Accepting responsibility for Benghazi terror attack that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens in 2012, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today revealed what went wrong in Bengazi during an interview with Andrea Mitchell of NBC.
So what went wrong in Benghazi?
According to Secretary Clinton says in an interview that tragedy in Benghazi was a terrible example of trying to get the right balance between being in a threatening place or not being there, looking after American interests, which meant keeping an eye on the militants and extremists who we knew were reconstituting themselves in eastern Libya, trying to track down MANPADS that could get into the wrong hands, and unfortunately, many have.
“So you are constantly making a calculus how you balance all of this off.” – Ms. Clinton
She explains that because there is no part of the world that is irrelevant to the United States anymore, so US deals things with the threat of nuclear weapons and their spread, the threat of extremism and its incredible dangers, and on and on.
“Those are the challenges. But then you have to also respond to the crises of the moment, do everything you can to manage them, and then you have to take a longer view at what are the trend lines? – Ms. Clinton
Ms. Clinton explains that there are more than a million cables that reach the State Department a year and she hopes to make sure in the future that threat to an ambassador in a conflict zone should get the highest possible attention immediately.
She adds that the security professionals get it right far more than they get it wrong.
According to Ms. Clinton, the US has a long list of attacks averted, assassination plots broken up, and so much.
“So I have a great deal of confidence in them.” – Ms. Clinton
She explains further that US State Department is an institutuion of human beings, nearly 70,000 of them.
“And as the Accountability Review Board said, there were some wrong decisions made, and unfortunately, we suffered grievous losses.” – Ms. Clinton
Last week, noting that terrorist attacks in Benghazi on September 11th in 2012 as part of a broader strategic challenge to the United States and its partners in North Africa, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered an emotional speech and took the responsibility of the attack.
In her remarks in Washington DC before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary Clinton shared lessons they have learned and how can the United States protect its people, and to continue to champion America’s interests and values.
She said taking responsibility meant moving quickly in those first uncertain hours and days to respond to the immediate crisis, but also to further protect the American people and posts in high-threat areas across the region and the world.
She said taking responsibility also means intensifying efforts to combat terrorism and figure out effective ways to support the emerging democracies in North Africa and beyond.
Ms. Clinton said the US State Department staff get up and go to work every day, often in difficult and dangerous circumstances, because they believe, as they believe, the United States is the most extraordinary force for peace and progress the world has ever known.
She added the Committee shares her sense of responsibility and urgency.
Reports say since 1988, there have been 19 Accountability Review Boards investigating attacks on American diplomats and their facilities. Benghazi joins a long list of tragedies for US Department, for other agencies, and for America: hostages taken in Tehran in 1979, US Embassy and Marine barracks bombed in Beirut in 1983, Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, US embassies in East Africa in 1998, consulate staff murdered in Jeddah in 2004, the Khost attack in 2009. Since 1977, 65 American diplomatic personnel have been killed by terrorists.
In September 2012, the United States of America mourned the death of four American personnel in Benghazi who died in a rocket attack on the temporary consulate.
Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya was killed along with three others in the rocket attack. The death of the US personnel sparked international condemnation
A 21 year veteran of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Stevens died from injuries he sustained in the attack on the Benghazi office.
As the conflict in Libya unfolded, Chris was one of the first Americans on the ground in Benghazi.
Mr. Stevens risked his own life to lend the Libyan people a helping hand to build the foundation for a new, free nation.
The US condemns this vicious and violent attack that took their lives, which they had committed to helping the Libyan people reach for a better future.
Libya had been engulfed by fighting since a pro-democracy movement opposed to the regime of Muammar al-Qadhafi emerged in February 2011 following similar protests in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries across North Africa and the Middle East.
