Hillary Springs to Action After Inquiry Scolds Her Over Benghazi Attack
Less than an hour after an accountability review lambasted the State Department for its response to the Benghazi consulate attack, Hillary Clinton started doling out security guards to missions around the world. Talk about efficient governance. This is the same Hillary Clinton that's been seemingly bed ridden with a concussion since Saturday and was expected to be at home all week, meaning she couldn't testify at Senate's Benghazi hearing on Thursday. (Conservatives think she's faking it.) She had to do something, though, didn't she? Just imagine what John McCain would've said!
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John McCain will probably say something anyways. And frankly, it'll probably be something smug, since the inquiry's report echoes a lot of his criticism of the State Department's handling of the attack. State released an unclassified version of the report on Tuesday night, and the language therein is nothing short of brutal. The accountability review board -- Thomas R. Pickering served as Chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen as Vice Chairman and Catherine Bertini, Richard Shinnick, and Hugh Turner as members -- highlighted "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels" of the State Department. Security of the consulate was "inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place." It goes on to say that "certain senior State Department officials within two bureaus demonstrated a lack of proactive leadership and management ability."
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Are you starting to see why Hillary Clinton was so quick dispatch hundreds of new security guards to consulates? It gets worse when you dig into the specifics. The report found, as McCain has alleged, that "repeated requests" for more security at the Benghazi consulate were denied in the weeks leading up to the attack. It wasn't as if the warning signs weren't there, the report adds, as militant activity had become increasingly violent since the spring and included several assassination attempts on local and international officials. If you're really interested in what happened in the Benghazi attacks, though, skip straight to the timeline of the attacks (page 18) for a play-by-play.
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In truth, Hillary's already addressed many of the issues in the report. Through the State Department, she's asking for $1.3 billion in funds, including $553 to pay for the extra Marine guards, $691 million for better security equipment at the missions and $130 for more diplomatic security personnel. But none of this will bring the Susan Rice nomination back. Like we said before, John McCain sure is getting his way lately.
