Sunday, November 11, 2012

Benghazi Goes Back On The Front Burner













Now that that little interregnum is over, it's back to Benghazi. There are four separate House and Senate hearings scheduled for this week, the last I saw. Maybe more.

State Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy and Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell will provide classified briefings this week to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the Republican chairmen and top Democrats of House committees.

A/S Boswell was missed at last month's House Oversight Committee hearing, so it's good he'll be able to make the hearings this week.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee asked Hillary to testify at an open hearing this Thursday. That would make for one extremely watchable hearing. But Hillary sent her regrets, as she will be traveling next week. I would not be surprised if Hillary spends even more time than usual on urgent overseas travel from now until the day she steps down.

Will General Petraeus testify at any of those hearings, even though he has stepped down as CIA Director? A couple Senators have said it is essential that he do so, and Representative King, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, has said Petraeus will have to have to testify "one way or the other.” As in, either voluntarily or under subpoena.

I don't know if he'll testify or not, but I do know that there is nothing like a still-developing sex scandal to amp up press coverage and public interest. While I'm on that subject, isn't it remarkable that "Paula Broadwell" sounds like a double entendre name for a Bond girl? Could that be more perfect?

And so, Official Washington is off to the next round of congressional hearings on the Benghazi incident. That should hold us over until the Benghazi Accountability Review Board finishes its report, maybe next month. The Holiday Season looks like it will be jam-packed with political delights.  

13 comments:

James said...

Ah yes Hillarys' farewell tour, I wonder if she'll get anywhere near diplomatic trouble spots.
Reminds me of that old jingle,
See the world today,
in your Chevrolet,

TSB said...

Google "interactive travel map" and "Hillary" to follow along as she goes for one million miles before stepping down.

James said...

I smell e game riches! Where in the world is________?

Anonymous said...

TSB: Will anyone be calling for release of all the relevant emails and cellphone calls or would that just be in the UK? Could we at least get Ms Moneypenny to testify?

I think she bears a strong resemblence! gwb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Maxwell

GWB said...

TSB:That's a great video from Colorado. I liked her answer to the last question about the estimated 60,000 rapes in the military: 'If you have a great body like me and sniper training and if your commander sets the right tone you probably have a great opportunity and don't have to worry.' just paraphrasing but I think we need to see those post-breakup emails to get the finer points of this. gwb

jc said...

Every Secretary of State chooses how to focus his/her efforts. A lot of Colin Powell's efforts went to fighting bureaucratic battles to get resources. Rice had better access to the White House than most Secretary's and Clinton has done a lot of travel. It's worth pointing out that just about everywhere she goes, people around the world know who she is (which isn't necessarily true of Rice, Powell, Albright, etc.) - so it really focuses attention on ... whatever the local issue is that we want to focus on in that country.

Anonymous said...

TSB: Don't leave that burner on too long. We have the story of the other woman now and I think DiFi laid out the plan today: "We have mixed feelings of course,but yes, we will roll over for the WH and HC. Andrea Mitchell will handle this high school love triangle" gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: It was great to see Canadian FSO Taylor at work in the middle of a religious revolution. He was trying to protect "interests" like $300 million in lamb imports, mining and oil companies. The US had to keep a lid on 25 years of outsourcing SAVAK. The lid is still on and the public is still left to argue over Chappaquidick vs
"Reagan myths" vs Clueless Christians and teachers unions. gwb

Anonymous said...

Broadwell’s biography of Petraeus, “All In,” is currently ranked No. 102 in sales on Amazon.com — before the scandal broke, it was ranked a mere 76,792.

TSB: What do ya think TSB?...big book contract next and then a movie? gwb

TSB said...

GWB: DiFi might be angry enough about not being notified of the investigation that she'll hold a hearing to embarrass the administration. You can't predict.

That's good news about the book sales. Broadwell/Monneypenny's bio of Petreaus was so incredibly bad that I'm surprised Amazon had enough sales to count.

TSB said...

jc: Maybe Hillary chooses to travel all the time because she doesn't have particular access to the President or all that much clout in Congress(?). That's a good thought.

I'll be interested in seeing what she does after she steps down.

Anonymous said...

TSB: LOL, how about a comical post about lying to congress to keep your job, promote your TINKTANK, protect your boss etc? They have a whole network for that: CSPAN! Someone should insert "unctious ooze" into the C-span wikipedia page. (and I'm waiting for the 1st person to ask if there are phone/voice recordings available from Google and FB?... but I think that is classified!) gwb ps... DON'T DO THIS BUT I THINK IT'S CLEAR TO ANYONE WHO PAYS TENSION.

Anonymous said...

TSB: Man! That is a nice watch!

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/20101351/jackson-jr-wont-resign-until-he-gets-disability-pay-exclusive

Why are they picking on this guy? And when did corrupt Chicago congressmen start loosing their pensions just for stealing? If I were him I'd just stay home and offer to show up for critical votes. gwb