Former US official describes Libya attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former top diplomat in Libya on Wednesday described a 2 a.m. call from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the middle of the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, amid confusion about the fate of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and fears about the safety of additional American personnel.

"She asked me what was going on and I briefed her on developments. Most of the conversation was about the search for Ambassador Stevens," Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in Libya, told the House oversight committee. "It was also about what we were going to do with our personnel in Benghazi and I told her we would need to evacuate and she said that was the right thing to do."

Haltingly, Hicks recounted "the saddest phone call in my life"_getting word from a Libyan official that Stevens had been killed.

The politically charged hearing on the Sept. 11, 2012 attack is the latest in a long-running and bitter dispute between the administration and congressional Republicans who have challenged the White House's actions before and after the deadly assault, in which when Stevens and three other Americans.

The target of much of the conservative wrath is Clinton, a potential presidential candidate in 2016, who stepped down after four grueling years with very high approval ratings. In her last appearance on Capitol Hill in January, a defiant Clinton took responsibility for the department's missteps leading up to the assault, while rejecting suggestions the administration had tried to mislead the country about the attack.

The witnesses Wednesday were Mark Thompson, acting deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism; Hicks, the former deputy of mission in Libya; and Eric Nordstrom, a former regional security officer in Libya who testified before the panel in October.

Hicks said that shortly after he was told Stevens was dead, unidentified Libyans called Hicks' staff from the phone that had been with Stevens that night. These Libyans said Stevens was with them, and U.S. officials should come fetch the ambassador, Hicks said. Hicks said he believed Stevens' body was at a hospital at that point, but he could not be certain.

"We suspected we were being baited into a trap," Hicks told the committee, so the U.S. personnel did not follow the callers' instructions. "We did not want to send our people into an ambush," Hicks testified.

An independent panel led by former top diplomat Thomas Pickering and retired Gen. Mike Mullen concluded that management and leadership failures at the State Department led to "grossly" inadequate security at the mission. The panel's report singled out the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs.

The report has failed to placate GOP lawmakers, conservatives and outside groups, some of whom contend that Benghazi is comparable to the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals and deserves a more thorough examination. They contend that the Obama administration is covering up information.

Republicans at the hearing focused on the widely debunked talking points used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice five days after the attack in which she said the attacks appeared to be associated with demonstrations in Egype and Libya over an anti-Islam video.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., assailed Rice's televised comments and said they contradicted statements by Libyan leaders and others who called the attacks pre-meditated assaults by terrorists.

Gowdy said Rice's comments "perpetuated a demonstrably false narrative." Hicks, asked his reaction to the Rice's remarks on five Sunday talk shows, said: "I was stunned. My jaw dropped and I was embarrassed."

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Obama taps former lobbyist Wheeler as telecoms regulator

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated venture capitalist and former wireless and cable lobbyist Tom Wheeler to be the top media and telecommunications regulator.

If approved by the Senate, Wheeler would become chairman of the Federal Communications Commission at a time when the agency prepares for a major reshuffling of ownership of radio airwaves and tries to catch up to rapidly changing technology.

"For more than 30 years, Tom's been at the forefront of some of the very dramatic changes that we've seen in the way we communicate and how we live our lives," Obama said of Wheeler, who has advised his administration on telecom policy and helped raise large sums for his presidential campaigns.

"Tom knows this stuff inside and out."

Wheeler, who now chairs the FCC's Technology Advisory Council and invests in tech at Core Capital Partners, headed the National Cable Television Association in the 1980s. From 1992 to 2004 he was CEO of the wireless industry group CTIA.

"If anybody's wondering about Tom's qualifications, Tom is the only member of both the cable television and the wireless industry hall of fame," Obama said of Wheeler, who stood next to the president at the nomination announcement.

Wheeler would succeed current FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who plans to leave for the Aspen Institute think tank in coming weeks. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a senior Democrat on the panel, will take over as acting chairwoman until the Senate confirms Genachowski's replacement.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Speaks at the Millennium Challenge Corporation Forum on Global Development

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. government's Millennium Challenge Corporation is hosting its second-annual Forum on Global Development with top leaders and practitioners in international development to discuss the critical role of foreign assistance.

Who: 

• Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is expected to discuss the importance of foreign aid and its role in U.S. national security and diplomacy
• Senator Patrick Leahy
• Deputy National Security Advisor Michael Froman

Moderated by Frank Sesno, Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University and former CNN Washington bureau chief.

When & Where:

• April 29, 2013, 9:00 AM EST – 11:00 AM EST, at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC.

Press must confirm attendance no later than 6:00 PM April 28 to fontainesa@mcc.gov or (202)499-9581. The event will be live-streamed at http://www.mcc.gov/2013-forum.

What:

MCC will honor four award recipients at the Forum. MCC's Corporate Award will recognize Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Vermont for its commitment to partnering with local NGOs for sustainable community development. The company's projects have focused on diversifying the incomes of coffee roasters, helping advance food security in the communities where it works.

MCC's Country Commitment Award will recognize Sophia Mohapi, CEO of Millennium Challenge Account-Lesotho, for facilitating large-scale partnerships to promote economic growth in Lesotho. Mohapi helped facilitate the Government of Lesotho's commitment to contribute more than $150 million to MCC-funded poverty reduction programs.

D.C. United midfielder Dwayne De Rosario will present MCC's Next Generation Award, recognizing Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman, co-founders of Uncharted Play, for advancing youth leadership and innovation in international development. Uncharted Play's flagship product is the SOCCKET, a soccer ball that stores kinetic energy and provides light for those living off the electrical grid in developing nations.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. Government agency designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.

SOURCE Millennium Challenge Corporation

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AP: Ex-wife says former SC Gov. Sanford trespassed

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford must appear in court two days after running for a vacant congressional seat to answer a complaint that he trespassed at his ex-wife's home, according to court documents acquired by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The complaint says Jenny Sanford confronted Sanford leaving her Sullivans Island home on Feb. 3 by a rear door, using his cell phone for a flashlight. Her attorney filed the complaint the next day and Jenny Sanford confirmed Tuesday the documents are authentic.

The couple's 2010 divorce settlement says neither may enter the other's home without permission. Mark Sanford lives about a 20-minute drive away in downtown Charleston.

Republican Mark Sanford is trying to revive his political career that was derailed by an extramarital affair that ended the couple's marriage. He faces Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch on May 7 as he tries to regain the 1st District congressional seat he held for three terms in the 1990s.

Spokesman Joel Sawyer said the Sanford campaign had no immediate comment on the court documents.

The complaint filed by Jenny Sanford's lawyer, Deena Smith McRackan, said that Mark Sanford has "entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff's property. Plaintiff has informed defendant on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation of the court's order and has demanded that it not occur again."

In Febuary of 2011, McRackan sent a letter to Mark Sanford telling him not to trespass on Jenny Sanford's property. A copy of that letter was also sent to the local police, according to court filings.

Jenny Sanford said Tuesday that she has custody of the couple's four boys.

She said the complaint has nothing to do with her former husband's efforts to rebuild his career in politics. She said it was filed with the court the day after the incident and when a family court judge last month set the case for the docket, it happened to be two days after the election.

"I am doing my best not to get in the way of his race," Jenny Sanford told the AP. "I want him to sink or swim on his own. For the sake of my children I'm trying my best not to get in the way, but he makes things difficult for me when he does things like trespassing."

Sanford is trying to make a comeback after his political career was sidelined in 2009 after confessing an extramarital affair. As a sitting governor, he disappeared from the state for five days only to return and confess to an affair with an Argentine woman, Maria Chapur. He and Jenny Sanford soon divorced and he is now engaged to Chapur who lives in Argentina.

A spokesman for Colbert Busch said that the campaign had no comment on the dispute between the Sanfords.

In December of 2011, there was another complaint against Mark Sanford brought by Jenny Sanford saying he had not made the $5,000 yearly contribution for one of their son's college education. Jenny Sanford said Tuesday that the matter has been resolved but would not comment further.

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Former US Commander in Afghanistan John Allen Hopeful, Realistic About Country's Future

Gen. John Allen, the former commander of international forces in Afghanistan, said Afghan security forces have proven themselves to be more capable than anyone expected, and will be ready to take over securing the country 2014.

"They turned out to be better than we thought. They turned out to be better than they thought," said Allen.

Allen said he generally was hopeful as he sat down at the Brookings Institute today to give his thoughts on the state of Afghanistan and how it might fare after the U.S. draw-down that starts next year.

He credited the progress made by Afghan security forces to developmental strategies as much as building military capacity, citing the push for literacy within Afghan forces. Allen said the literacy program was championed by international forces commanders - Stanley McChrystal, David Petraeus and then himself - and that he expected Gen. Joseph Dunford to continue the program because of its success. Allen said more than half the Afghan troops now have the capacity to read and write at a first grade level.

"We intend ultimately … to not just emphasize the continuation of that program at the basic or entry level," he said, "but to continue to emphasize the continued learning of the Afghan soldiers and police throughout the period of time when they're enlisted so that this becomes not just an initiative which is useful for military or police operations; it's an initiative that has the potential to change society."

Allen added that despite a turbulent 2012 dealing with the fallout of a video that purportedly showed troops urinating on the corpses of suspected Taliban fighters, the furor over the burning of Korans at a U.S. base in Afghanistan, and an increase in insider attacks, the U.S. was still able to accomplish its major goals for Afghanistan this year, completing the draw-down of 23,000 troops brought in during a surge in force levels and continuing to serve as support for the Afghan forces who are increasingly taking the lead in the fighting. He called the achievement "momentous," noting that already in 2013, U.S. troop positions in Afghanistan mostly are serving advisory roles.

But for all the good news, Allen sounded the alarm on some of the issues that could upend progress. His biggest concern he said was not Afghanistan, but the role it's neighbor Pakistan continues to play in securing peace and stability in the region. He described the relationship between Pakistan, Afghanistan and, by extension, the U.S. as "complicated." He said Pakistan doesn't always get enough credit for the counter-terrorism measures it has taken, but acknowledged that not enough is being done to secure the porous border between the two countries where militants are known to cross easily.

"The border area on both sides remains a principle obstacle and potential problems for a downturn of the campaign," he said, alluding to "safe havens" that he said Pakistan needs to crack down on.

The general said it was unrealistic to expect the insurgency to completely end by Jan 1, 2015.

"The fact that the ISAF mission has ended and resolute support is under way as an advisory mission, there's still going to be fighting," said Allen. "And Afghanistan will join a long and distinguished list of countries that will be struggling in a post-conflict environment, where it will have an insurgency in some parts of that country for an extended period of time."

Allen said the measure of success shouldn't be whether there is still a presence of an insurgency, but whether the Afghanistan security forces and police have the capacity to continue to erode and ultimately defeat the insurgency's power base. Allen believes that, with continued support from the U.S. and other international partners, Afghan security forces will be successful.

He said President Karzai's statements criticizing the U.S. are unhelpful to the partnership, but he said the Afghanistan president was in a "complex" position. Calling Karzai's job "the hardest in the world," Allen said that the leader is constantly stuck between serving his domestic constituency and keeping the international community happy.

"He has to balance his rhetoric for the potential for peace," said Allen. "Sometimes, that rhetoric is harsh. And we don't have to agree with it. We don't have to condone it. We don't have to like it. And on those occasions where I've publicly been confronted - in testimony, primarily - with some of his rhetoric, I, in fact, reject it. And I reject comments which would put our troops at risk, that would put his troops at risk."

Referencing the latest controversy over Karzai accusing the U.S. of colluding with the Taliban, Allen joked, "In fact, if the president truly does believe that the U.S. is colluding with the Taliban, I'm here to tell you: I would know, and we ain't and we don't intend to."

The four-star general got personal as he reflected on the end of his 36-year military career, telling the crowd that serving as the commander of international forces in Afghanistan was the greatest honor of his life. He said he thinks every day about the 561 coalition troops who were killed and 5,500 who were wounded in action fighting under his command.

"While we all may have different views of the war and the struggle and the conflict, none of us should have anything other than the utmost respect for these young women and men who have, in some cases, given everything," he said. "And we should never forget that."

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