Benghazi Report Disqualifies Hillary for White House

 

IBDEditorials.com

Leadership: A less-than-adequate independent review cites "grossly" inadequate leadership, "systemic failures" and "management deficiencies" that mean our secretary of state isn't ready for that 3 a.m. call either.

We know Hillary Clinton had a virus that caused her to faint and suffer a concussion from her fall and needs her rest. We also know she wasn't up to it when U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice took her place and went on five Sunday talk shows to blame a video for the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi.

But then, Susan Rice isn't running for president in 2016, and Secretary of State Clinton is. And the public testimony on Benghazi she manages to avoid, combined with the Accountability Review Board's (ARB) report on Benghazi-gate, could and should dramatically decrease her chances of being president in 2016.

This ARB report, which fails to mention the video "Innocence of Muslims," also fails to single out any individual officials as violating procedures and recommends no disciplinary action despite the fact that broad security failures resulted in the murders of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

Much of the report we already know. It confirms that, contrary to initial reports by the Obama administration, there was no protest outside the outpost ahead of the attack. But it does not explain why the president and secretary of state put forth the false narrative of a video-inspired flash mob they had to know didn't exist. It doesn't explain why both lied.

Charles Woods, whose son Tyrone, a former Navy SEAL, was killed during the attacks on our Libyan consulate in Benghazi, said that as the bodies of the four Americans arrived at Andrews Air Force Base, Secretary Clinton said "first of all she was sorry, and then she said, 'We will make sure the person who made that film is arrested and prosecuted.' "

Why would she lie to a grieving father?

The panel confirmed that State Department officials in Washington ignored requests from the U.S. Embassy for additional guards and better security for the Benghazi compound. It also said there had been worrisome incidents in the weeks before the attack that should have led to increased security.

But it doesn't answer why Clinton herself ignored the direct requests for additional security by our Libyan ambassador.

An Aug. 16 cable addressed to the secretary of state reported that the State Department's senior security officer, also known as the RSO, "expressed concerns with the ability to defend Post in the event of a coordinated attack due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support and the overall size of the compound."

The cable also mentioned the consulate's Emergency Action Committee discussing "the location of approximately 10 Islamist militias and AQ training camps within Benghazi ... these groups ran the spectrum from Islamist militias, such as the QRF Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia, to 'Takfirist thugs.'"

We already knew that on Aug. 8 Ambassador Stevens signed a two-page cable, also labeled "sensitive," that he titled "The Guns of August: Security in Eastern Libya."

The cable noted a dangerous "security vacuum had developed in and around Benghazi, symptoms of which were an attempted assassination of the British ambassador, two previous attacks on the consulate itself, and attacks on the Red Cross.

Hillary Clinton could answer the many questions of accountability and cause that this report doesn't, but it's likely part of her campaign strategy not to. She is not likely to want to address a report that presents a depth of State Department incompetence and mismanagement that should disqualify her for any office, let alone the presidency.

The Peter Principle — or is it the Hillary Principle? — should not extend to the White House. For her, it should end at the State Department.