Hillary Clinton says her "biggest regret" is Benghazi

The former Secretary of State spoke about the attack in New Orleans but skirted questions about a presidential run

Published January 29, 2014 2:38PM (EST)

              (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
(AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed regret about the Benghazi attack during a talk at the National Automobile Dealers Association in New Orleans.  Clinton said that the September 11, 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Libya was her “biggest regret.”

“It was a terrible tragedy losing four Americans — two diplomats and now it is public so I can say two C.I.A. operatives,” said Clinton, according to the New York Times.  “You make these choices based on imperfect information...but that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be unforeseen consequences, unpredictable twists and turns.”

It was an attempt to address the Benghazi issue head on as Republicans continue to try to score political points by exploiting the tragedy.  Since the attack, the GOP has relentlessly criticized the Obama administration for what they say is misleading the American people.  But a New York Times investigative report showed that, contrary to Republican claims, “Benghazi was not infiltrated by Al Qaeda” and that an anti-Islam video played a role in the attack.

During her New Orleans talk, Clinton demurred on the question of whether she would run for president in 2016, a run where Benghazi will surely come up.  Clinton said, “I’m not thinking about it. I am trying to get other people not to think about it. I will think about it in the future sometime, but right now let’s think about what we have to do to continue building on our success.”


By Alex Kane

Alex Kane is a staff reporter at Mondoweiss and the World editor at AlterNet. His work has also appeared in The Daily Beast, the Electronic Intifada, Extra! and Common Dreams. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.

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