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Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp
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Home Front: WoT
Clinton Reviewing Benghazi Probe Findings
[An Nahar] A keenly-awaited inquiry into a deadly bad turban attack on a U.S. mission in Libya has been completed and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Richelieu ...
is reviewing it, a top official said Monday.

The findings of the Accountability Review Board set up by Clinton just days after the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi could unleash a Christmas bombshell for the U.S. administration.

Four Americans, including the ambassador Chris Stevens, died in the assault by dozens of heavily-armed bad turbans, who overran the consulate before unleashing a hail of mortar fire on a nearby annex being used as a safe house.

Republicans have excoriated the administration for failing to provide proper security, and for allegedly trying to cover-up the attackers' ties to al-Qaeda.

"The ARB has completed its work. Its report has gone to the secretary this morning," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, adding there was an unclassified part, and a separate classified section which would not be released to the public.

U.S. politicians hoping for answers from the top U.S. diplomat about the events in Benghazi will be frustrated, however, that Clinton was forced to cancel plans to testify to House and Senate committees on Thursday because of ill-health.

"The secretary had anticipated testifying," Nuland stressed, but added "she is still under the weather. She was diagnosed as having suffered a concussion after fainting and falling, and her doctors have urged her to stay home this week."

Clinton had sent a letter to the committee chairmen Monday to say "thank you for your understanding, and that I wish I could have been there myself," Nuland said, adding she would work with them going forward "on these very important issues."

The inquiry's chairman, veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering, and Admiral Mike Mullen, will now brief U.S. politicians behind closed doors on Wednesday.

And deputy secretaries of state Bill Burns and Tom Nides will then appear on Thursday in Clinton's place at the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Clinton may now appear before U.S. politicians in January, before she steps down after four years in office, Nuland said.

"She's making clear in her communication with the committee that she expects that they're going to have to have ongoing conversation in January, and she's available for that," Nuland told journalists.

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was "unfortunate" Clinton would not testify as planned.

Lawmakers still have "tough questions about State Department threat assessments and decision-making on Benghazi. This requires a public appearance by the secretary of state herself," she said in an earlier statement.

Three months after the attack, many questions about the events of that night remain unanswered, and the attack became a political football in the bitter run-up to the November presidential elections.

It is unclear why Stevens traveled to Benghazi from the better-protected embassy in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States -- a day when security is ramped up in diplomatic outposts around the world.

Stevens is believed to have died, along with information manager Sean Smith, when they were overcome by smoke after the gunnies set fire to much of the compound. But no autopsy has been released.

Exactly who was behind the attacks has also yet to be made public, although the administration has fingered gunnies with links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and vowed it will bring the killers to justice.

The fierce firefight lasted from 9:40 pm local time until about 4:00 am, during which the consulate staff were evacuated to the safe house, which also then took mortar fire. Two former CIA agents were killed there.

Clinton fell ill after contracting a severe stomach virus on her return from a European trip earlier this month. She suffered "extreme dehydration, and subsequently fainted," her doctors said, adding they had recommended she continued to rest this week.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  It is only probes into government gun-running that seem to be very, very slow and impossible to understand. Not so in public setting shootings such as theaters and schools. Answers are quick and ready knee-jerk reactions from the politicians but it always comes down to trying to regulate the guns (sarc).
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/18/2012 8:58 Comments || Top||

#2  I believe the word you are searching for is nuanced JohnQC.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/18/2012 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Clintoon,(Cue the Looney Tunes theme)
No help, just screwy music.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/18/2012 11:44 Comments || Top||

#4  After the report has been thoroughly redacted it will be released.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/18/2012 11:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Ok, it's been a very long day Madam Secretary. Are you comfortable with the approved responses to the financial aspects and approval regime of facility security.... or do you wish to go over them once again in the morning? If not, we'll move on to the noticiations (when and where) folder tomorrow after brekkie.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/18/2012 11:55 Comments || Top||

#6  I wonder will they mention S.A.M.Control.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/18/2012 13:20 Comments || Top||

#7  So lets see. She "faints" and has a "concussion" and can't testify. Yet she can review the report?
What's wrong with this picture?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/18/2012 21:30 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
31[untagged]
9Arab Spring
6Govt of Syria
3Govt of Pakistan
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Hezbollah
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Jundullah
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Taliban
1Thai Insurgency
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1TTP

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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2012-12-18
  Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp
Mon 2012-12-17
  Rebel Offensive In Hama
Sun 2012-12-16
  Rockets Fired on Peshawar Airport, Five Dead, Dozens Injured
Sat 2012-12-15
  Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Fri 2012-12-14
  Coca-Cola resumes its production in Somalia
Thu 2012-12-13
  'Friends of Syria' Recognize Syrian Opposition
Wed 2012-12-12
  Syria Fires Scud Missiles at Insurgents, U.S. Says
Tue 2012-12-11
  North Korea 'launches long-range rocket'
Mon 2012-12-10
  Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-12-09
  Mohammad Ahmed Almansoor Drone-zapped in North Wazoo
Sat 2012-12-08
  Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Drone-zapped During Breakfast
Fri 2012-12-07
  6 dead, 450 injured in clashes at Egypt's presidential palace
Thu 2012-12-06
  Two Dead as Egypt Islamists Overrun Opposition Tents
Wed 2012-12-05
  Hundreds of thousands besiege Egypt's presidential palace to protest draft constitution
Tue 2012-12-04
  Syria FM Spokesman 'Defects' from Regime, Leaves Syria

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