(Rice)

I offer this post not as an apologist for anything that
led up to the deadly attack in Benghazi last Sept. 11, but only as an example
of the back stories in Washington that often reveal grudges, petty personality
conflicts and raw partisan conflicts.

(Nuland)

Clearly, mistakes were made that led to killing of four
Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, a highly respected U.S.
foreign service officer, at the diplomatic outpost in Libya. Clearly, there was
a frantic, “cover your a—“ battle within
the Obama administration between the State Department and the CIA in the days
immediately following the terrorist attack.

But when Congress got involved, old Washington ways subtlety
infected the whole fact-finding process. Democrats and Republicans put support for their “team” ahead of sorting out the truth. In a revealing piece in the New York
Times, the very different treatment of two potential scapegoats makes me wonder
how very differently this story would have played out if Victoria Nuland of the State
Department appeared on all those Sunday news-talk shows following the attack
rather than UN Ambassador Susan Rice.

The many emails that have surfaced show that Nuland
played a key role in toning down the now-infamous talking points that Rice
delivered on five news shows.

So, here is how the Times frames the issue:

“Nuland, a well-regarded 29-year veteran of the Foreign
Service, once served as deputy national security adviser to Vice President Dick
Cheney and as ambassador to NATO under President George W. Bush. She is married
to Robert Kagan, a (well known) neoconservative historian and commentator who
advised Mitt Romney during the 2012 campaign.

“Rice, by contrast, was a former Clinton administration
official and a foreign policy adviser to Obama in his 2008 campaign, during
which she tangled with the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain. When Rice
emerged as a leading candidate for Secretary of State after Obama’s
re-election, McCain, an Arizona Republican, became one of her most formidable
opponents on Capitol Hill. Under pressure, she eventually pulled her name from
consideration.”

“When Obama (recently) nominated Nuland as Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Eurasian affairs, (Sen. Lindsey) Graham and McCain
issued a joint statement declaring, ‘… Victoria Nuland has a long and
distinguished record of service to our nation in both Republican and Democrat
administrations.’

Both Rice and Nuland became involved in the Benghazi
controversy after the fact: “… Nuland when she was brought into a Friday night
deliberation involving the State Department, the CIA, the White House and other
agencies about talking points prepared by the CIA; and Rice when she was handed
the finished talking points the night before she went on television.”

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