| Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Takes Last Swing At Benghazi Critics |
| Feb-01-2013 |
| Keywords: clinton, benghazi, critics, not living in evidence-based world, embassy, turkey, kabul |
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is refusing to ride off into the sunset quietly. Instead she used her last one-one-one interview as an opportunity to jab critics of her handling of the events before, during and after the Benghazi terrorist attack.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Clinton said, "I was so unhappy with the way that some people refused to accept the facts, refused to accept the findings of an independent Accountability Review Board, politicized everything about this terrible attack," she said. "My job is to admit that we have to make improvements and we're going to."
According to the AP, Clinton claims Republican lawmakers who accused the administration of seeking to deceive voters ahead of the November presidential elections don't live in an "evidence-based world" and refuse to "accept the facts."
"And that's regrettable. It's regrettable for our political system and for the people who serve our government in very dangerous, difficult circumstances," she said.
However, her critics would likely contend that her job was to protect the lives of our men and women serving abroad, prior to becoming the targets of an attack. Something she failed to do for four U.S. citizens in Benghazi after numerous requests were made to beef up security forces at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Clinton's interview with the AP also emerged at the same time the America public is learning of a terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Turkey.
There a sole suicide bomber detonated an explosive at a security checkpoint outside the embassy, killing himself and a security guard.
Fox News is reporting that despite initial reports that the bomber was linked to Al Qaeda, local media outlets say the man has been identified, and linked to a Marxist extremist group.
"We can confirm a terrorist blast at a check point on the perimeter of our embassy compound in Ankara, Turkey," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday. "We are working closely with the Turkish national police to make a full assessment of the damage and the casualties, and to begin an investigation."
That attack comes just one day after reports surfaced of a possible threat to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The private guards hired at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan say it remains dangerously vulnerable to attack, David Hilzenrath, editor at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), told FoxNews.com.
POGO, a non-profit Washington group released a report highlighting eerily similar findings to the situation that unfolded in Benghazi less than five months ago.
According to the report, security guards protecting the U.S. Embassy in Kabul know that they are not enough to stave off a terrorist attack.
"If we ever got seriously hit (by terrorists), there is no doubt in my mind the guard force here would not be able to handle it, and mass casualties and mayhem would ensue."
The report also points to poor training of security personnel, and shoddy security measures that have allowed vehicles to enter the compound without being properly inspected for explosives.
Several members of the protective force also said they and other guards were rarely if ever given an opportunity to go to the firing range to "qualify" in their use of weapons -- in other words, demonstrate an ability to hit targets. In addition, they said they were often prevented from "zeroing" -- or properly sighting -- guns and optical scopes.
One alleged that even "sharpshooters on the embassy roof did not have zeroed weapons."
"Without a zeroed weapon, I can't defend myself or the embassy," said a former guard.
According to one guard who left last summer, some of his colleagues had "never fired their own weapons."
Read the POGO report on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and decide for yourself who is not living in an "evidence-based world." |
|
|
Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 1:00 AM Email to a friend |
| < Back to Today's Issues |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
