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Africa North
State Dept officials 'fired' over Benghazi will be back at work
2012-12-27
The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll -- and will all be back to work soon, The New York Post has learned.
As the Instapundit has been noting, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been unavailable for comment due to a variety of medical ailments. I think the latest one is a fever blister...
The highest-ranking official caught up in the scandal, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Boswell, has not "resigned" from government service, as officials said last week. He is just switching desks. And the other three are simply on administrative leave and are expected back. The four were made out to be sacrificial lambs in the wake of a scathing report issued last week that found that the US compound in Benghazi, Libya, was left vulnerable to attack because of "grossly inadequate" security.

State Department leaders "didn't come clean about Benghazi and now they're not coming clean about these staff changes," a source close to the situation told The Post, adding, the "public would be outraged over this." In response to questions from The Post, the State Department would only reissue the carefully crafted statement put out last week.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "has accepted Eric Boswell's decision to resign as assistant secretary for diplomatic security, effective immediately." What Nuland omitted was that Boswell gave up only the presidential appointment as assistant secretary, not his other portfolios.The other officials -- Deputy Assistant Secretaries Charlene Lamb and Raymond Maxwell, and a third who has not been identified -- were found to have shown "performance inadequacies" but not "willful misconduct," [Accountability Review Board head and retired ambassador Thomas] Pickering said, so they would not face discipline.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told The Post this is "yet another ruse about the tragedy of Benghazi. State Department officials proclaimed . . . that heads would roll . . . Now we see that the discipline is a lie and all that has happened is the shuffling of the deck chairs."
Any chance that a Repub senator could place a hold on Kerry's nomination until the State Department actually documents that the four have been dismissed from government service?
Posted by:Pappy

#13  deacon, if true, that would put a damper on her chances of running in 2016
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2012-12-27 21:35  

#12  ge of the National Enquirer, while I was standing at the check-out at Wal-Mart, the Hillary has a brain tumor. They were right about John Edwards so......?
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2012-12-27 18:41  

#11  You mean she's been 'Fostered' out?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2012-12-27 17:44  

#10  Would it be funny or ironic if she was found face down in Fort Marcy Park some dark and stormy night?
Posted by: tu3031   2012-12-27 17:27  

#9  You know, it could be Hillary wasn't actually planning to lie and Obama is trying desperately to find a way to keep her away from the Senate.

/sarc
Posted by: Charles   2012-12-27 15:44  

#8  "Maybe they and the enemy are now one."

FTFY, Dino.
Posted by: Barbara   2012-12-27 15:33  

#7  Perhaps there is more to the "fall" than the flu.

She has not looked well these past few months.
Posted by: Pappy   2012-12-27 15:09  

#6  "Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country."

Karl Kraus

These politicians are endangering the lives of our people and are refusing to be held accountable to the people. They are incompetent, they are cowards, they are lieing to the Amerian people like no other establishment since 1776. They are doing to us what our enemies wish they could do to us themselves. The result is the same.

Maybe they and the enemy are now one. Regardless, due to the damages done to America as being the same, Judgement passed on them should be the same, IMHO.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692   2012-12-27 15:07  

#5  Dude, I doubt The Four had anything to do with the real decisions that are bugging us. It's just another ablative layer of lies. IMHO.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-12-27 12:45  

#4  Any chance that a Repub senator could place a hold on Kerry's nomination until the State Department actually documents that the four have been dismissed from government service?

No, not if Reid wants the confirmation vote held (would require a rules change, but that can be done by Dem majority only.) Confirmation would require some Republican votes though, to overcome filibuster, unless those rules were also changed.
Posted by: Glenmore   2012-12-27 08:34  

#3  Any chance that a Repub senator could place a hold on Kerry's nomination until the State Department actually documents that the four have been dismissed from government service?

Looks like that's the deal. No Kerry until House testimony is given.
Posted by: Shipman   2012-12-27 05:52  

#2  Announce dismissals and send two unknowns to testify whilst the Hildebeast recovers from a fall; all a convenient cover up.

The Hildebeast hasn't been seen or heard from in weeks. Perhaps there is more to the "fall" than the flu.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-12-27 04:21  

#1  So get four guys killed and you get, what, some extra vacation time? Nice.
Posted by: tu3031   2012-12-27 00:15  

00:00