Do you watch "Fox News" the cartoon network?

How many holes need to be punched into a lie before someone lets go of it? That’s the question the folks at Fox News may want to ask themselves. The network has run at least 85 segments in primetime alone about the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Yet every time a new report on the events of September 11, 2012 is issued, more Fox talking points go down in flames. The most recent contradiction to Fox News claims about the event may best be described as “friendly fire.”
A February 10 report issued by the Republican controlled House Subcommittee On Oversight and Investigations destroys a major right wing talking point about the Benghazi attack — that military assets in Tripoli were ordered to “stand down.” As reported by Media Matters last October:

…Fox News reported that CIA operators in Benghazi had been told by their superiors to “stand down” rather than rush to the aid of their colleagues in the diplomatic compound. The right-wing media used the report to allege that President Obama and his administration had decided to willingly “sacrifice Americans” in Benghazi. But the CIA denied that any stand-down orders had ever been given, no additional evidence has ever emerged suggesting such orders were given, and reinforcements actually arrived from Tripoli in time for the second attack on the CIA facility.

The House subcommittee report, issued by its Republican majority, details six findings. Finding number five says

There was no “stand down” order issued to U.S. military personnel in Tripoli who sought to join the fight in Benghazi.

Testimony confirms that no “stand down” order was issued during the Benghazi attack.

Representative Martha Roby (R-AL) may have thought she smelled blood in the water when she asked Army Lt. Colonel S.E. Gibson during a hearing on June 26, 2013:

Do you agree that you and your team were ordered to . . . “stand down?”

Gibson’s reply should have put an end to any questions.

Madam Chairman, I was not ordered to stand down. I was ordered to remain in place. “Stand down” implies that we cease all operations, cease all activities. We continued to support the team that was in Tripoli. We continued to maintain visibility of the events as they unfolded.

The report goes on to say that Lt. Col. Gibson believes that remaining in Tripoli was the correct thing to do.

This report echoes the findings of a Senate committee report from January 2014, which states

The Committee has reviewed the allegations that U.S. personnel, including in the IC or DoD, prevented the mounting of any military relief effort during the attacks, but the Committee has not found any of these allegations to be substantiated.

Fox News deals with the House report by ignoring the finding that there was no “stand down” order.

The House and Senate reports agree — no stand down order was given. Yet, in the face of mounting proof that the network’s Benghazi line was created out of whole cloth, Fox News chose to completely ignore that finding. A headlines segment during Fox and Friends, that was captioned “Benghazi Bombshells,” highlights the House report’s criticism of the Obama administration, without any mention of the conclusion regarding a stand down order. The House report is just the latest in a series that has destroyed the network’s line about Benghazi, and so far the truth has failed to cause Fox News to correct any of their past reporting. Just because a few Republicans are actually saying that Fox is wrong, should that be any reason to change their story now?