US secretary of state Hillary Clinton gave a robust and at times emotional defence in her long-awaited congressional testimony on the September 11th assault last year on the diplomatic compound at Benghazi in Libya.
On her final rounds of testimony as the US’s highest-ranking diplomat, Mrs Clinton told the Senate foreign relations committee she accepted personal responsibility for security failures at the diplomatic outpost where ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
“I am determined to leave the state department and our country safer, stronger and more secure – for me, it’s personal,” said Mrs Clinton, who is being replaced as secretary by Democratic senator John Kerry.
The 2008 Democratic presidential candidate became uncharacteristically emotional as she spoke about the “flag-draped caskets” of the dead arriving back from Benghazi and comforting family members.
Her testimony was postponed from December after she fell ill and suffered a concussion and a blood clot near her brain.
Mrs Clinton warned that there were inherent risks in posting diplomats to unstable political environments. “When America is absent, especially from unstable environments, there are consequences: extremism takes root, our interests suffer, our security at home is threatened,” she said.
Stevens’s warning
There were at least 20 other posts under “serious threat” but it was “rare that we get it wrong – this was one of those terrible, tragic times”, she said.
She said she had “no knowledge” of cables sent to her department prior to the attack, in which Mr Stevens raised safety concerns about the Benghazi compound.
Noting that changes had been made at her department, she said: “Nobody wants to sit where I am and, you know, have to think now about what ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda’ happened in order to avoid this.”
Mrs Clinton said the US faced a “new reality” of unexpected threats emerging in north Africa and the Middle East.
“What we’re seeing now are people who have migrated back to other parts of the world – where they came from primarily, who are in effect affiliates, part of the jihadist syndicate.”
Mrs Clinton defended UN ambassador Susan Rice, who was sharply criticised by Republicans for saying on Sunday talk-shows the weekend after the attack that it was sparked by an anti-Islam film. The secretary said she was not involved in briefing Ms Rice.
“I personally was not focused on talking points; I was focused on keeping our people safe,” she said.
The most heated exchanges were when Mrs Clinton was questioned by Republican senators John McCain of Arizona, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Mr McCain said four months after the attack there was still no basic information about what happened. The “soft footprint” the US took in Libya after Gadafy’s fall was “responsible for the tragedy”, he said.
Mr Paul said it was “inexcusable” and he would have relieved Mrs Clinton of her post for not knowing about the appeals for more security.
‘Failure’
“It was a failure of leadership not to be involved,” he said, describing the assault as the “worst tragedy since 9/11”.
Mr Johnson drew the angriest response from Mrs Clinton when he said people were misled when told that the assault was provoked by protests over an anti-Islam film. “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans?” asked Mrs Clinton.
“What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it ever happening again,” she said, banging the table in front of her.
Her public appearance could be a preview of political battles to come as Mrs Clinton, with a 67 per cent opinion poll rating and tipped as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, sparred with Florida senator Marco Rubio, a possible Republican candidate.
