First Benghazi sacrifice - Susan Rice

Sure enough, a decent interval after the US election, Ambassador Susan Rice takes the fall for Benghazi. Nominated for the position of Secretary of State, she has withdrawn her nomination after Republican politicians have repeatedly asked pointed questions about her comments on the Benghazi attack:

The move followed weeks of controversy on Capitol Hill over the possibility of her nomination, with Republicans threatening to block Rice from the post over concerns about her September comments on the Libya terror attack. Some lawmakers continue to charge that Rice misled the American people when she said on Sept. 16 that the attack was the result of a "spontaneous" demonstration spun out of control.
President Obama, in a written statement Thursday, called those claims "unfair and misleading" but said he accepts her decision.

There have been the expected polemics about the Republicans being unable to tolerate a woman of colour as Secretary of State, but I think the Obama administration must be quite relieved that Susan Rice has been effective as ablative protection of the administration. No harm done, they can point to Rice's departure as a retort that "action was taken" about Benghazi.

I'd like to think that the US and UK media will press for more information about exactly who failed to send support to the besieged Benghazi consulate and why support was refused. However I expect they will use Rice's withdrawal as an excuse to avoid any further investigation. If you don't want to rock a boat, you don't shift from your seat.