believe this assessment?

Given the turmoil and danger did the State Department really believe we could “normalize” Libya?

That the country was stable?

This has been an incredible example of condescending arrogance and elitism putting politics and personal agenda ahead of protecting the lives of Americans.

The insult is that 16 months later, we still can’t get the truth.

We now know, without a shadow of doubt, there was actionable intelligence.

And yet, no action was taken.

I am fed up with the lack of accountability this Administration has taken in response.

I am fed up with the stonewalling by several of those in the State Department who have ignored requests from the Intelligence Committee for testimony.

When then-Secretary Clinton came before Congress to testify, she replied, “what difference does it make.”

The difference -- our Ambassador and three other patriots did not have to die.

The families of Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty deserve better from this country.

They deserve more from this president.

With that in mind, I make a simple and respectful request of the President.

I ask that he take the opportunity during the State of the Union speech – on Tuesday, January 28 -- to give those families and all Americans the whole story.

Mr. President, I simply ask that you be forthright with the American people.

Help us get beyond this tragedy.

Help us restore confidence and faith for our personnel serving overseas and in harm’s way that the sacred bond of always having their back is not gone. 

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with 40 young Marines who are just about to finish Basic School.

I looked each of them in the eye and let them know, because they needed to know, that a bipartisan majority in this Senate has not forgotten about that promise, the same promise that was made to me when I joined the Corps.