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State Dept. Leaking False Info to Smear Whistleblower

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Photo Credit: WNDThe State Department has been leaking to reporters false information to discredit Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks, charged his legal counsel, Victoria Toensing, in an interview with WND.

Hicks, who testified May 8 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is the former State Department deputy chief of mission who was in Libya at the time of the Benghazi attack.

Toensing told WND the State Department has been telling reporters that U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens could not reach Hicks by telephone on the night he was killed in the terrorist attack, Sept. 11, 2012, because Hicks was relaxing, watching television, and did not have his telephone with him.

“This is a total fabrication,” Toensing charged. “Telephone reception in Libya is notoriously unreliable. Sometimes you just don’t get your calls. And besides, the record will show Hicks reached Stevens by telephone within five or 10 minutes at the most after Stevens first telephoned him.”

Toensing said several reporters, whom she declined to identify, have called her to ask if the story about Hicks being AWOL at the time of the Benghazi attack was true.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Israel Lobby’ Author Addresses State Department

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Photo Credit: APA controversial author and longtime critic of the U.S.-Israel alliance lectured at the State Department Friday on the eve of the AIPAC policy conference, Washington’s largest annual pro-Israel gathering.

Stephen Walt, coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy and professor of international affairs at Harvard University, was the featured speaker at the Secretary’s Open Forum on Friday afternoon. His topic: “Top reasons American foreign policy fails,” according to a copy of the event flyer posted in the hallways of Foggy Bottom.

It is unclear how high the U.S.-Israel relationship ranked on Walt’s list.

One State Department insider provided the announcement flyer to the Free Beacon and expressed concern that the Department would host such a divisive figure.

Walt’s speech, which took place as Secretary of State John Kerry traveled overseas on his first diplomatic tour, came days after the Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel as secretary of Defense on a sharply divided vote of 58-41. Walt emerged as a strong supporter of Hagel’s nomination, defending the former Nebraska GOP senator’s remarks that the “Jewish lobby” “intimidates” elected officials on Capitol Hill.

The Washington Free Beacon reported on a contemporaneous account, written by a Hagel supporter, of a 2007 speech the then-senator delivered at Rutgers University in which he is alleged to have said that the State Department was an adjunct of the Israeli foreign minister’s office. Hagel said he did not recall making that statement in a letter to Senators Lindsey Graham (R., SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R., NH) and disavowed its content.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bipartisan House Leaders Urge Obama to Fill State Department IG Job Vacant Since 2008

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Four top members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee representing both parties say the U.S. Department of State has gone long enough without an Inspector-General.

In a letter to President Obama, committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA; ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD; Subcommittee on National Security Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, who is chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on national security; and Rep. John F. Tierney, D-MA, urged the chief executive to make filling the long-standing vacancy a top priority.

“The department has not had a Senate-confirmed Inspector General since 2008, which is the longest vacancy of any of the 73 Inspector General positions across the federal government,” the four said in the letter. “During your entire first term as president, you did not nominate anyone to serve in this critical position. This failure evidences a clear disregard for the Inspector General Act and the will of Congress.

“In the context of the upcoming confirmation hearings for Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, as your nominee to become the next Secretary of State, we are sure that the question of who you plan to nominate to serve as Inspector General for the State Department will be a top priority for Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.”

The Issa panel held a hearing on IG vacancies on May 10, 2012, and noted at the time that:
• There are currently 10 vacant IG posts. Of those, eight are at agencies where the IG is presidentially appointed . . .

Read more from this story HERE.

Sen. John Kerry Expected to be Named Next Secretary of State

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President Barack Obama has decided to nominate senator John Kerry as the next secretary of state, to replace Hillary Clinton, according to two major news outlets. An announcement is possible before Christmas.

Kerry, a senior ranking Democrat who ran for the White House in 2004, emerged as favourite after the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, withdrew from contention on Thursday. That speculation hardened over the weekend, with both ABC and CNN reporting that Obama had opted for Kerry.

His appointment would require Kerry to resign from the senate, with a special election having to be held by the summer. His replacement as Democratic candidate would almost certainly face a strong challenge from the former Republican senator Scott Brown, who lost the other Massachusetts seat to Elizabeth Warren in November.

Kerry, who is currently chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, is in the classic diplomatic mould, with decades of experience in foreign policy and a desire to be engaged in the big issues of the day, from Syria to Iran. While Clinton also wanted to be involved in the major issues of the day, she also pursued single, universal issues such as championing women’s rights.

Conventional thinking in Washington has it that Clinton has never been close to Obama and has tended to be excluded from decision-making on major issues such as Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though she played an important part in shaping policy on Libya. Likewise, Kerry is not thought to be part of Obama’s inner circle, but he will harbour hopes that he will not be left on the sidelines, having been used by the president as an envoy to resolve awkward issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Unlike Rice, Kerry, as a senator, can expect a smooth nomination process.

Congressman: State Dept Hiding Benghazi Survivors

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Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R- UT) told Breitbart News on Wednesday that he has been “thwarted” by the State Department from seeing any Americans who survived the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. Many people forget that there were Americans who survived the Benghazi attack, some of whom were badly injured and are still recovering.

“My understanding is that we still have some people in the hospital. I’d like to visit with them and wish them nothing but the best but the State Department has seen it unfit for me to know who those people are—or even how many there are,” Rep. Chaffetz said. I don’t know who they are. I don’t know where they live. I don’t know what state they’re from. I don’t even know how many there are. It doesn’t seem right to me.

Read more from this story HERE.

Failed US State Department Now Defending Dutch Leader Accused of Child Rape

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Inexplicably, the US State Department is coming to the defense of a leading Dutch government official who has been accused of horrific sex crimes involving young boys. The foreign official, the Secretary General of the Netherlands Ministry of Justice, Joris Demmink, has repeatedly been accused of child sex crimes in the past. The past investigations into these allegations have ended prematurely under questionable circumstances.

After the State Department’s curious involvement in the case, several US congressmen decided to investigate. One, GOP Representative Christopher Smith (NJ), actually held a hearing on the matter. According to WND, Representative Smith deemed the allegations “credible”:

The allegations are shocking and horrible, Mr. Demmink has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and that is a sacred right that I’m sure we all want to protect. At the same time, the allegations, when taken in their full context, are credible, and deserve to be properly investigated so that a prosecutor can make a responsible decision whether to proceed with a case against Mr. Demmink. That investigation has never happened – the investigations that have taken place have been a travesty and have done nothing to clear Mr. Demmink’s name. Rather, they have raised further questions

One of the alleged child sex victim’s attorneys, Adele van der Plas, says there is “overwhelming proof” of the Dutch official’s guilt. According to WND:

She said there are four police reports naming Demmink as a suspect, and six victims who have come forward to identify him. She said a Turkish policeman who was to provide security but instead was asked to kidnap boys from the street for Demmink to rape has come forward.

But van der Plas told WND, “There has never been a credible investigation into his behavior.”

She said the investigations simply are halted.

Ms. van der Plas maintains that the past investigations into the accused molester’s criminal activities have been halted because the allegations would “touch the top power elite.” Similar allegations have been made about child sex investigations impeded in the US.

The following is a documentary that concludes “child traffickers rule” the Netherlands:

Why the US State Department would waste effort and reputation defending a foreign official accused of such horrid crimes is inexplicable.

More Obama Incompetency: Marines Protecting Barbados But Not Benghazi?

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When terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 of this year and killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, there were no U.S. Marines deployed in Libya to defend U.S. diplomats, diplomatic facilities and classified information and equipment.

However, says the State Department, a Marine Security Detachment was deployed on that day to carry out those duties at the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados.

“U.S. Marine Security Guards serve at the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown, and at other diplomatic missions around the world, to protect and safeguard American diplomacy,” Rebecca Ross, the U.S. Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Counselor for Public Affairs, said in a statement to CNSNews.com.

“On September 11, 2012, our U.S. Marine Security Detachment carried out its regular duties which include providing internal security, preventing the compromise of classified information and equipment, and providing protection for U.S. citizens and property located within official U.S. facilities,” Ross said.

On August 16, less than a month before the terrorists struck the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, the U.S. Marine Security Guard Force in Barbados led a physical fitness test for young athletes.

Read more from this story HERE.

Clintons May Torpedo Obama Presidency over Benghazi Blame

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By Alex Pappas. With tensions between President Obama and the Clintons at a new high, former President Bill Clinton is moving fast to develop a contingency plan for how his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, should react if Obama attempts to tie the Benghazi fiasco around her neck, according to author Ed Klein.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, Klein said sources close to the Clintons tell him that Bill Clinton has assembled an informal legal team to discuss how the Secretary of State should deal with the issue of being blamed for not preventing the Benghazi terrorist attack last month.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters during a press conference Friday that responsibility for the consulate in Libya fell on the State Department, not the White House.

If blame for the security failures falls to Hillary Clinton, Klein said, it’s possible that she would even consider resigning over the issue.

“Bill is working on a number of strategies about what Hillary ought to do. He’s even gone so far as to play with various doomsday scenarios including up to the idea that Hillary would consider resigning over the issue if the Obama team tries to use her as a scapegoat,” Klein told TheDC in an interview. Read more from this story HERE.

Klein: Clinton-Obama rift intensifies after Libya, Obama’s debate performance

By Edward Klein. [S]ince the convention, Clinton and Obama have had a serious falling-out over two issues: the president’s preparation and lamentable performance in his debate with Mitt Romney, and the question of who should be assigned blame — Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — for the intelligence and security screw-up in Benghazi, Libya.

This new rift, which the Clintons and Obamas have managed to keep secret from the media, has poisoned their relations to such an extent that it could conceivably have an impact on the outcome of the presidential election.

The latest quarrel began when Clinton heard that Obama was behaving so cocky about his first debate against Mitt Romney that he wasn’t taking his debate prep seriously. Out of concern, Clinton had an aide call the White House and say that the former president would be more than happy to give the current president some pointers and advice on how to get the best of Romney.

Clinton waited several days for a response, but none was forthcoming. According to my sources, the former president was dumbfounded that Obama had ignored his offer, and his hurt feelings quickly boiled over into anger.

“Bill thought that he and Obama were on friendly terms after the convention,” one source told me. “He couldn’t believe that the White House didn’t even extend him the courtesy of a return phone call. He concluded that Obama’s arrogance knows no bounds.” Read more from this story HERE.

Video: State Department Admits that Only One Person Was Guarding Ambassador at Time of Attack

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Although much of her narrative is suspect, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs Charlene Lamb admitted that the Ambassador was protected by only one guard at the time of his death.

Watching this video should leave you convinced of the incompetency of the Obama administration:

Also, please take time to watch yesterday’s video of slain State Department employee Sean Smith’s mother blowing the whistle on the Obama Administration for lying.

And here’s an article about how Ambassador Stevens himself had requested more security.

US Embassy: Egyptian Terrorists “Targeting US Female Missionaries in Egypt”

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The US Embassy in Cairo issued a terrorist threat warning on Friday for American citizens living in Egypt.

The diplomatic mission stated on its website that it has “credible information suggesting terrorist interest in targeting US female missionaries in Egypt.”

The embassy urged US citizens to “exercise vigilance, taking necessary precautions to maintain their personal security.” Americans in Egypt were also advised to maintain valid travel documents and to regularly monitor the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs website, which lists updated travel warnings and alerts.

On August 4, the US issued a travel warning to Americans to “take precautions in travel to the Sinai.” It warned that “overland travel from Israel to the Sinai in particular is strongly discouraged.” That warning came soon after Israel urged its citizens to get out of the Sinai. The next day, Sinai terrorists killed 16 Egyptian border guards in an assault at the Egypt-Gaza-Israel border.

Also on Friday, the chairwoman of the House of Representatives committee that oversees foreign aid said she would block $450 million in US assistance to Egypt in light of tense relations between the two countries.

Read more from this story HERE.