U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers opening remarks during the G8 Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition meeting in New York on September 28, 2012. REUTERS/KEITH BEDFORD
Benghazi Attack May Cloud Clinton’s Legacy -- Washington Post
The fatal attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya last month has become a test of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s leadership and a threat to her much-admired legacy as America’s top diplomat just a few months before she plans to step down.
Clinton was among the first Obama administration officials to publicly condemn the attack and mourn the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. But as the State Department has weathered Republican-led criticism that it misread warning signs before the Sept. 11 attack, Clinton has been far less visible.
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My Comment: This Washington Post article is too "soft and kind" to Secretary of State Clinton .... if it was anyone else they would be demanding and screaming for her resignation. As I had mentioned in previous posts .... the White House and the State Department's contradictory and misleading reports on the attack of the US consulate in Benghazi and the subsequent murder of a US ambassador has been a disaster .... and it just keeps on giving. Just this evening the AP has come out with a new report on how the State Department actually responded after the attack .... which (not surprisingly) completely contradicts the White House and the message that it was sending out 24 hours after the attack. When asked why the contradiction with the White House .... the State Department official essentially says ... go ask them. Hmmm ... talk about bad blood.
But the news gets even better .... Secretary of State Clinton should be the one who should be grilled this Wednesday by Congress on the Benghazi disaster .... but she is not showing up .... instead some lower (but trusted?) State Department official will be sent. Sighhhh .... I suspect that she knows that it is not going to be an easy time for anyone in that chair .... and she sure as hell does not want to be the one sitting in it. Am I disappointed .... yup .... I expected more from her.
What's my take .... someone has to be held accountable for the security failure(s) at the consulate, the failure to properly communicate to the White House and the American public, and most important of all .... to the families who lost loved ones in this debacle. Being the head of the State Department .... Hillary Clinton's head in any other time would be on a platter right now .... but in this hyper election season she will be spared, and politely pushed out of the door when her tenure at the State Department ends and she takes retirement from political life.
As for her political legacy .... who cares?
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