The hypocrisy of Republicans' attack on Susan Rice

US President George Bush with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the White House, August 2008. Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters

It's time they were reminded about how disastrously Americans were misled by Condoleezza Rice over Iraq WMD intelligence

Michael Williams
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 November 2012 10.36 EST

The Republican crusade against Susan Rice, US ambassador to the United Nations, continues unabated. Dr Rice, a favourite to succeed outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is charged by some Republicans with "lying" about the nature of the attacks against the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya on 11 September 2012.

While Rice should be thoroughly vetted by the Senate, the logic of current witch hunt is laughable; and it sets a precedent the GOP should want to avoid. Following the logic of Senator John McCain, the Obama administration should launch an investigation into the George W Bush administration.

According to Republicans, Rice committed one of two sins. First, she deliberately lied about the attacks, calling them spontaneous, when they were, in fact, premeditated. The lesser evil is that she hewed too close to her talking points. Because she is in the "inner ring" of the Obama administration, Rice supposedly should have known that the talking points were rubbish and refuted the analysis of the US intelligence community upon which they were based.

What incentive Rice had to purposely lie, and why she should have second-guessed intelligence at the time, are unclear.

(More here.)