Hillary Clinton
TEL AVIV – In responding to the State Department’s failure to adequately secure the U.S. special mission compound in Benghazi, Hillary Clinton’s constant mantra has been that as secretary of state she oversaw a massive bureaucracy and could not have personally involved herself in specific security requests from diplomatic outposts.
“It’s just plain impossible for any secretary of any cabinet agency to take that on,” Clinton wrote in her memoir, “Hard Choices,” regarding the security requests, which she maintained rarely make it to the top of her department.
In January 2013, she further testified before the Senate and House committees probing Benghazi that she did not see the security requests, while stressing her larger role of managing “the nearly 70,000 people who work for the State Department.”
“I feel responsible for the nearly 70,000 people who work for the State Department,” Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “But the specific security requests pertaining to Benghazi, you know, were handled by the security professionals in the department. I didn’t see those requests. They didn’t come to me. I didn’t approve them. I didn’t deny them.”
However, one theme that emerges from WND’s full review of Clinton’s released emails is that she was continually briefed on events surrounding the Benghazi mission and took a particular interest in the U.S. diplomatic outpost.
Find out what really happened, in Aaron Klein’s “The REAL Benghazi Story.”
Emails sent to Clinton pertain to the facility’s initial establishment in 2011 through security threats to both the mission and Ambassador Chris Stevens, to intelligence on the growing terrorist threat in Libya, including the arrests of jihadists and the establishment of jihadist cells in Benghazi.
Despite the escalating threats, the U.S. special mission remained woefully unprotected. The State Department pulled a special support team from Libya, and it denied numerous security requests, including one to erect guard towers outside the mission.
A March 27, 2011, email updated Clinton about the plans for the mission’s establishment.
The email reads: “We expect to get support in particular from the Turks who have a consulate in Benghazi. Mr. Stevens team has been in touch with Africom planners on the details of the mission. We have made the official request for support from OSD but have yet to get approval. Once we have that – and we hope that will be very soon – we will be able to move forward with the planning.”
One email forwarded to Clinton by her senior aide, Huma Abedin, briefed Clinton about such specific matters as mission staffing and the temporary rotation of personnel at the mission.
“I want to let you know about a temporary rotation in Benghazi,” read the April 22, 2011, email, from then-Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.
“TNC Envoy Chris Stevens has been on the road since March 13, when he began his outreach mission, and has been in Benghazi since April 5. (blacked out obvious security request) … I know how important it is to have continual coverage (security conditions permitting) in Benghazi. I will send Embassy Tripoli’s DCM Joan Polaschik to serve as Acting Envoy during Chris’ absence.”
Other emails informed Clinton of security threats in Benghazi, including to the very hotel where Stevens was staying.
“The INC conducted a raid on a house/storage facility and found and arrested an Egyptian cell reportedly there for the purpose of attacking hotels. It is believed they were connected to the cell arrested last week, and that Interrogation of those arrested earlier led to this round of arrests.”
Another email detailed that Stevens would meet with the interim Libyan government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver “a written request for better security at the hotel and for better security-related coordination.”
Yet another email, citing the failure of the Libyan government to establish law and order, quoted “extremely knowledgeable sources” explaining France and the British Secret Intelligence Service were utilizing contacts in “effort to encourage them to establish a semiautonomous zone in the historic province of Cyrenaica.”
Still other messages briefed Clinton on such specialized matters as the exact movements of Stevens while he was stationed in arguably one of the most dangerous zones in the world for any American diplomat, as WND reported Friday.
On April 24, 2011, Abedin forwarded to Clinton’s personal email an internal State email from that same day written by Timmy Davis and sent to Abedin as well as to the State email addresses of other employees, including Clinton’s then-foreign policy aide Jacob Sullivan. The email cited a local report stating hotels in Benghazi were being targeted.
Despite the threat, the email revealed Stevens “still feels comfortable in the hotel,” meaning the email exposed that the ambassador would continue to stay there.
“They are looking into the idea of moving into a villa, but that is some way off,” the email continued. “Based on discussion with DS yesterday, the hotel remains the safest location.”
Startlingly, the email contained information about Stevens’ exact movements, including that he “will be meeting with MFA in one hour and will make a written request for better security at the hotel and for better security-related coordination.”
Yet another sent to Clinton from Abedin detailed Stevens’ movements regarding his hotel stay
“The envoy’s delegation is currently doing a phased checkout (paying the hotel bills, moving some comms to the boat, etc.),” wrote Abedin. “He (Stevens) will monitor the situation to see if it deteriorates further, but no decision has been made on departure. He will wait 2-3 more hours, then revisit the decision on departure.”
With additional research by Joshua Klein.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/05/30/hillary-emails-challenge-her-benghazi-alibi/
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