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National Security Adviser Susan Rice’s comments that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl served with "honor and dignity" has amplified GOP criticism of President Obama's prisoner swap and undermined Rice’s credibility on Capitol Hill. Independent experts have cast doubt on Rice’s judgment, given questions about whether Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban after deserting his post in Afghanistan. Even allies of the White House are suggesting she stay off the Sunday talk shows. “When I saw her on TV making that honor and distinction comment it just seems so phony to me,” said Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations...

National Security Adviser Susan Rice’s comments that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction" has amplified GOP criticism of President Obama's prisoner swap and undermined Rice’s credibility on Capitol Hill. Independent experts have cast doubt on Rice’s judgment, given questions about whether Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban after deserting his post in Afghanistan. Even allies of the White House are suggesting she stay off the Sunday talk shows. “When I saw her on TV making that honor and distinction comment it just seems so phony to me,” said Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations...

Judicial Watch conducted its own investigation of Benghazi to generate this report. However, no fewer than 10 Freedom of Information Act requests are still pending and those complied with were heavily redacted. Nevertheless, this report paints a compelling case for the need for a Special Investigator.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton insists “there will never be perfect clarity” or full agreement on everything that happened regarding the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya — but that does not mean a lack of effort on getting to the truth. “There will never be perfect clarity on everything that happened,” Mrs. Clinton writes in her book, “Hard Choices,” according to excerpts published by CBS News. “It is unlikely that there will ever be anything close to full agreement on exactly what happened that night, how it happened, or why it happened. But that should...

Belmont Club Books Archives Bio by Richard Fernandez Decoding Bergdahl June 5th, 2014 - 3:25 pm     inShare President Obama explained that he traded the Taliban 5 for Bowe Bergdahl because it’s what great men do. “This is what happens at the end of wars,” Obama said, speaking in Poland. That was true for George Washington, that was true for Abraham Lincoln, that was true for FDR.”  He forgot to add “then it is true for me”. Much is plain to those who walk in the footsteps of giants. Except it’s little hard to remember when exactly Washington, Lincoln or...

Susan Rice, United States National Security Advisor under the Obama administration, said that Bowe Bergdahl 'served the United States with honor and distinction.' Sounds like praise to me. But Chuck Hagel, who said very recently that Americans should not pre-judge Bowe Bergdahl, seems to take one line with - I guess "regular" Americans - and another with Susan Rice. Hmmm... Should Hagel and Rice both say that Bowe Bergdahl should be neither judged nor praised until all the facts are in? Funny how some WH aides can accuse Bergdahl's fellow soldiers of 'swift boating,' but won't tell people to not...

In response to The White House doubles its bet on some bad cards: For no other reason other than morbid curiosity, I'd like to know who wrote the talking points for Susan Rice's appearances on the Sunday talk shows, yesterday. It's not like she had any more credibility to lose, but Rice told some whoppers, yesterday, possibly as Allahpundit notes at Hot Air, in a calculated attempt to set a false narrative, as "most voters will pay attention to this story for 48 hours after Bergdahl’s release and then tune out." Even as the truth was gushing out about the...

This weekend, White House national security adviser Susan Rice took a break from her busy schedule of scouring YouTube for blamable videos, and sat down with CNN’s Candy Crowley. You may remember Crowley as the “journalist” who likes helping floundering Democrat Presidents score points in political debates. Crowley wanted to know if, in fact, the United States had negotiated with terrorists in its effort to secure Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release. The short answer is “yes,” but this is the Obama administration. ...So you never get the short answer. “Point blank,” Crowley asked. “Did the US negotiate with terrorists for his...

U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice pushed back on Sunday against GOP claims that the administration negotiated with terrorists by transferring five Taliban prisoners in Guantanamo Bay to Qatar in exchange for the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on Saturday. "I wouldn't put it that way," Rice said on CNN's "State of the Union" when asked if the exchange means that U.S. officials can no longer say they don't negotiate with terrorists. "Why didn't you notify Congress?" Crowley asked, referencing the law that requires the president to alert Congress in 30 days before transferring any prisoners from Guantanamo Bay....

Followup by David Sherfinski, The Washington Times of story on Hagel not negotiating.As a prisoner of war in Afghanistan was transferred back to U.S. custody, Republicans challenged the Obama administration’s insistence it did not negotiate with terrorists in securing the soldier’s release and say the move was illegal and could embolden terrorists around the globe. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said the U.S. did not negotiate with terrorists in the process of exchanging the transfer of five terrorism suspects for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. “We didn’t negotiate with terrorists,” Mr. Hagel said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And...

Once seemingly destined to become secretary of state, Rice now holds a lower profile job at the White House, juggling one global crises after another for Obama and trying to insure that his broad list of foreign policy priorities doesn’t fall by the wayside in the widening storm of problems overseas. As President Barack Obama's national security adviser, she commands a suite of offices steps from the Oval Office and has more daily access to him than does Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry travels the world and gets the headlines. Rice quietly orchestrates the foreign policy issues put on...

Once seemingly destined to become secretary of state, Susan Rice now holds a lower profile job at the White House, juggling one global crisis after another for President Obama and trying to ensure that his broad list of foreign policy priorities doesn't fall by the wayside in the widening storm of problems overseas. These days, Rice has been keeping a list of issues at risk of being ignored: A trade agreement with Asia-Pacific nations. Development projects in Africa. Protecting gay rights overseas.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Hillary Clinton may not be much at administering the State Department, but she’s certainly a pro when it comes to expressing outrage at her own persecution. For the woman who is supposedly the world’s most powerful feminist, her sense of victimhood remains surprisingly strong. That’s never been more true than in her new book, Hard Choices, which points out that she – not the four men who died in Benghazi, Libya, on the night of September 11, 2012 – is the victim. The Clinton camp reportedly leaked the 34-page Benghazi chapter of Hillary’s latest tome to favored outlet Politico. The...

White House officials have been holding private meetings this week aimed at soothing lawmakers’ concerns over the U.S. posture in Syria, the future of the American military presence in Afghanistan and defense spending. The meetings come as a frustrated White House seeks to push back at criticism of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. But the White House outreach appeared to be having little effect on some lawmakers’ concerns. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described Tuesday night’s White House meeting with chief of staff Denis McDonough and national security adviser Susan Rice as...

The European Union is poised to scrap compulsory “best before” labels on coffee, rice, dry pasta, hard cheeses, jams and pickles to help reduce the estimated 100 million tons of food wasted across Europe each year. Officials of the European Commission will table proposals next month allowing national governments to extend the list of foods that do not require best-before dates, in a move which they believe will mean 15 million tons less food a year is discarded by households wrongly worried that it is no longer fit for consumption. […] EU legislation on labeling currently requires all food to...

Here Is What I Would Tell the Rutgers Graduating Class of 2014… I hear Condoleezza Rice stood you up. You may think it was because about 50 students—.09 percent of your student body—held a “sit-in” at the university president’s office to protest the selection of Secretary Rice as commencement speaker. You may think it was because a few of your faculty—stale flakes from the crust of the turkey pot pie that was the New Left—threatened a “teach-in” to protest the selection of Secretary Rice. “Sit-in”? “Teach-in”? What century is this? I think Secretary Rice forgot she had a yoga session...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she is among those who believe that there are legitimate questions that have not yet been answered about the 2012 Benghazi attack. “Let’s remember, we did have the 9/11 Commission. Bipartisan. I testified before it,” Rice said during in a video interview with OZY, when host Carlos Watson condescendingly blamed Fox News for making Benghazi an issue. “I think there are still unanswered questions about Benghazi,” Rice went on. ”I think there are unanswered questions and they could be easily answered. But I think they need to be answered.” “For me it is...

'Rice theory' explains north-south China cultural differences, study shows A new cultural psychology study has found that psychological differences between the people of northern and southern China mirror the differences between community-oriented East Asia and the more individualistic ...

How can it be possible They violated our principle, yeah yeah That kind of force was an attack It was anything but typical It’s a craze we’d endorsed, in the Islamic world You’re obliged to submit ‘cause there’s no other course The Arab Spring looked good to us, but the video was Simply reprehensible Simply reprehensible Al-qaeda is still powerful, huh It’s simply unavoidable The trend was reversible Terrorists were invincible Says international law, could be no shock and awe We blamed it on a video, surrendered because The Arab Spring looked good to us, but the video was Simply...

While much of last week's news was about the smoking gun that linked the White House to the false talking points about the attack in Benghazi, another email that would have shed light on how those talking points came about was nearly completely redacted by the government. The email has as its subject, "SBU/CLOSEHOLD: 0800 SVTS on Movie Protests/Violence." SBU stands for "Sensitive But Unclassified" and SVTS most likely refers to "Secure Video Teleconference System." Ironically, though labeled unclassified, nearly the entirety of the email was redacted before it was given to Judicial Watch. It was written by Eric Pelofsky,...