Republicans are determined to find out what was the UN Ambassador Rice’s role in the Benghazi attack on September 11. They believe the Ambassador intentionally modified the report in order to help President Barack Obama win the elections, Reuters informs.
Despite the efforts that Democrats are making to protect the UN Ambassador Rice against the Republicans’ accusations, the latter seem evermore determined to pillory her. Discussions related to Susan Rice’s report have not cooled down during the weekend as Obama’s opponents want to get her to testify in the following weeks.
Susan Rice was appointed the first major spokesperson of the Obama administration and reporting on the status of the U.S. Embassy in Libya was one of her main responsibilities. During the September 11 attack that led to the US Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ demise, Rice reported that the “spontaneous protest” organized against the anti-Islam video was disrupted by “extremist elements”. Further analyses have shown that the attack might have been, in fact planned by Al-Qaeda members; thus, raising many questions in relation to Rice’s decision to modify the report.
Republicans claim the spokesperson altered the communication in order to reinforce the “political narrative” that the president needed to win the elections. Great part of Obama’s political campaign focused on Al-Qaeda’s defeat, so admitting that the attack in Libya had been orchestrated by the famous terrorist group would have proven electors that the President did not keep his promises. This hypothesis was also put forward by Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who claims the intelligence community knew the real facts behind the attack, but Rice’s declaration was changed five days after the Benghazi attack.
Obama, on the other hand, claims the UN Ambassador has fallen victim to the conflict between the Republicans and the Democrats. He further suggested his political opponents to come after him instead of wrongfully accusing Rice. Susan Rice is said to be Obama’s first choice for the replacement of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
