Clinton warns of dangers of militancy
2013-01-23 22:11
Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on
Wednesday warned of rising militancy in the wake of the Arab Spring, in an
emotional and at times heated testimony into the deadly Benghazi attack.
"Benghazi didn't happen in a vacuum," Clinton
said at the start of a Senate hearing into the 11 September assault on a US
mission in eastern Libya.
"The Arab revolutions have scrambled power dynamics
and shattered security forces across the region," she told the Foreign
Relations committee called to review the lessons learnt from the attack, in
which US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
The top US diplomat choked back a sob as she described
having to call the families with the news that Stevens, and information manager
Sean Smith, had been killed, and then watching them come home in flag-draped
coffins.
Appearing at her last congressional hearings before she
steps down later this month, Clinton reiterated that she took full
responsibility for security deficiencies at the mission.
But showing no signs of her long period of ill-health,
the top US diplomat angrily defended the US administration of President Barack
Obama and Ambassador Susan Rice against charges they had sought to cover-up the
true events surrounding the attack.
"Nothing could be further from the truth,"
Clinton insisted, stressing that in the days afterwards the administration did
not have "a full picture yet”.
"With all due respect, the fact is, we had four dead
Americans. Was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one
night and decided to go kill some Americans?" she said.
"What difference does it make?" she demanded,
thumping her fist on the table as Senator Ron Johnson repeatedly asked her why
the administration had falsely initially blamed the attack on protests outside
the mission.
"It is our job to figure out what happened and do
everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator."
Clinton insisted there was no greater priority than
protecting the state department's 70 000 staff in 275 posts around the world,
saying she had already moved to implement the recommendations of an internal
review to boost security.
"This is not just a matter of policy. It's personal.
I stood next to President Obama as the Marines carried those flag-draped
caskets off the plane at Andrews" air force base, Clinton told the
senators.
"I put my arms around the mothers and fathers, the
sisters and brothers, the sons and daughters, and the wives left alone to raise
their children."
US will not retreat
She warned lawmakers, however, that US diplomacy could
not pull back in face of the new challenges posed by the evolving geopolitical
landscape caused by the fall of long-time dictators around the Middle East and
North Africa.
"We cannot afford to retreat now. When America is
absent, especially from unstable environments, there are consequences.
Extremism takes root, our interests suffer, and our security at home is threatened,"
she said.
Clinton also highlighted "instability in Mali,"
saying it "has created an expanding safe haven for terrorists who look to
extend their influence and plot further attacks of the kind we saw just last
week in Algeria."
Despite keeping a low profile after a long period of ill
health in her final weeks in office, Clinton is keen to draw a line under the
deadly assault, which triggered a political storm in the US.
The hearings have also taken on added urgency after last
week's attack on a remote Algerian gas plant, in which three more Americans
were killed.
Clinton was initially set to testify in December after a
scathing inquiry blamed "grossly inadequate" security at the outpost
in Benghazi.
But she was forced to send two deputy secretaries instead
when she fell ill with a stomach bug. She later suffered a concussion in a fall
and a blood clot.
Her testimony now comes on the eve of a Senate hearing to
confirm her successor, Senator John Kerry, who is expected to be easily voted
in and could take over within days as the top US diplomat.
