One month after the Bengazi tragedy, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today said there’s no blame game going on in Washington on Chris Stevens’ death.
In her interview with Elise Labott of CNN in Peru, Secretary Clinton stresses that what happened that night was unprecedented.
She says on 9/11, the attack that was just overwhelming, buth they couldn’t find Ambassador Stevens, and they were trying desperately to figure out what had happened to him and to Sean Smith and the others who were there.
“So it was an intense, long ordeal for everybody at the State Department and in Libya.” -Ms. Clinton
Ms. Clinton notes what Washington is doing right now, is to explore in the Accountability Review that she has ordered, to know exactly what happened and what the US State Department can do to make sure that they learn lessons from it.
“Nobody wants to get to the bottom of this more than I do. I knew Chris Stevens.” – Ms. Clinton
She underlines that they are going to get to the bottom of it, and then they are going to do everything they can to work to prevent it from happening again, and then they are going to bring whoever did this to us to justice.
“I’m not going to get into the blame game either about what we don’t fully yet know from our own investigation.” -Ms. Clinton
She says what she think is important is to make it clear that the US consulate was attacked.
“And what does that mean? That means that we have to do everything we possibly can to keep our people safe.” -Ms. Clinton
Amid some speculations that there’s a blame game going on in Washington, Ms. Clinton says the US must continue to lead and have to be engaged to find answers to the tragedy.
“Oh, of course not. Look, I take responsibility. I’m in charge of the State Department, 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts.” – Ms. Clinton
She adds that the President and the Vice President certainly wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals.
“They’re the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision.” – Ms. Clinton
Last month, 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.
