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Kerry Defends Ambassador Rice Against Attacks

Washington, DC – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement in response to the call made by Rep. King (R-NY) for Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, to resign.
 
"I'm deeply disturbed by efforts to find the politics instead of finding the facts in this debate. Everyone who cares about the four fallen Americans in Benghazi would do well to take a deep breath about what happened and allow Secretary Clinton's proactive, independent investigation to proceed. I’m particularly troubled by calls for Ambassador Rice’s resignation. She is a remarkable public servant for whom the liberation of the Libyan people has been a personal issue and a public mission. She's an enormously capable person who has represented us at the United Nations with strength and character.  Our Committee in the Senate has unanimously asked that some highly detailed, highly specific questions be answered as part of the current investigation. Congress will have plenty of time to examine those answers, and to discern what happened in Benghazi once the investigation is fully underway and the facts become clear.  Tom Pickering is a good and capable man. He's respected by both parties. Let him do his job. We need to drop the politics and pull together and bring the killers of Chris Stevens and our fallen heroes to justice.  Everyone needs to help the Libyans with their efforts to eliminate the militias operating outside the law.  More than 30,000 Libyans took to the streets in protest against those who stormed our consulate.  We need to stand with the Libyan government, empowering them to push their country along on a path toward a functioning democracy.  Finally, it is important to remember that we are all Americans first, and we cannot and should not lose sight of this fact, particularly in the face of this tragedy."

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