Wed Jan 23, 2013
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton faces tough questions in her long-awaited congressional testimony concerning the assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Clinton is the
sole witness Wednesday at back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House
foreign policy panels on the September raid, an independent panel's review that
harshly criticized the State Department and the steps the Obama administration
is taking to beef up security at U.S. facilities
worldwide.
Clinton had been
scheduled to testify before Congress last month, but an illness, a concussion
and a blood clot near her brain forced her to postpone her
appearance.
Her marathon day
on Capitol Hill will probably be her last in Congress before she steps down as
secretary of state. President Barack Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry,
D-Mass., to succeed her, and his swift Senate confirmation is widely expected.
Kerry's confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Clinton's
testimony will focus on the attack after more than three months of Republican
charges that the Obama administration ignored signs of a deteriorating security
situation in Libya and cast an act of terrorism as mere protests over an
anti-Muslim video in the heat of a presidential election. Washington officials
suspect that militants linked to al-Qaeda carried out the
attack.
"It's been a
cover-up from the beginning," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the newest member of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday.
Politics play an
outsized role in any appearance by Clinton, who sought the Democratic
presidential nomination in 2008 and is the subject of constant speculation about
a possible bid in 2016. The former first lady and New York senator - a
polarizing figure dogged by controversy - is about to end her four-year tenure
at the State Department with high favorable ratings.
A poll early
last month by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found 65
percent of Americans held a favorable impression of Clinton, compared with 29
percent unfavorable.
Challenging
Clinton at the hearing will be two possible 2016 Republican presidential
candidates - Florida's Marco Rubio and Kentucky's Rand Paul, also a new member
of the committee.
Clinton did
little to quiet the presidential chatter earlier this month when she returned to
work at the State Department after her illness. On the subject of retirement,
she said, "I don't know if that is a word I would use, but certainly stepping
off the very fast track for a little while."
State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that Clinton would focus on the
Accountability Review Board's independent assessment of the attack and the State
Department's work to implement its findings.
"Systematic
failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two
bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture
that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack
that took place," the panel said in its report last month.
The report
singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East
Affairs, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confusion over
protection at the mission in Benghazi. The report described a security vacuum in
Libya after rebel forces toppled the decades-long regime of Muammar
Gaddafi.
The report made
29 recommendations to improve diplomatic security, particularly at high-threat
posts. The Huffington Post
FACTS & FIGURES
A large-scale
attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, surprised personnel at the
compound on Sept. 11. 2013. Militants overwhelmed the guards and set fire to
structures before the occupants could escape or reinforcements arrived.
WSJ
The attack
became a political hot potato in the presidential campaign, with conservatives
accusing the administration of not being transparent. ABC
News
Many
conservatives were skeptical of Hillary Clinton’s illness, considering it as an
excuse to avoid or postpone her testimony on the Benghazi
attacks.
Defeated tea
party-favorite Rep. Allen West (R-FL) suggested that Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton was only pretending to be sick and have a concussion to avoid testifying
about the September attacks in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of a U.S.
ambassador and three other Americans. Raw Story
West wasn't the
only one to suggest Clinton's illness wasn't genuine. John Bolton, former U.N.
ambassador under President George W. Bush, suggested Clinton fabricated a
"diplomatic illness" in order to dodge her scheduled testimony. The Huffington
Post.
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