Its almost as if Barack Obama is trying to pick a fight. At the very least it is one of the most arrogant moves ever made by this arrogant administration. Tom Donilon, who holds the position as National Security Adviser to President Obama has resigned (for family reasons) and Obama has chosen Susan Rice, the Ambassador to the UN as his replacement a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
Rice went on five Sunday shows immediately after the Benghazi attack and claimed it was triggered by protests over an anti-Islam film, an explanation which has proven to be inaccurate. The hows and whys the real story wasn't given is still under investigation.
The ambassador had earlier been considered in the running for the Secretary of State post but withdrew from consideration amid the continuing fallout over her role following the Benghazi attack and the fear that she would not be confirmed in the Senate.
Amongst the "feathers" in Rice's cap is the fact that when working for Bill Clinton, she prevented that president from going after Usama Bin Laden
Susan Rice served as President Clinton's Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. According to a 2004 report published in Newsmax, Rice may deserves a hefty portion of blame for the fact that Osama bin Laden wasn't neutralized during the 1990s.
"The FBI, in 1996 and 1997, had their efforts to look at terrorism data and deal with the bin Laden issue overruled every single time by the State Department, by Susan Rice and her cronies, who were hell-bent on destroying the Sudan," one-time Clinton diplomatic troubleshooter Mansoor Ijaz told radio host Sean Hannity in 2002.According to Richard Miniter who wrote the book "Losing bin Laden," Rice played a key role in scuttling the deal that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Miniter claimed Sudan was anxious to turn bin Laden over to the U.S., Rice - then a member of Clinton's National Security Council - questioned Khartoum's credibility.
"Rice [cited] the suffering of Christians [in Sudan] as one reason that she doubted the integrity of the Sudanese offers," said Miniter. "But her analysis largely overlooked the view of U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Tim Carney, who argued for calling Khartoum's bluff."Miniter said that Carney argued the Clinton White House should accept their offer of bin Laden and see if the National Islamic Front actually hands him over.
If Sudan complied, "we would have taken a major terrorist off the streets," he said. If they didn't, "the civilized world will see that, once again, Sudan's critics are proven right."
In a 2002 Washington Post op-ed piece co-authored with Ijaz, former ambassador Carney described Susan Rice as a major obstacle to accepting offers from Sudan to share intelligence on bin Laden's terrorist network.
Sudan's policy shift sparked a debate at the State Department, where foreign service officers believed the United States should reengage Khartoum. By the end of summer 1997, they persuaded incoming Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to let at least some diplomatic staff return to Sudan to press for a resolution of the civil war and pursue offers to cooperate on terrorism. A formal announcement was made in late September.
Two individuals, however, disagreed. NSC terrorism specialist Richard Clarke and NSC Africa specialist Susan Rice, who was about to become assistant secretary of State for African affairs, persuaded Berger, then national security adviser, to overrule Albright. The new policy was reversed after two days.
Overturning a months-long interagency process undermined U.S. counterterrorism efforts. In a final attempt to find a way of cooperating with U.S. authorities, Sudan's intelligence chief repeated the unconditional offer to share terrorism data with the FBI in a February 1998 letter addressed directly to Middle East and North Africa special agent-in-charge David Williams.But the White House and Susan Rice objected. On June 24, 1998, Williams wrote to Mahdi, saying he was "not in a position to accept your kind offer." The U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed six weeks later.Even if one wants to grant Susan Rice a pass on the Benghazi talking points believing she didn't know she was lying, the Ambassador's torpedoing of America's counter-terrorism operation under Bill Clinton should be enough to prevent her from the National Security Adviser post. But it wont because this position does not need to be confirmed by the Senate and this administration is too arrogant to care.
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