Clinton: “I Take Responsiblity” For Benghazi. Political Arena Editor Comments
UPDATE - Clinton now says that the blame lies in "The Fog of War". The circumstances and reasons below show that to be just plain false. In the comments below several US Senators are calling foul as well.
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Political Arena Editor:
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Dan Rather gets it spot on. Here is why. When we look at the decisions down the line:
1 - The decision to not use Marines or Blackwater private mercenaries (who the administration shuns) for security and use locals (who sold them out) was a political decision not a security one.
2 - The building did not meet the minimum standards for physical security for an embassy was a political decision, because there are standard procedures that the State Department follows for the kinds of physical security all our embassies and consulates have and it takes a political decision to over ride them. Our building was penetrated by Al-Qaeda in 10 minutes and our sensitive documents were taken because the staff had no time to destroy them.
3 - The embassy was not fortified for the anniversary of 9/11. It should have been, In fact when the people on the ground asked for more security repeatedly the answer was no, when it was a no brainer that more security was needed. Our State Department Security is not capable of this level of incompetence so a political decision is almost certainly responsible.
4 - Embassy staff requested more security both physical and muscle and the answer was to have some security taken away, but the remaining security did have their danger pay increased as the Administration was aware that they were in more danger. Their efforts to get more security been going on for months so the odds of the problem being a mere security oversight is near impossible.
5 - The use of embassy funds to buy Chevy Volts. Would anyone like to argue that this was not a political decision?
6. Sending Ambassador Susan Rice out on the Sunday Shows to lie about the nature of the attack four days after the attack when people already knew better was a political decision certainly hand picked by the White House.