"What difference, at this point, does it make?" former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in response to questioning about Benghazi.
It makes a difference when a United States ambassador is killed along with three co-workers. To simply acknowledge that, to accept full responsibility and say the State Department is doing everything possible to prevent reoccurrence, even saying the State Department is implementing all 29 recommendations made by others is, to me, insufficient. Even her testimony, mixed with a combination of strong outbursts and tears, didn't help.
It is simply inadequate to continue writing/rewriting procedures on a trial-and-error basis. For Mrs. Clinton to claim she was not aware of a request six months earlier, especially from a troubled spot such as Libya, reflects gross mismanagement.
Either she was aware of it and did not acknowledge it, or her management structure was so inadequate that key events were no more than routine. At a minimum, she should have had a system of critical alerts from her staff, including that those alerts be forwarded to her immediately, especially from high-tension areas.
Lastly, to show some level of competence, one would have expected her to review with her immediate staff the situations in high-tension areas at least every two or three months.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Clinton was busy setting a record as a world traveler as secretary of state. Fortunately, she resigned, though the possibility of a 2016 run for the presidency is of real concern.
AL WALCK
Colonie