........POOR HILLARY " SLEEP TIGHT"
Benghazi report could tarnish Clinton’s legacy
The Benghazi report released Tuesday night bemoans “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” in Hillary Clinton's State Department that could come back to haunt her should she run for president in 2016.
Clinton remains one of the nation's most popular politicians and has worked tirelessly to improve America's image abroad following President George W. Bush's tenure. The independent review of the attack of Sept. 11, 2012, however, tarnishes that legacy by faulting the department for failing to put in place a coordinated approach for handling security, even if it does not single anyone out for disciplinary action.
“The Board found that certain senior State Department officials ... in critical positions of authority and responsibility in Washington demonstrated a lack of proactive leadership and management ability appropriate for the State Department’s senior ranks,”the report concludes in its section on accountability of personnel.
The terrorist attack on the U.S. mission that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans became a rallying cry for conservative critics of President Obama's national security policies during the presidential campaign. The attack has already claimed one political scalp, with U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice dropping out of contention for the secretary of State job in the face of intense Republican criticism after she initially linked the Benghazi attack to a peaceful protest gone awry.
Some Clinton critics didn't even wait for the report to come out. Following reports that she would not testify before Congress on the board's findings this week because she's been sick with a stomach virus, former Ambassador John Bolton accused her of lying to avoid giving public testimony that could be damaging to her legacy.
“I think she was waiting for the report so she could find out what it said and then fashion her testimony accordingly,” Bolton told Fox News on Monday night. “There is nothing more embarrassing than to say something and then have it contradicted and have to change your story later.”
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