LIMA – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday she takes the blame for any shortcomings in the handling of an attack last month on the US mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi.



“I take responsibility,” she said, according to the news networks CNN and Fox, which interviewed her during a visit to the Peruvian capital Lima.



“I’m in charge of the State Department – 60,000 plus people all over the world, 275 posts,” she said, in a brief excerpt of the CNN interview, in which she absolved President Barack Obama from blame.



“The president and the vice president certainly wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals,” she said.



Obama has come under fire from his critics over the attack, which left four Americans dead, and Clinton’s move will be seen as an attempt to take the heat off him three weeks before he bids for re-election in the November 6 polls.



State Department officials testified at a congressional hearing last week that requests for additional security in Benghazi were turned down by their superiors within Clinton’s department.



Clinton has launched an internal investigation into whether there were any security failures in Benghazi, while the FBI and Libyan authorities have launched criminal investigations into the killings.



But Clinton said the buck stopped with her on security decisions and played down initial communications errors, saying there is always “confusion” in the first hours after an attack.



“The decisions about security are made by security professionals, but we’re going to review everything to be sure we’re doing what needs to be done in an increasingly risky environment,” Clinton said, according to Fox News.



In a joint statement. Republican senators led by John McCain said Clinton’s acceptance of responsibility “is a laudable gesture especially when the White House is trying to avoid any responsibility whatsoever.”



But the statement, also signed by senators Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte, maintained that if Obama knew about earlier attacks on the Benghazi mission “then he bears full responsibility for any security failures that occurred.”



“The security of Americans serving our nation everywhere in the world is ultimately the job of the commander-in-chief. The buck stops there,” the statement added.



Clinton also again defended US officials against charges that they repeatedly changed their story about the events of September 11.



“As time has gone on, that information has changed. We’ve gotten more detail, but that’s not surprising,” she told CNN.



“That always happens, and what I want to avoid is some kind of political gotcha or blame game going on because that does a disservice to the thousands of thousands of Americans, not only in the State Department and USAID but in the military who serve around the world.”



And the top US diplomat said that, while it was her duty to try to protect staff in the field, they must not abandon risky places like Libya. “We can’t not engage,” she said. “We cannot retreat.” – AFP