By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is faulting a flawed bureaucratic system for the State Department's failure to blame top U.S. officials for ignoring pleas for more security before the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya.
The White House accused Republicans of a political distraction Wednesday after House committee chairmen asked President Obama to release a State Department cable that they said would prove Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretary off state, signed off on security cuts at the diplomatic post in Benghazi ahead of the attack Sept. 11.
Saying "I don't think anybody lied to anybody," Secretary of State John F. Kerry promised Wednesday to appoint a special liaison to dispel Republican lawmakers' lingering suspicions over the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
Kudos to the top congressional members who recently proposed bills to support Taiwan's observer status in the International Civil Aviation Organization. The bills were proposed by Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Rep. Edward R. Royce, California Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The leader of Syria's main opposition group sought to allay Western fears Thursday that terrorists have infiltrated the rebel movement in the war-torn nation, as U.S. officials touted a new plan to ship meals and medical supplies — but not weapons — to those fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
Despite the biting divide between Republicans and Democrats on almost all other fronts, two key House lawmakers announced a bipartisan bill Wednesday to boost sanctions on Iran, trying to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
North Korea confirmed on Tuesday that it had conducted its third nuclear test, setting off a wave of global condemnation, including from President Obama, who called the test a "highly provocative act" that "undermines regional stability."
Three House Republican leaders on Tuesday demanded copies of all documents from a State Department investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, calling the publicly released version of the report "incomplete."
North Korea's agreement to suspend nuclear tests and uranium enrichment in exchange for food aid provides little insight into whether new leader Kim Jong-un is seeking to soften the totalitarian nation's posture toward the rest of the world.
Obama administration officials faced a sometimes skeptical audience Tuesday as they briefed lawmakers in public for the first time on President Obama's deployment of 100 Special Forces troops to Africa to help track down one of the continent's most notorious warlords.
"With its currency now in free fall, the Iranians desperately need gold," said Mr. Royce, who noted that a U.S. law authorizing the Obama administration to sanction anyone selling gold to citizens inside Iran does not take effect until July 1.
"This [review board] failed to assess the roles of the so-called seventh floor State Department officials," Mr. Royce said, referring to the top floor of the State Department that houses the office of the secretary and key aides.
