Hillary Clinton will be in Beverly Hills this evening to receive another in a long string of awards and honors.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
U.S. Secretary of State (2009-2013)
May 8, 2013
BEVERLY WILSHIRE HOTEL | BEVERLY HILLS
Gala to honor Hillary Clinton May 2013 | Los Angeles
At a gala event on May 8, the Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton will
deliver one of her first addresses on the west coast since stepping down
as U.S. Secretary of State earlier this year. Secretary Clinton will
accept the inaugural Warren Christopher Public Service Award from the
Pacific Council on International Policy, conferred in recognition of her
distinguished service to the country
The
Ready for Hillary Super PAC is planning a rally to greet her, as they have at previous events.
All
of this pro-Hillary excitement unfolds against the backdrop of a flurry
of anti-Hillary activity in the House of Representatives where today
the Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard the testimony of three
State Department employees called by Darryl Issa who is itching to pin a
bogus cover-up or something else - whatever he can find - on the
retired Secretary of State.
Largely
ignored by cable outlets today (except Fox News, of course), at least
some of the testimony concerned issues that had been adequately
addressed in the
Accountability Review Board (ARB) report
provided to the all interested Congress persons well prior to Secretary
Clinton's January 23 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs
Committee.
State Department officials have repeatedly and
consistently stated that under Secretary Clinton's leadership all 29
recommendations by the board had been implemented. Hillary Clinton unequivocally took responsibility for failures on the part of her department.
Andrea
Mitchell today had Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who led the board with
Admiral Mike Mullen, on her show. Pickering stated that Gregory Hicks,
who was second in command to slain Ambassador Christopher Stevens, and
remained in Tripoli the night of the attack, had done a fine job and had
spent many hours being interviewed by the ARB. He pointed out that the
requests from Hicks for four special forces to be sent to Benghazi
after the first attack and for a fly over in Benghazi were deemed
impractical both by State and by the Department of Defense.
Pickering also stated that he offered to testify before the committee and Issa declined his offer.
Sending the
only four special forces out of Tripoli where classified documents are
kept would have left the embassy vulnerable when embassies across the
region were under siege. There were no classified documents in
Benghazi. The primary responsibility of the special forces is
protection of classified materials - not personnel. No one could have predicted a second attack in Benghazi. The planes requested for the flyover could not have refueled since there was no tanker in the Mediterranean that night. (See
p. 37 of the report)
So,
while Issa and company continue to aim at her and miss, Hillary will
be receiving a public service award and her fervent supporters will
greet her with pleas for her to run in 2016. Meanwhile, husband Bill
says she is having a fine time doing what she wants and talk of 2016 is a
waste of time. Hillary does not have to do anything at all to get her
name in the headers or on her husband's lips, but she has already done so much that regularly she is given awards and honors.
Fomer U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at an event hosted by The Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, California on May 8, 2013. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty)
