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A former top U.S. diplomat in Libya said he was effectively “demoted” after questioning United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice’s explanation that the deadly Benghazi attack was the result of a protest over a video. Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission under slain Ambassador Christopher Stevens, now holds the title of foreign affairs officer in the Office of Global Intergovernmental Affairs — an almost catch-all designation. “I’ve been effectively demoted from deputy chief of mission,” Hicks said. He testified to members of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that he was “stunned” and “embarrassed” upon hearing Rice blame an...

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice speaks for President Obama, as Vice President Joe Biden pointed out on Tuesday night. But what was surely intended to be a nice pat on the back for the ambassador has created an awkward position for the administration in regard to the Benghazi attacks. “[Rice] also has … the absolute, total, complete confidence of the president of the United States of America,” Biden said, as POLITICO reported. “So when she speaks, when she speaks in the discordant world we reside in right now, no one wonders, no one wonders, whether or not she’s...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Obama’s Benghazi PropagandistPosted By Matthew Vadum On May 8, 2013 @ 12:56 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 4 Comments A young White House speechwriter may be responsible for concocting the official lies about last September’s deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.The Obama administration’s rapidly unravelling narrative about what happened at the U.S. consulate in Libya’s second-largest city may have been cooked up by creative writer Ben Rhodes, the president’s 30-something Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting.The origin of the administration’s desperate election-season fabrications may come up today as a congressional committee...

Full title - "Report: Nearby US special forces blocked during Benghazi attack, told ‘you don’t have authority to go’" As the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya raged on for more than seven hours, a team of U.S. special forces in Tripoli was blocked from flying in to attempt a rescue, according to a top American diplomat who was in the region. In previously secret testimony given by Gregory Hicks — the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya — to congressional investigators last month, Hicks revealed two possible...

CBS released information on the Benghazi 9-11 massacre today that could potentially bring down the Obama Administration. Buried in their report (down in paragraph eight) CBS reported, “Throughout the night, sources say Americans on the ground in Libya at times felt helpless and abandoned… But they were told immediate help wasn’t available.” But, counterterrorism sources and internal emails reviewed by CBS News express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help. CBS reported: Throughout the night, sources say Americans on the ground in Libya at times felt helpless and abandoned. “We relied on...

http://www.cbsnews.com/face-the-nation/

The evidence of a cover-up is becoming clear, thanks to information recently released about what happened at Benghazi. Doug Ross of Director Blue has pulled together information from Stephen Hayes and the House Oversight Committee that leads to, in his words, "four inescapable conclusions": a) Hillary Clinton lied under oath to Congress. b) Barack Obama went to sleep knowing that a U.S. Ambassador and other Americans were under terrorist attack. c) Barack Obama awoke refreshed the next day to begin fundraising. d) The entire Executive Branch lied repeatedly to the American people to save Obama's chances for reelection. Here's the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: So Benghazi, that's "a long time ago." "Benghazi happened a long time ago." I mean, why is everybody bringing that up now? Yet everything remains the fault of George W. Bush. From the Weekly Standard: "White House spokesman Jay Carney said in response to a question about the September 11, 2012 Benghazi terror attack that it 'happened a long time ago.' 'Let's be clear,' said Carney. "'Benghazi happened a long time ago. We are unaware of any agency blocking an employee who would like to appear before Congress to provide information related to Benghazi.'" Really? See, this...

The U.S. government had the ability to “react and respond” to the Benghazi terrorist attack and could have had forces on the ground before the second wave of the assault began, a special operator with knowledge of the response told Fox News in an exclusive interview. Due to the explosive nature of his allegations, the special ops member asked to remain anonymous. “I know for a fact that C 110 the UComm CIF was doing a training exercise, not in the region of northern Africa, but in Europe. And they had the ability to react and respond,” he told Fox...

The private-equity tycoon Stephen A. Schwarzman, backed by an array of mostly western blue-chip companies with interests in China, is creating a $300 million scholarship for study in China that he hopes will rival the Rhodes scholarship in prestige and influence. The programme, whose endowment represents one of the largest single gifts to education in the world and one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever in China, was announced by Mr. Schwarzman in Beijing on Sunday. The Schwarzman Scholars programme will pay all expenses for 200 students each year from around the world for a one-year master’s programme at Tsinghua...

Sumant Kumar was overjoyed when he harvested his rice last year. There had been good rains in his village of Darveshpura in north-east India and he knew he could improve on the four or five tonnes per hectare that he usually managed. But every stalk he cut on his paddy field near the bank of the Sakri river seemed to weigh heavier than usual, every grain of rice was bigger and when his crop was weighed on the old village scales, even Kumar was shocked. This was not six or even 10 or 20 tonnes. Kumar, a shy young farmer...

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and scorned former frontrunner to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, is back in the news. After public outcry following her role in mischaracterizing to the American public what had caused uprisings against the U.S. in arab countries across the globe in the fall of 2012, including the attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left the ambassador and three state department employees dead, Republicans lined up in premature opposition to Rice’s rumored nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Little has been heard from Rice since she...

Not so long ago, the idea that women might rule the world seemed slightly ridiculous - like something out of science fiction. But in an essay to mark International Women's Day, political analyst and former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers argues it's now a topic that can be seriously discussed. Women clearly lacked the intellectual capacity and emotional fortitude to make the difficult decisions that leadership required. It wasn't bias, it was biology - it was just the way women were made. But that was then. In recent decades, attitudes and ideas have changed - and fast. That's...

On “The Daily Show” on Thursday, host Jon Stewart grilled United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice about the Obama administration’s response to the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last year. Stewart pressed her to explain why there was so much back-and-forth between government agencies and why no one seemed to have the straight story. Stewart asked why there seemed to be more effort put into ironing out talking points rather than preventing the attack in the first place. As he put it, “Why is there a bureaucratic system in place that is so tenacious with the explanation, yet...

<p>Obama — ticked off by Rice’s treatment and still emboldened by his convincing victory over Mitt Romney — courted confrontation when he tapped Hagel.</p> <p>If true, this is outlandish. The president would imperil national security out of spite? .........</p>

Of all of the characteristics one might ascribe to Susan Rice, prescience is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Surprisingly however, five years ago she said something that demonstrated a momentary clarity of vision that is staggering. In a March 2008 interview she said the following: “Clinton hasn’t had to answer the phone at 3:00 in the morning, and yet she attacked Barack Obama for not being ready. They’re both not ready to have that 3 AM phone call.” If the events immediately following Benghazi showed Ambassador Rice to be a hapless marionette of the administration, the...

As a nuclear North Korea proves once again that it’s improving its technology and moving close to marrying a small nuclear device with a more powerful rocket, the United States’ initial reaction Tuesday was a big ho-hum. Asked Tuesday morning whether she expects a strong condemnation from the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said: “We’ll do the usual drill.” It was a surprising response to an international incident that was largely seen as a threat to the U.S. and one that prompted the U.N. Security Council to call an emergency meeting of world representatives.

United Nations agricultural experts are reporting confusion, after figures show that China imported 2.6 million tons of rice in 2012, substantially more than a four-fold increase over the 575,000 tons imported in 2011. The confusion stems from the fact that there is no obvious reason for vastly increased imports, since there has been no rice shortage in China. The speculation is that Chinese importers are taking advantage of low international prices, but all that means is that China's own vast supplies of domestically grown rice are being stockpiled. Why would China suddenly be stockpiling millions of tons of rice for...

Republicans are 'not giving up' on BenghaziBy Julian Pecquet - 12/15/12 03:24 PM ET Republican lawmakers are vowing to keep pressing the administration on Benghazi despite Susan Rice’s decision to drop her bid to become secretary of State. “We'll continue to seek answers,” a Republican Senate aide told The Hill. “We're not giving up on it.” Rice’s decision to step aside averted a contentious confirmation fight with Republican senators that might have pointed to an end to the political battle over the U.S. consulate attack. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations had become the flash-point for criticism since describing...

President Obama made a brilliant move giving up Rice for Secratary of State. He can now move her to National Security Advisor, much how Nixon originally had Kissinger inside the White House. As National Security Advisor, she is covered by Executive Privilege (Secretary of State is not). This positioning affords Obama a great deal more strategic range. Kerry in State plays into placating Republican Senators - they will resist attacking Kerry. Kerry is ultimately an ineffective leader (also known as "Figure Head"), so he can travel the world collecting frequent flyer miles without disrupting the President's Foreign Policy Agenda. Loss...