Hillary Grilled by GOP Accusers in U.S. Senate

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Jan. 23, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

           Facing her GOP accusers in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recently recovered from cerebral blood clot Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton showed her usual feistiness, rejecting claims that she knew more and did too little to stop the Sept. 11, 2012 attack that killed Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans.  In her last official duty as Secretary of State, Hillary answered all the questions and accusations from skeptical Republicans, more interested in hazing the 64-year-old former First Lady and U.S. Senator.  Calling Clinton “as combative as ever,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) thanked Hillary for her service.  Dishing out the warm fuzzies, “We are proud of you and you are viewed with admiration and respect,” said McCain, inviting his Senate colleagues to begin the roast, designed to boot her in the rear as she completed her work at the State Department.

             Senate Intelligence Committee Republicans already lambasted U.N. Amb. Susan Rice and acting CIA Director Michael Morrell Nov. 27 for giving feeble explanations of the circumstances of the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attack.  Rice insisted on Sunday morning talk shows at the time that the Benghazi attacks were due to spontaneous rioting. McCain wanted to find out who constructed Rice’s talking points that misled the committee and U.S. public.  “Had I been president at the time and I found that you did not read the cables from Benghazi, you did not read the cables from Amb. Stevens, I would have relieved you of your post.  I think it’s inexcusable,” said newly 40-year-old first term Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kt.).  Paul knows that Clinton, as titular head of the State Department, is not personally responsible for assuring the safety of embassies and diplomatic missions overseas.

             Paul knows that no one called for former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s dismissal after the real Sept. 11, where not four but 2,996 innocent persons lost their lives.  While Rice paid a heavy price for her misstatements withdrawing her name for consideration as Clinton’s replacement Dec. 13, 2012, Clinton did nothing to cause the attacks or beef up Benghazi security.  “We continue to hunt the terrorists responsible for the attacks in Benghazi and are determined to bring them to justice,” said Clinton, annoyed by the suggestions that she and the State Department were negligent in providing beefed up security in Benghazi.  When McCain and his GOP friend Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) grilled Rice and Morrell Nov. 27, they tried to determine if the White House doctored Rice’s talking points.  Morrell insisted that the FBI—not the CIA—drafted the memo.

             Finding a tempest in a teapot, McCain and Graham didn’t get the Watergate-like scandal they imagined.  When they got their hands on the Democratic Party’s presumed 2016 frontrunner, they found her contrite but precise about what the State Department knew and didn’t know.  “Our men and women who serve overseas understand that we accept a level of risk to protect the country we love,” said Hillary, telling the committee in no uncertain terms about real dangers serving in North Africa and the Middle East.  “We cannot afford to retreat now,” said Hillary in response to suggestions the U.S. should not project itself in dangerous lands.  Hillary expressed concern about Islamic fighters that helped topple Moammar Gaddafi Aug. 21, 2011 now possessing his arsenal of dangerous anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.  She surmised those same fighters are now battling in Algeria and Mali.

             Whatever happened in the so-called “Arab Spring,” it’s not the State Department’s job to second-guess every possible terrorist attack.  Heading a multibillion dollar department, Clinton relies on her security staff to reinforce embassies and consulates in dangerous locations.  When asked whether the recent terrorist incident in Algeria involved the same al-Qaeda cell that seized Gaddafi’s arsenal, she wasn’t certain.  Hillary promised to “track down and find and recover” the loose weapons, though it’s uncertain how that’s supposed to happen.  Once GOP senators realized that there was no “smoking gun” when it came to Rice’s talking points, they shifted gears onto the real dangers confronted by the State Department in various spots.  “People have accused Amb. Rice and the administration of misleading Americans,” said Hillary.  “Nothing could be further from the truth.” 

            Taking the last shots before Hillary’s State Department retirement, the GOP hazed Clinton one more time.  Everyone knows the risks of maintaining missions and embassies overseas.  When there’s a security failure and U.S. citizens die overseas, someone has to take the heat.  When she stood up and took the blame after Benghazi Oct. 16, 2012, she was standing up as a Cabinet official, not blaming herself for security lapses.  Accepting resignations of her underlings, Clinton committed the State Department to higher standards.  Whether Democrats or Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they can’t possibly hang the whole mess on the titular head of the State Department.  No one likes to see mishaps but sometimes they happen.  No one took out the daggers after Sept. 11.  Pointing fingers over Benghazi turned out to be a failed political strategy for the GOP.

 John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.