[kabar]

He could have sent anyone. The reason he sent Rice is that she had no involvement or personal knowledge whatsoever in the events, which meant that she was a tabula rosa that could be programmed anyway they wanted. She was a high level official that could not be questioned on the facts because she only knew what was told to her. Later, she could offer plausible denialibility for anything she said. She was just repeating what she had been told.

[kabar]

plausible deniability