The photos are not from the embassy meet-and-greet but rather from an event with FM Medelci when they inspected an honor guard.
Remarks at the Meeting With Staff and Families of Embassy Algiers
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateEmbassy AlgiersAlgiers, AlgeriaOctober 29, 2012
AMBASSADOR ENSHER: Good afternoon. Thanks very much, and we are just so honored again to have the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with us again, the second time in a year. It’s only a very small number of countries who have the privilege of hosting the Secretary twice in a year, and it’s a reflection on all of you that she chose to come back here again, and because you’ve done such a splendid job and we’ve made a lot of progress.
I’m going to take one more second to say something that I hope will not embarrass you unduly, ma’am, but I’ve been in this business for 30 years. It’s more than half my life. And I can tell you that this is the best Secretary of State I’ve ever worked for or hope to work for – thought about that a lot – stands as a peer with the great predecessors of the past, including at least one who has gone on to higher office; I can say that. But it’s a privilege and a historical moment to have the Secretary of State with us here today. Thank you, ma’am. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Well, I have to say it is wonderful to be back here, and it is because of this relationship and how critically important it is, and because of you, starting with the Ambassador who has worked so hard, and all of you, every single one of you, because it’s clear to me that we are building a stronger and deeper relationship.
I seem to have a habit of visiting at busy times, and the last time I was here you had just weathered a blizzard. I had to rush out of Washington before the hurricane came, so we were both struggling with weather. And later this week, you will have the privilege to help celebrate the 58th anniversary of Algeria’s independence movement, an anniversary that reminds us of how important freedom is and how significant the progress that Algeria has made as a nation, and the extraordinary aspirations and hard work of the Algerian people to achieve that.
I understand from the Ambassador that, next week, you’ll be hosting an election-watching party for people as we have our presidential elections. And I know, too, that it’s not just what you do here in Algiers; it’s what you do across the country. In fact, I think that you’ve been personally to all 48 provinces.
AMBASSADOR ENSHER: Working on it.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Working on it, good. And I think that none of us goes alone. We all go because of the support that we receive from such a great team.
I’d like to also thank you for the work that went into the first-ever U.S.-Algeria Strategic Dialogue in Washington last week. The Algerians were extremely happy, all of the officials that we met with, and we were extremely happy. We thought it was an important exchange of views on a range of issues, and it’s impressive how much you’ve done to help advance our bilateral relationship in such a short period of time.
I think that there is no limit to what this relationship can become, and it’s one that we particularly value. Just over lunch now with the President and others, we were talking about how our relationship actually goes back to 1795. There have been some differences along the road, but that is a long time back, at the very beginning of our nation, when the then-leadership and people of Algeria recognized us and we reciprocated.
I also want to recognize our Algerian staff. Will all of our Algerian staff please raise your hands so we can give you a round of applause that is very, very (inaudible) deserved? (Applause.) Because I have to confess, that despite the very nice comments by the Ambassador, secretaries of State come and go, and ambassadors come and go, and DCMs and political officers and economic officers and consular affairs – really, it’s our locally employed staff, our Foreign Service Nationals, who form the heart of any mission anywhere, and that is particularly true here. You are the memory banks, the nerve center, of what we do year after year.
You also know that diplomacy is inherently risky in today’s world. There are so many – unfortunately, so many people and organizations and forces that don’t want people to learn to understand each other better, who don’t want people to live peacefully together, who just don’t understand that we’re all here doing the best we can, and we need to help each other. And I think that what you do in diplomacy and outreach sends that message every single day.
So I thank you all. And to the Americans who are here, I thank you and I thank your families. Being posted far from home, whether you are civilian or military, whether you are Foreign Service or Civil Service, whatever agency or department you represent, I am extremely proud of you and very grateful. And what I’d like to do now is, starting down there, shake as many of your hands as I possibly can to express my appreciation personally.
And you also have an RSO who I know very well. (Laughter.) Nicole was one of my (inaudible) Diplomatic Security people. (Applause.) I was very sorry to lose her to Algeria. She was very happy to go. (Laughter.) She had been looking forward to it, and I’m delighted to see her here. Thank you.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
It is some complement for someone who is in the business fot 30 year.
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Still, this is OT, but this article from The Moral Liberal was posted at Blogs for Hillary, and further supports Hillary’s appropriate handling of the Benghazi tragedy. In view of some of the very negative remarks being made about her on some of the Hillary blogs, I thought this analysis of the incident by a military man might shed some much needed light.
Posting just a couple of paragraphs. Full article available at link.
Evidence Hillary Answered the 3:00 a.m. Call While Obama Hung Up
DAVID FRENCH, ACLJ
snip
So far we have been provided with a fairly precise accounting of how the State Department deployed its very limited assets to respond to the Benghazi attack, and that account makes for harrowing reading. In short, while there were too few assets in place to help, the State Department threw everyone into the breach — even sending small teams to engage the terrorists without air cover and without heavy weapons. Those men — American and Libyan — by all accounts exhibited bravery most Americans can scarcely comprehend. It wasn’t quite the Alamo or Little Big Horn (thankfully), but they exhibited bravery against overwhelming odds in keeping with the best of American martial traditions. The call came, and the State Department answered with what little it had. It was not enough.
The State Department answered the call with what force it had. The military did not. Either we did not have assets to answer (and that would be a different kind of scandal) or someone made the decision to — in effect — hang up on the 3:00 a.m.caller. Who made that call and why? The military already knows. So should the American people. snip
http://www.themoralliberal.com/2012/10/29/evidence-hillary-answered-the-300-a-m-call-while-obama-hung-up/
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What the heck is Acute Angina? And how can Bill look after it for her? Hope it’s nothing serious.
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What about acute angina?
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who has acute angina????
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An article about Hillary in the Balkans: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/1030/Hillary-Clinton-visits-Balkans-to-keep-Dayton-agreement-on-track
(It’s likely that Still4Hill has lost power and can’t post. Until she is back online, I’ll do my best to gather the latest Hillary news and post the links here.)
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Thanks Jen 🙂
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Thanks Jen. I figured she would be having difficulty, in view of her location. Thanks for coming through for us.
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The mail must get through. Or something like that. 🙂
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Remarks With Bosnian Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic and EU High Representative Lady Catherine Ashton
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199876.htm
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Public schedule for 10/30/12:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2012/10/199874.htm
The short version– Hillary spent the day in Bosnia and Serbia.
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thanks, jen!
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thank you Jen! Hope Still4 is doing just fine.
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A mutual friend texted her. She is OK.
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That is great. My toughts with her whe I saw the news.
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If you get a chance tell her we’re sending good thoughts her way. 🙂
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This quote sounds just like S4H:
“As one supporter in a forum dedicated to all things Hillary wrote: ‘She did not fall on her sword. She picked it up and lifted it over her head. She is going to get to the bottom of this. She has said so. It may appear to some that she has fallen on her sword, but that’s only because we so rarely see (except in her case) what she is exhibiting: real leadership.'”
Here’s the article it’s from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/10/16/hillary-clinton-is-not-a-doormat-for-obama/
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That quote IS from Still4Hill. It was lifted from this blog.
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Well, see, there you go. I thought so. So, S4H has made the Post. Cool.
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Public Schedule for October 31, 2012
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2012/10/198374.htm
Short version– Hillary spent the day in Kosovo and Croatia.
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Remarks from Hillary for 10/31/12:
Meeting With Embassy Pristina Staff and Their Families:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199883.htm
Remarks With Croatian President Ivo Josipovic After Their Meeting
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199931.htm
Remarks With Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199899.htm
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Remarks With Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199899.htm
(This is a repost; I tried to post all of Hillary’s remarks for the day at once but got a message that my comments are in moderation. So let me see if this works…)
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Meeting With Embassy Pristina Staff and Their Families:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199883.htm
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Remarks With Croatian President Ivo Josipovic After Their Meeting
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199931.htm
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Meeting With Staff and Families of Embassy Belgrade (October 30, 2012)
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199878.htm
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Joint Press Statements by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Serbian Prime Minister Ivaca Dacic, and EU High Representative Cathy Ashton (October 30, 2012)
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/10/199880.htm
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I love her hair today.
It would be so good to make a honest interview with CA about how is it to travel with Secretary Clinton in her plane with mostly her people.
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Thanks for holding down the fort, Jen!!
Our best goes out to Still.
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Thank you all for bearing with me while I get the hang of things.
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No, Thank you Jen for keeping us posted..
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I so miss the good pictures. Hillary is looking fabolous today too, very good suite.
Still4hill your work is amazing what you are doing for this site, hope everything is going to be back on track with you soon.
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do you have a link of a picture what she is wearing today?
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I am not that good, but here is a video:
I love how everyone was eager to help her take off her coat. 🙂
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Jen, this is a really long post regarding speculation about Hillary’s actions in handling the Benghazi tragedy. Hope it’s ok. I felt it was important to post this regarding the Greta interview with Catherine Herridge. Increasing numbers of reports are being released about the Benghazi situation. As to be expected, some of these reports are conflicting, particularly with regard to Hillary’s role. Since all the facts are not yet known, and the investigation has not been completed, I think it’s important to look at any and all allegations and accusations related to Hillary’s conduct, and to respond when liberties are taken with the truth. I’m not stating that Catherine Herridge did so, but, neither can we confirm that all of her facts are correct.
Below is a link to the interview:
November 1st, 2012 at 6:30 am
Catherine Herridge told Greta Van Susteren Wednesday,
“From what I see the State Department has culpability in the death of the US Ambassador and three Americans.”
The warnings to the State Department were:
** Specific
** Direct
** They named the enemy
** They said the consulate needed more support
This followed the damning memo that was released today signed by Ambassador Stevens in August and sent to the State Department. The classified cable on August 15 warned the Obama Administration that the Benghazi consulate could not withstand a “coordinated attack.”
snip
Several sources have already reported that they had seen documents confirming Hillary’s, response to the requests for more security made prior to the attack. According to them, Hillary forwarded the requests to the White House, and notified the president that additional security was needed.. If Obama or a surrogate were responsible for approving or denying this request, then how the hell is Hillary culpable? She has accepted responsibility, as the head of the department. She is obviously, not trying to cover up any role she had in the situation, as indicated by her calls for full investigation.
Prior to this Herridge interview with Greta several articles from various sources have stated that Hillary followed protocol and the chain of command in making the appropriate notifications, both with regard to the request for additional security prior to the attack, and again, after learning of the attack.
So why is this being ignored in the report from Herridge, and WHY DID SHE USE THE WORD CULPABLE, which carries a very serious connotation, and I think it was irresponsible of Herridge to make this accusation. I think Greta is less biased than anyone else on FOX, but I don’t know about Herridge. I did a really quick search for reports she filed in 2000, when she covered Hillary’s senate race for FOX, but none turned up. Many articles and references to this interview with Greta, however, immediately popped up, with headlines directing blame at Hillary. I don’t have sufficient time to continue this search, right now, but will later.
I think it’s important to look for previous biased reporting, in considering the credibility of the reporter. People have personal and professional agendas. And, we know FOX news record when it comes to Hillary. They briefly defended her against MSM’s Obama bias in the 2008 primary, but this was more about slamming MSM and increasing ratings, than about the injustice to Hillary. FOX, as we have seen, like CNN, NBC, and other MSM cannot be trusted to accurately portray the facts regarding Hillary’s actions or inaction.
Hillary has repeatedly called for investigation of this tragedy, and rightly so. Hopefully, this can be completed quickly. But, it won’t be in time to impact the election, which, IMO, is the reason for so many so-called “confirmed reports” from some of the media and various blogs.
This post is too long, I know, and I guess it really could have been summed up in a couple of sentences –
We Hillary supporters became pretty familiar with her character and her performance during the 2008 primary. We know what she stands for and the values she holds. No one should be expected to function at a super-human level. Mistakes may have been made. But absent all the verification and documentation required to fully assess this situation, is it not only fair to postpone judgement until sufficient information is available? Should those of us who have supported Hillary, and who know the kind of person and leader she is, not be willing to withhold judgement and to maintain our confidence in her until some verifiable information is available on which to base a decision to do otherwise?
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Freespirit, your post is not too long. You’ve said exactly what needs to be said! I suppose the right wing media is to be commended for covering the Benghazi attack at all, unlike many of their msm counterparts. The problem is, the right wing can report and distort as they see fit because there are no competing narratives out there challenging the right wing’s version of events.
This Herridge story is a good example. She gave us one side of a conversation. OK, fine. It is news and it does need to be out there. But where is the other side of the conversation, namely Hillary’s response? Does Herridge have it? Does anyone else? If so, who? And why are they sitting on it?
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DITTO Jen , agree 100% .Hillary is not the CIC, so there are some limitations for Hillary’s job.Let’s hear what she has to say and then we all can agree about that.We know she’s the most (if not the only) hard worker on this admin and has a great love for our country.We’re with H all the way as long as she allow us to be.Thank you for cover for Stiil4,God bless you all !
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I came upon this today, It seems to me that Victoria Nuland must deal with this question daily, and to top things off, FOX News keeps sending different people to cover DOS (she calls them “Foxies”). I wouldn’t blame her for getting snippy when her answer is always the same. We are not to draw conclusions from disparate snips of information. We must wait for the ARB to complete the investigtion and then DOS will have a statement.
http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2012/11/02/state-department-briefing-benghazi-congressman-issa-letter-to-secretary-hillary-clinton-international-monitors-syrian-rebels-video-of-execution-of-unarmed-government-troops-etc/
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Public Schedule for November 1, 2012
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2012/11/199955.htm
Croatia and Albania
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Remarks at the Presentation of the Order of the National Flag
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/11/200016.htm
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Remarks Commemorating 100 Years of Albanian Independence
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/11/200019.htm
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Remarks Before Meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/11/200018.htm
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Meeting with Staff and Families of Embassy Tirana
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/11/198607.htm
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Meeting with Embassy Zagreb Staff and Their Families
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/11/198602.htm
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Also, Dorothy Rodham passed away one year ago today. Let’s light some candles for Hillary as well as for our East Coast friends.
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=hrc
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More damn “bombshells’ from Herridge. I’m not posting link, because I don’t want to give this report any additional coverage. Quote from article, posted on Hillary is 44 in comments:
“Hillary Was Informed On August 16 That The Ambassador Was Going To Die Unless She Took Action.”
The very phrasing of this says something about the intent of the author, IMO. It’s sensational and the wording seems to attempt to make imply that Hillary was the only one with the power or responsibility to do something to save the ambassador. I do not believe, and will not believe it unless I hear it from Hillary’s own mouth that she knew someone would die and just refused to prevent it. That kind of accusation is deplorable.
As noted in my post above – there is said to be documentation to prove that she forwarded the requests for additional security to Obama.
I wonder if Susan Rice is helping this story along.
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Whatever happened will come out fox is a wrecking crew, cia is said to have released info that they went to rescue people with no interference from washington. Also this is an interesting aricle http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/11/report-key-task-force-not-convened-during-benghazi-attack.php
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i agree. i’m not worried about hillary’s role in this.
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Freespirt read this.
Attack, Central Intelligence Agency, David Petraeus, State Department, Benghazi Cia, CIA, World News
WASHINGTON — The pivotal role of the Central Intelligence Agency in the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, last month burst into the public spotlight late on Thursday, after a series of news reports added another layer of complication to a controversy that has loomed over the final days of the presidential election.
Several of the articles — the product of a background briefing by American intelligence officials, the first official acknowledgement of the extent of the CIA’s role — laid out a detailed timeline of the CIA’s actions on the ground during the attack.
The attack on Sept. 11 against the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi by an armed Islamic militant group ultimately left four Americans dead, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. CIA operatives were at the compound within 25 minutes of the assault, and played a major role in helping fight off the attack over the next several hours, the intelligence officials told reporters. Two operatives would later die in the fighting that night.
The fact that the CIA had a facility at the compound in Benghazi had been an open secret for weeks, although its central role was not fully acknowledged.
A Fox News report last Friday had alleged that several operators at an agency annex had been denied help from their CIA higher-ups during the fighting, something the CIA denies, and there had even been indelicate hints of secret components to the Benghazi compound during an open hearing on Capitol Hill back in mid-October.
A U.S. official familiar with the Benghazi intelligence, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed to HuffPost that the CIA had an extensive presence in Benghazi, and that the two former Navy SEALs who died in the assault, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, were contractors working for the agency.
According to documents released by the House Oversight Committee, when the Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy signed an order last December to maintain a presence in the Benghazi compound for another year, his official memo counted 35 “U.S. government personnel,” of whom only eight were State Department. Many of the rest were secretly with the CIA, the official confirmed.
The U.S. official noted that at no point in the October congressional hearing did any of the State Department officials testifying use the word “consulate” to describe the Benghazi compound. This was no accident. In fact, the compound served little routine diplomatic purpose, and was largely under the operational control of the CIA.
Republicans and conservative media outlets, particularly Fox News, have repeatedly faulted the Obama administration, and in particular the State Department, for its immediate handling of the crisis, and for its incomplete and sometimes inaccurate description of events after the attacks in Benghazi.
Some, like Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), have alternated between publicly urging the release of more information and cautioning against the risk of revealing government secrets. During the October congressional hearing, Chaffetz had halted the testimony of a State Department official when she brought up the annex, out of concerns that her remarks might “deal with sources and methods that would be totally inappropriate in an open forum such as this.”
“Sources and methods” is widely understood to be a term that refers to intelligence operations.
The involvement of the CIA may help explain, if not quite justify, some of the evident disarray around the administration’s handling of the attacks, former agency officials told HuffPost. When secret agencies are involved, and especially when they are as pivotal as they were in Benghazi, public explanations can be treacherous, and officials will go out of their way to avoid exposing the agency’s role, especially if the operations could be ongoing.
“The CIA can’t admit their role because it compromises the cover of the facility, and that’s the most important thing,” said Bob Baer, who spent two decades as a field officer in the CIA. “You can never compromise cover.”
It’s not a perfect explanation. The Obama White House has shown a willingness to part with sensitive information in the past when it suits them, most notably in the aftermath of the Osama bin Laden raid. Before that raid, the very existence of a top unit of Navy SEALS known as Team Six, or the Devgru, had been considered an unmentionable secret.
And the prominent involvement of the CIA in Benghazi raises as many questions as it resolves, including why there was so little intelligence ahead of the attack, and insufficient manpower to protect against it.
But there were other potentially mitigating consequences of the CIA’s significant involvement in the facility, the U.S. official told HuffPost. For one thing, according to an in-depth investigation by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, it was partly confusion over who had ultimate responsibility for security at the compound, particularly in an emergency situation like the September attack, that contributed to the disarray during the response.
“State Department officials believed that responsibility was set to be shouldered in part by CIA personnel in the city through a series of secret agreements that even some officials in Washington didn’t know about,” the Journal wrote.
The Journal’s report placed the blame for many of the missteps in Benghazi specifically on CIA director David Petraeus, who was described as aloof in the weeks after that episode. Petraeus was faulted for failing to attend the funeral of the two former Navy SEALS, both identified as CIA contractors, who died during the attack, and for later attending a screening of the spy-thriller “Argo” amid sensitive internal deliberations.
A senior intelligence official disputed this characterization to the Journal, calling Petraeus “fully engaged from the start.”
The U.S. official told HuffPost that a two-day delay in publicly identifying Woods and Doherty was a consequence of the unique sensitivity of determining whether they would be outed as CIA agents, or if the State Department would claim the two as theirs.
Both Woods and Doherty were ultimately identified vaguely as Embassy “security officers.”
And, according to the Journal, part of the reason for an extensive hold-up in securing the main diplomatic compound — where many papers belonging to Ambassador Stevens were later recovered by reporters — was because resources had been redirected to secure the CIA annexes.
Paul Pillar, a Georgetown University professor and 28-year CIA veteran, told HuffPost that a bigger problem for making sense of the early hours and days of the attack was “the understandably fragmentary and inconclusive nature of early reporting when anything like this happens.”
“That would have been the case regardless of which specific agencies were involved on the ground in Benghazi,” he added. But the “direct involvement of an intelligence agency on the ground can be an added matter of delicacy in making public statements
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thanks for posting this, rachel.
btw, will hillary be staying on for a second term, or is that up in the air still?
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I’m not sure, I think she’s leaving as soon as someone else is confirmed.
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there was an interview where she said people were asking her to stay. i wondered if that going to make a difference.
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Yeah I read that, I don’t know if she’s gonna stay or not though.
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Thanks for the videos, Foxy! 🙂
Freespirit, you are absolutely right about the phrasing in that article posted at 44. It’s good to see Hillary is 44’s fearless Admin is back online. Hopefully, Still4Hill will be next!
Thanks for the article, Rachel. So Hillary DID ask for help during the attack!
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Thank you Jen for keeping us up to date with Hillary news until Still goes back online. I live in NJ too and my town is still without power, but I went to a friend’s house in PA and here I will stay until the power goes back on.
I hope that Still and all the regulars are alright.
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This is a little different–not a direct reference to Hillary–but it’s in the vein about women and politics. It’s Sheryl Crow’s new free single for download here:
http://www.putawomaninthewhitehouse.com/
It’s all about putting a woman in The White House. Am I suggesting 2016 Hillary? No. That’s for her to decide. This is, however, a call for someone to run.
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A free song from Sheryl Crow– I’ll take it! 🙂
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Freespirit, thanks for your comments over at Hillaryis44 around 2:49 a.m. this morning. I don’t post over there, but REALLY appreciate when you and others continue to speak out in support of Hillary when some seem somewhat eager to throw both she and Bill under the bus.
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Public Schedule for Nov. 2, 2012
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2012/11/199956.htm
Hillary is back in DC.
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Thank you all so much, especially Jen for keeping everyone updated. I am back with partial power and trying to catch up. Bea I am glad you went to PA. Heard about your town!
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Thank you!!! I’m glad that you’re OK too. I’m still in PA. I called my neighbor this morning and she said that we still didn’t have any power in our part of town. Oh, well………
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Keep lighting those candles 🙂
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=hrc
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