THE ISSUE:

The House select committee probing the 2012 Benghazi attacks is finally done.

THE STAKES:

The report shows it was nothing but a one-sided attack timed to have political impact.The 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi that resulted in the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans needed a deep and thorough Congressional probe. It didn't need a witch hunt.

Sadly, what we have in the 800-page final report of the House Select Committee on Benghazi hardly moves the needle. The report criticized previous probes by the State Department and others, yet adds little if any new insight into what happened on that tragic night in Libya. In the end, the report is a narrowly focused, partisan polemic with one purpose — discrediting the then-Secretary of State and current presumed Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.

The New York Times summed it up succinctly in calling the committee's inquiry one of the longest, costliest and most bitterly partisan congressional investigations in history. Democrats on the panel rightly pointed out the investigation — at least the eighth into Benghazi — went on longer than probes into the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the JFK assassination, and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Making matters even more politically charged, two Republican members of the committee issued their own 48-page addendum, which more harshly criticized the Obama administration's response to the attacks.

The intensely partisan nature of this costly crusade cheapens the work of Congress. Congressional committees are an important tool for this co-equal branch of government to gather facts and expert opinion that can lead to well-informed legislation and policy changes — including actions that can reduce the chance of a repeat of events like the Benghazi attacks.

By dragging out its look into an event that happened nearly four years ago, the committee was able to achieve many of its real goals. It has kept Benghazi and criticism of Mrs. Clinton on the front burner, affording her critics easy fodder as she campaigns for the White House. It also yielded what has turned out to be even better ammunition for her opponents — the disclosure that, as secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton used her personal email on her private server for official business. It's not directly related to Benghazi, but having failed to find enough to criticize her for on that front, her opponents now have a potentially more legitimate issue. Still, with an FBI probe dragging on, it remains to be seen whether this is a genuine scandal or an overblown distraction from meaningful discussion of more important issues.

The select committee's GOP members and its chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, may have ingratiated themselves to the party's right wing with this inquisition, but they have added little to the conversation that needs to be held. Many constructive criticisms regarding the Benghazi attacks were already on the table. It's time Congress stopped chasing ghosts, and took up the serious businesses of protecting real, living Americans serving honorably in foreign service.