These are transcripts of some of the interviews Secretary Clinton
gave last night beginning with the one who broke the news of that she
was publicly accepting responsibility for security failures in Benghazi ,
Elise Labott of CNN followed by Wendell Goler of FOX News who probably
was the second as I gathered from Gretawire.
Interview With Elise Labott of CNN
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Lima, Peru
October 15, 2012
QUESTION:
Secretary Clinton, thank you so much for joining CNN. I want to talk a
little bit about the Benghazi attack. September 11th, the evening of
this horrible day you get a call that the consulate in Benghazi was
attacked, and the Ambassador has died. What goes through your head at
that moment?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Elise, this was a
many-hour ordeal that we were all involved in, and I was deeply
concerned, as you would obviously assume, to hear about an attack, an
attack that –
QUESTION: On 9/11.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
On 9/11, an attack that was just overwhelming, the many-armed men,
numbers not clear, not only at our post but at our annex, and then we
couldn’t find Ambassador Stevens, and we were trying desperately to
figure out what had happened to him and to Sean Smith and the others who
were there. So it was an intense, long ordeal for everybody at the
State Department and in Libya.
QUESTION: Now, I know the investigation is going to play itself out –
SECRETARY CLINTON: Right.
QUESTION:
-- but in the short term, the State Department officials and Diplomatic
Security admit that requests for security were denied because they said
that it was adequate based on the threat level. Did you get bad
intelligence about the threat level, or was this a bad security
decision?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Elise, one of the things we’re
going to explore in the Accountability Review that I have ordered is
exactly what happened and what can we do to make sure that we learn
lessons from it. Nobody wants to get to the bottom of this more than I
do. I knew Chris Stevens. I’ve had a chance to meet the families of the
other three men who we lost. I take this very personally. So we’re going
to get to the bottom of it, and then we’re going to do everything we
can to work to prevent it from happening again, and then we’re going to
bring whoever did this to us to justice.
QUESTION: I
understand, but eastern Libya, known to be a hub for extremist groups,
on 9/11; the Ambassador clearly didn’t have enough security.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I’m not going to reach any conclusions. Obviously, what happened
that night was unprecedented. The waves of armed attackers that went on
for hours, this was a long attack.
QUESTION: Well, do you think you got wrong intelligence then?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
I’m not going to get into the blame game either about what we don’t
fully yet know from our own investigation. What I think is important is
to make it clear that we were attacked. And what does that mean? That
means that we have to do everything we possibly can to keep our people
safe. At the same time, we have to continue to be out in the world.
That’s a very difficult balance to make, and I’m trying to make that
balance all the time, because we can’t retreat. We have to continue to
lead. We have to be engaged. We can’t hang out behind walls. Chris
Stevens understood that better than anybody. He believed in what he was
doing in Libya, and we want to do this right in his honor and the honor
of all the men who were lost.
QUESTION: You say you don’t
want to play the blame game, but certainly there’s a blame game going on
in Washington. In fact, during the presidential debate, Vice President
Biden said, “We didn’t know.” White House officials calling around
saying, “Hey, this is a State Department function.” Are they throwing
you under the bus?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, of course not.
Look, I take responsibility. I’m in charge of the State Department,
60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The President and the
Vice President certainly wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific
decisions that are made by security professionals. They’re the ones who
weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a
considered decision.
QUESTION: Intelligence community
initially called it a protest. State Department never did. You never
did. The story has changed now. And as you know, Republicans are
charging that this was a cover-up. Was it a rush to judgment, or was it
bad intelligence as Vice President Biden suggests?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Elise, I take a very different view of this. I have now for 20 years
been very much in the administration decision-making first with my
husband; then after 9/11 working with President Bush; now, of course, in
President Obama’s cabinet. In the wake of an attack like this in the
fog of war, there’s always going to be confusion, and I think it is
absolutely fair to say that everyone had the same intelligence. Everyone
who spoke –
QUESTION: Bad intelligence it seems, though.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Everyone who spoke tried to give the information they had. As time has
gone one, the information has changed, we’ve gotten more detail, but
that’s not surprising. That always happens. And what I want to avoid is
some kind of political "gotcha" or blame game going on, because that
does a disservice to the thousands and thousands of Americans not only
in the State Department and USAID, but in the military, who serve around
the world. Everyone wants to make sure they are as safe as possible,
but they are doing the job that they were sent out to do.
QUESTION:
Well, Ambassador Stevens’ father this week said his death is being
politicized. Democrats are calling it a witch hunt. Is that what’s
happening here?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I’m not going to
get into the political back-and-forth. I know that we’re very close to
an election. I want just to take a step back here and say from my own
experience we are at our best as Americans when we pull together. I’ve
done it with –
QUESTION: Are you saying we’re not doing that?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
-- Democratic presidents and Republican presidents. I’ve seen it happen
where people say, “Look, first and foremost we’re Americans.” We’ve
lost four brave men, dozens more had to fight for their lives over a
very long battle. They had to get evacuated because of the dangers that
they were facing.
QUESTION: Well, I mean, we have an
election coming up. Rationale is that this is to go against President
Obama. But some people think it’s to stop Hillary Clinton from making
any gains for 2016.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That is just so far from anything that anybody should be thinking about.
QUESTION: They still see you as a threat, Secretary Clinton.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I can’t speak to that. The only threats I’m worried about are the
threats to my men and women on the ground every day as we speak. It’s
what I’m obsessed with. It’s what we’ve worked so hard to evaluate, and
of course we’re part of a team. We’re a team with the – with DOD, we’re a
team with the intelligence community, we’re a team with the White
House, and other assets of the government.
QUESTION: What about the funding now? I mean, you’ve talked –
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we’re also a team with the Congress, too.
QUESTION: You’ve talked about that a lot that that’s an issue.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I think it’s important for us to work closely with the Congress. I
have every reason to believe that the leadership of the Congress cares
as much as anybody about protecting our men and women, and we’ll have
time to talk about what we need and how we can best deploy financial
assistance.
QUESTION: You’re here in Peru talking about
women’s issues, women as part of the economy. In the United States, you
have 50 percent of women in the workforce, they’re not getting all the
tools they need, and this is becoming an issue in this election.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
It is important that we do everything we can to open the doors of
opportunity for everyone. And the biggest group that is not fully
participating around the world are women. And so, as you know, this has
been a point I’ve made repeatedly, that if we tear down the barriers to
women’s full participation in the economy, whether it’s in the United
States or Peru or Japan, it will be an opportunity for those economies
to grow. Actually, the gross domestic product will increase.
I’m
also here to see the new President. We have a lot of important
relationships with him and his government on counternarcotics,
counterterrorism, the problems that we’re dealing with in this very
complex world of ours today.
QUESTION: Going to watch the debate?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I am. I am. We’re going to try to get home in time to be sure that I see every minute of it.
QUESTION: You’ve debated President Obama. You’ve watched many debates. What does he need to do in this debate?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
He just needs to be himself and answer the questions and get out there
and tell people – not just those in the audience, but in our country –
what he has done and what he will do. I think that this is a
consequential election for both domestic and international reasons, and
although I am out of politics, I am still an American and care deeply
about what happens in my country.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, thank you so much for joining us.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thanks very much, Elise.
# # #
Interview With Wendell Goler of FOX News
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Lima, Peru
October 15, 2012
QUESTION: Forgive
me – this is the first time we’ve had to talk since the Benghazi
tragedy, and with respect to your hosts, I’d like to focus my questions
on that. There’s a lot of discussion of the decision not to extend the
mission of the additional security team in Tripoli. Would that have made
a difference in the Benghazi situation?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well,
Wendell, we’re going to find out through our Accountability Review
investigation that’s going on exactly what did happen. There’s been
testimony it wouldn’t have made a difference, but I’m not going to draw
any conclusions until we have these very distinguished Americans given
the chance to review everything and draw their own conclusions and make
recommendations, because nobody wants to get to the bottom of this more
than I. And I want to do everything I can to protect our people, and I
also want to make sure that we track down whoever did this and bring
them to justice.
QUESTION: Did that request come to you or does it come to a specialist in the Department on security?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well,
I’m responsible for the State Department, for the more than 60,000
people around the world. The decisions about security assets are made by
security professionals. But we’re going to review everything to make
sure that we’re doing what needs to be done in an increasingly risky
environment around the world. There’s no doubt that our men and women
from the State Department, USAID, the rest of our government are having
to balance all the time how to do their jobs and not stay behind high
walls, but to do it as safely as possible. And that’s an ongoing, daily
calculation around the world.
QUESTION: There was an IED attack in June. Did you know about that? Was the White House informed about that?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I
can’t speak to who knew what about that. We knew that there were
security breaches and problems throughout Libya that was something that
came about as the aftermath of the revolution to topple Qadhafi, with so
many militias formed, so many weapons loose, and it was certainly taken
into account by the security professionals as they made their
assessments.
QUESTION: Now, a week after the attack,
Ambassador Rice was still saying basically this is something that grew
out of a protest against the anti-Islam movie. Can you explain that?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well,
I think the first thing to know is that everyone had the same
intelligence. But I’ve been around long enough to know that it takes
time to assess all the information that you have. And as the
intelligence community has now said, their assessment over the last now
more than a month changed, but everyone in the Administration was trying
to give information to the best of their ability at the time, with the
caveat that more was likely to be learned and that there would be most
likely changes.
So the fog of war, the confusion that you get in
any kind of combat situation – and remember, this was an attack that
went on for hours. Our post was overrun by a significant number of armed
men. Our annex was attacked. There had to be a lot of sorting out. And
the intelligence community, as you know so well, they look backwards.
They start going through everything: Did they miss something? Was there
something else out there? Then they have to put out feelers to find out
what people knew. And they’ve been doing that in a very vigorous way,
and we’re learning more all the time about what happened.
QUESTION: So it’s possible you could have had the same information and drawn different conclusions?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I
think it’s possible that everyone said here’s what we know, but it’s
subject to change; it’s what we know at present. And I think that is
what people tried to do. But I also understand, having been around for a
while, how impatient people are to figure out what went on, what
happened. We lost four really brave Americans. And come on, somebody
tell me. And so it’s not very satisfying to say, look, we’re going to do
this right, we’re going to get the information, and then when we do
tell you, we will tell you as fully as we possibly can, which is why I
immediately stood up the Review Board.
QUESTION: What do
you make of the Republican claim that the Administration was reluctant
to admit that al-Qaida is not on its heels, as the President often says?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well,
I don’t understand it completely, because we have certainly degraded
core al-Qaida, including, of course, bin Ladin. But we have been very
focused on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qaida in the Islamic
Maghreb. I spoke about that in the past, even a few weeks ago.
So
al-Qaida in its affiliate form, if you will, poses a threat, not to the
same extent as what we faced coming out of 9/11 in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, but let’s be very clear: This Administration knows all too
well that we face extremists, wannabe al-Qaida types, new groups popping
up that want to do harm to their own people, to the United States and
our friends and allies. And we are as vigilant as we possibly can be
around the clock.
QUESTION: Is Libya, with its militias and weapons, an example of why you don’t want to provide weapons to the rebels in Syria?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Every
case is different. I do think that the disarming of the militias is
particularly difficult in Libya because there were no institutions.
There was no institutional, professional army. And we face a very
challenging environment in Libya, as does the new Libyan Government, who
we are certainly trying to support. I think it’s a different situation
in Syria. It’s a different situation in Yemen. I mean, every situation
has to be evaluated.
But I can say, generally, dangerous weapons
in the hands of extremists is a problem that we pay a lot of attention
to and we spend an enormous amount of energy – not just the State
Department, but DOD and intelligence community – trying to figure out
how to prevent these groups from getting access to more and more
powerful weapons. So it’s a problem.
QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Secretary.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Wendell. Good to see you.
QUESTION: And you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thanks.
# # #
Interview With Reena Ninan of ABC News
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Lima, Peru
October 15, 2012
QUESTION:
When I first met Chris Stevens, it was in a Benghazi elevator of a
hotel. He really knew that area well. There was – there are some reports
that he was concerned about the rise of al-Qaida. When did the U.S.
become aware of transnational extremists operating in Eastern Libya, and
what was the U.S. policy to deal with it?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, we have long known that extremists have come out of Libya, and
certainly after the fall of Qadhafi we understood that there would be an
effort to try to reestablish a presence of extremist bases and
operations. But we also knew that aside from those individuals and
groups, there were so many militias that had formed in the wake of the
revolution, there were so many weapons in the country. So it was
something that we were very focused on and working on.
QUESTION:
If there is that solid evidence of who killed Chris Stevens – and
obviously these guys aren’t coming in in handcuffs – would this
Administration be willing to strike them before a U.S. election?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, let me say this. I think there are three points that are very
important to me. First, we will get to the bottom of what happened.
Secondly, we will learn whatever lessons can be gleaned in order to
protect our people. And third, we will track down whoever did this and
hold them accountable, bring them to justice.
QUESTION: Any closer to finding suspects?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
There’s a lot of work going on. There’s an intense effort in our
government. And I think our track record is pretty good that eventually
we will find you.
QUESTION: President Biden last week said, I’m quoting here, “We’re leaving in 2014, period,” referring to Afghanistan. Was he wrong?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, that is the plan. In 2014, according to the decisions that were
made by NATO – and that, of course, includes the United States – we
would end major combat operations in 2014, the end of the year. There
would be --
QUESTION: Do you believe there’s evidence to stay beyond 2014?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I think that there is an enduring commitment that a number of
countries have already made to the Afghans, including the United States,
but also the UK, France, and others have said we don’t want Afghanistan
to end up the way it did after the Soviet Union left and those
countries that had been funding the fight against the Soviet Union
retreated. So no one wants that to happen. No one wants Afghanistan to
become a safe haven for terrorists again. But what that will look like,
who will be involved – all of that is still to be considered.
QUESTION: So he hasn’t torpedoed, has he, security talks with – last week with the Afghan Foreign Minister on staying beyond 2014?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
I think he – what he meant was that major combat operations will end.
There’s never been any discussion of continuing that. What has been
discussed is how to train and support and provide specific forms of
assistance to the Afghan National Security Forces.
QUESTION:
We’re seeing al-Qaida strengthen in some parts – in Mali, in Syria, in
Iraq. What’s the real status of al-Qaida, and are they strengthening?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I think it’s absolutely fair to say that the major leadership of
al-Qaida, including bin Ladin, has been decimated. There has been an
effort to have other al-Qaida affiliate-like organizations – al-Qaida in
the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb – to try to take
up the mantle of al-Qaida, but the core of al-Qaida has been severely
damaged.
But we know that there will be terrorists, if they call
themselves that or they call themselves something else, who will
continue to terrorize people in the countries where they are based and
continue to threaten the United States and our friends and allies. So we
have never taken at all our eye off the ball of how we have to keep
going after those extremists who pose a threat.
QUESTION:
President Assad has started using his air force in Syria. The casualties
have risen significantly. When the U.S. decided to go into Libya, it
was because of on the grounds of an impending emergency humanitarian
situation. The situation in Syria is far worse. Why not set up a no-fly
zone there?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Obviously, this has been
under discussion among allies in many conversations, and I think that
the planning that has been taking place is important. There has been no
decision made. But everyone knows that what the Assad regime is doing is
just a brutal assault on the Syrian people. And what we need is a very
clear commitment of support to the opposition inside of Syria and
outside --
QUESTION: Would you be willing to talk to the military opposition?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I think that there are conversations going on with those who are
in the military – in fact, I know there are – by many different
likeminded countries.
QUESTION: The debates are tomorrow. Is it do or die for President Obama? What advice would you have for him?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Oh, I think he’ll do find. I have no doubt about that. And I’m racing
back from Peru, where we are talking, in order to be able to see all of
it.
QUESTION: What would you tell him? What advice would you give him?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, actually just to go out and be himself and talk about what he’s
done – he has a great record – and what he wants to do. I mean, this is a
very consequential election for our country, and I’m out of politics
but I am an American and I care deeply about what happens to our country
and our people. And I think he’ll do fine.
QUESTION: When
they look back and examine this election cycle, what will they say about
the impact your husband, President Clinton, has had in helping him
(inaudible)?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I will leave that to
historians. But I was very proud of the speech that Bill gave at the
convention, because I think it made the case very strongly for the
policies that President Obama has pursued and why they’re the right
policies for our country.
QUESTION: When you leave your position as Secretary of State, what unfinished business will you regret leaving behind the most?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I will miss the extraordinary people. I have more than 60,000
people around the world who are working hard every single day to promote
peace and prosperity and who want to advance America’s interests and
values and keep us safe here at home. So I will miss the people and I
will miss a lot of the extraordinarily important work. But it’s work
that never ends. I mean, we’re living at a time when the world is so
complex, so many challenges and threats going on simultaneously. So I
will be there cheering on whoever my successor is.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
# # #
Interview With Margaret Brennan of CBS
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Lima, Peru
October 15, 2012
QUESTION:
Madam Secretary, thank you very much for making time. The assault on
the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi lasted well over six hours. Did you at
any point consider sending reinforcements or assets from outside of
Libya in?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we considered
everything, and we did, as you know, send additional assets from
Tripoli, but it was a fast-moving, very difficult assault to try to
figure out. As you know, the assault on the post ended. There was a gap
of time, then the assault on the annex, so everybody who had any
responsibility was scrambling very hard to figure out what more could be
done.
QUESTION: Why not send in assets from outside the country in addition to those coming from Tripoli?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, partly because of the difficulties of trying to do that. But I
think all of this will be examined in the Accountability Review Board,
because after all, we have this independent board to sort through
everything: what happened, because we have to get to the bottom of it;
what we need to learn from it, because we have to do whatever it takes
to protect our people; and then of course to follow up and follow any
lead to track down whoever did this and bring them to justice. So we are
very focused on finding out everything we can and then learning from
it. But we’re also, at the same time, doing a very big analysis of
what’s happening right now, making sure we do what we can to protect
people, and it’s a terrible tragedy what happened in Benghazi, and we
want to make sure that those four men will be remembered because of the
changes that we possibly can do to help others.
QUESTION:
There are people within the Foreign Service looking at what happened in
Benghazi and saying, “This shows that there are soft, vulnerable
American targets that can be hit.” So when you look at your decisions
that night, do you expect your own decision not to send in assets from
outside of Libya to be in question?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, Margaret, I don’t want us to reach any conclusions about what we
did or didn’t do without the full context. I mean, I understand why
people want to ask questions, but I just caution that we need to look at
everything, and everything needs to be explained at the same time. We
have 275 posts around the world. We have more than 60,000 people. We
live in a dangerous, risky environment today in many places around the
world, and we are constantly calculating, particularly led by our
security professionals, about what needs to be done, where assets need
to be. We partner with DOD whenever we can. But it’s a constantly
calculating analysis that has to go on in order to make the best
decisions.
QUESTION: And there are usually emergency action plans in place for all those embassies and posts. Was there one in Benghazi?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
There’s always emergency plans in place, and there are always constant
updates to it. Now, as you know, Benghazi was not a permanent facility.
It was a post with an annex, and there’s no doubt that it was overrun,
some have said in an unprecedented attack that could not have been
foreseen and could not have been stopped. But I want to know the
answers. I want to know if that’s true.
QUESTION: So there was not a contingency plan in Benghazi because it wasn’t –
SECRETARY CLINTON: There’s – no, there’s always an emergency plan for every post.
QUESTION:
Okay. On September 16th, Ambassador Susan Rice made a number of TV
appearances. Did you approve her speaking points that she delivered on
the TV shows that day?
SECRETARY CLINTON: She got the same
information that everyone got, and I think she very clearly said here’s
what we know now, but this is going to change. This is what we have at
present, but it will evolve, and the intelligence community has said the
same thing. I’ve seen this happen over and over again. I mean, you feel
an obligation to say something, because something terrible has
happened, but more likely than not there will be additional details,
what people thought might be changed by new information, or in the case
of the intelligence community, something that they are able to pull from
their review of all available intelligence.
So I think that
what’s important is we were attacked. We were attacked, and this was not
the only place where our people were at risk. We were facing serious
problems in many places over – from September 11th over the following
weeks, and what we were trying to do was to stay ahead of it and to try
to make sure that we were prepared. In many places, there were
governments, governments that have a responsibility under international
law to protect diplomatic facilities and were able to do so. In Libya,
as you know, they don’t yet have control over security. It’s something
that we are trying to help them with, but unfortunately, they were not
able to be very responsive in Benghazi.
QUESTION: Who briefed Ambassador Rice that day? Did you sign off on that briefing and those speaking points?
SECRETARY CLINTON: You would have to ask her.
QUESTION: You didn’t speak to her before that appearance?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
No, but that – everybody had the same information. I mean, I’m – I have
to say I know there’s been a lot of attention paid to who said what
when, but I think what happened is more important. We were attacked, and
four brave Americans were killed. Others were injured. Dozens had to
fight for their life and had to get evacuated. Everybody in the
Administration had – has tried to say what we knew at the time with the
caveat that we would learn more, and that’s what’s happened. So I think
that – I’ve seen it before not just in respect to this. I think it’s
part of what the fog of war causes.
QUESTION: There are
those who because of the vulnerability look at this and say why was
Ambassador Rice saying there was no information, which is what she said
on CBS, no information that this was a preplanned attack when just days
before Libya’s President had publically and repeatedly said there was
evidence?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, those are all pieces of
information that people will have evaluated in the overall assessment. I
can only speak for the United States Government and the information
that was given was given to everyone. That information evolved. The
intelligence community has said that. So I think that we can –
QUESTION: It wasn’t an intelligence failure?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
I’m not going to get into the blame game. I think intelligence is very
hard to do, and what we’re going to find out as we do this
accountability review and we get what will be the best possible
chronology that will be attached to what we knew when, which takes time.
It cannot be just produced automatically. Then you and the media, the
Congress, and others will have a good basis of information.
I
understand the anxiety and the desire to try to get answers. Nobody
wants to get answers more than I do. These were people who I cared
deeply about. I knew Chris Stevens. I asked him personally to be in
Benghazi during the Libyan revolution. I personally nominated him to be
ambassador, because I could not think of a better person to represent
the United States, somebody who understood what was at stake for Libya,
what was at stake for the United States, how these revolutions could be
so positive or could be hijacked. He understood that, and he was
instrumental in working with the Libyans. So I care deeply about what
happened that night. I care deeply about what we’re going to be doing
going forward. And I want everybody to know that we’re going to get to
the bottom of this, and when we do, that information will all be public,
and people will be able to draw their own conclusions.
QUESTION:
And lastly, Madam Secretary, before I let you go, coming up on these
last three months of your term, what do you have to do to consider it a
success?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think we’re just going
to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ve had a lot of very important
challenges over the last now nearly four years. The world has changed
dramatically. We’ve had economic crises, we’ve had Arab Springs, we’ve
had all kinds of challenges in places large and small, but I think
what’s important is that we have asserted American leadership, American
values, American interests, and we’ve also made it very clear that when
it comes to our security, it may take time, but if you kill Americans,
we will find you, and we will hold you accountable and bring you to
justice one way or the other. And that’s what we intend to do when it
comes to Benghazi. It’s what this Administration, it’s what the American
people expect. And we will continue to advance our interests, promote
our values, and protect our security.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, thank you for your time.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much.
# # #
Interview With Catherine Chomiak of NBC News
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Lima, Peru
October 15, 2012
QUESTION: Thank
you so much, Madam Secretary, for doing this. I wanted to start with
Libya and then move on to Pakistan. On September 11th in Benghazi,
things were calm until around 9:40, officials tell us, and at that point
a security officer saw dozens of heavily-armed men coming in through
the front gate. And that security officer notified the Embassy in
Tripoli, and then Washington as well, and then kept in contact and gave
updates. I’m wondering, was it not apparent that evening that this was a
coordinated terrorist attack and not just a protest spun out of
control?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, that’s one of the
questions that will be answered by the review once everything is looked
at. Because the intelligence committee information that was available in
the immediate aftermath was given to everyone, and everyone saw the
same information but said, look, we will tell you what we know now but
we expect it to change, we expect it to get more detail. And that’s
what’s gone on over the last weeks.
I think the important thing is
we were attacked. At the same time, there were protests and attacks
going on across the region and even beyond. So what we had to do in the
State Department was keep focused not on why something happened – that
was for the intelligence community to determine – but what was happening
and what could happen. And that’s what I was very much working on day
and night, to try to make sure that we intervened with governments, we
did everything we could to keep our people safe, which is my primary
responsibility.
QUESTION: And you mention the intelligence
that was given, and some have been critical and the intelligence agency
has come out and revised and put out that statement. Some have called
this an intelligence failure. Is that fair?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I
don’t think we want to get into any blame game. I think what we want to
do is get to the bottom of what happened, figure out what we’re going
to do to protect people and prevent it from happening again, and then
track down whoever did it and bring them to justice.
So from my
perspective, I have a great deal of concern about what we have to do to
make sure this doesn’t happen, and that means even while we’re doing the
investigation about Benghazi, we’re constantly reaching out, making
sure that our posts have what they need, doing reviews all the time so
that we can try to stay ahead of whatever might happen. Because this was
unprecedented – significant numbers of armed men coming into a post
like that. We’ve seen things like this from Tehran to Beirut to Nairobi.
We see it, but we have to constantly be learning new ways to prevent
it.
QUESTION: And there has been criticism of the
intelligence, and there’s also been criticism of the Administration.
Yesterday, Senator Graham said this Administration is either misleading
the American people or incredibly incompetent about what happened in
Benghazi. That’s a very, very serious charge that he’s making. What do
you say to him and to others?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I
highly respect him and others who share the deep concern I do that
something terrible happened, and we have to find out what it was. My
only point is that the Administration has tried to provide information
with the caveat that more would be learned, but everyone has done their
best to get information out. What I’m interested in is getting to the
facts: What did happen? And I was at the – from the time it started
until this minute as we’re sitting here really focused on trying to make
sure that we had everything that our people needed, and if there are
changes that we have to make or that our security professionals need to
do, we’re going to learn what it is and we’re going to do it.
QUESTION: One
of those issues around security that has been raised is: Was the State
Department too concerned with Libyan political sensitivities about
contractors coming into the country after the revolution? Could you talk
a little bit about that? Was there an emphasis on – in the security
posture of relying on local Libyans, and could that have been an issue
that led to what happened in Benghazi?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well,
I think specifically we need to really sort that out to see whether
that had any effect. It’s something that I don’t want to make a judgment
about until I get all the facts. But in a more general way, we can’t
bring people into any country unless we take military action against
that country. But in the ordinary course of dealing with other
countries, we can’t bring anybody in who doesn’t get a visa, who isn’t
approved to be there by the country.
So when some people say,
well, we should have just put people in, that’s not the way it works.
You have to get the visas. You have to get the approval. Now, the
military, as we know, they went to Afghanistan, they went to Iraq,
they’ve gone other places in the past. But other than those kinds of
exceptions, even they have to get approval to have what we call boots on
the ground.
So I want the American people to understand more about how all of this works, but I want to do it once we get all the facts.
QUESTION: And
speaking of the American people, after 9/11, when New York City was
attacked, Americans really rallied together. We really haven’t seen that
with Benghazi. It’s become very quickly a political issue. I’m
wondering why you think that is. And do you think it serves the American
public and America’s interests that Benghazi has been so politicized?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well,
I can only say that based on my experience the last 20 years, when our
country was attacked in the ‘90s and my husband was President; when we
were attacked when George W. Bush was President; now, of course, I serve
President Obama – we’re at our best when we rally around. That doesn’t
mean that we don’t want to get to the bottom of what happened, because
we should, and we should then hold people accountable, make changes
where necessary.
But I really believe that tragedies like what
happened in Benghazi should be viewed in a nonpolitical way. Everybody
should pull together as Americans.
QUESTION: And changing
topics, I imagine you’ve been following the updates of the 14-year-old
girl who was shot by the Taliban in Pakistan. And I’m wondering, what
would you say to her today if you could? And what do you want to say to
all the other school girls just like her who have flooded the streets of
Pakistan in outrage?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think that
the people of Pakistan are saying what needs to be said so eloquently
now – that children, boys and girls, deserve to go to school; they
deserve to have the chance to make the best of their God-given
potential, to make a contribution to their society. And any country that
doesn’t stand up against extremism in order to protect its children has
to really take a hard look, and I think that’s what’s happening in
Pakistan. And I certainly hope so because there are so many thousands of
young girls who deserve to go to school, who deserve to have an
education, and those who are committing these terrible acts of violence
need to be brought to justice.
QUESTION: And just one quick
one if I may. Madam Secretary, you’ve been in your fair share of
high-profile debates. (Laughter.) I’m wondering if you have anything for
the President? Any advice to give him for tomorrow?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I
think he’ll do fine. I think he just has to get out there and talk
about what he’s done for the country and what he wants to do for the
next four years. I am out of politics, but I do care deeply about what
happens to the country that I love and that I’ve served, and I think he
will do fine in explaining what needs to happen next.
QUESTION: That you so much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much.
# # #
