Presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden has reportedly decided on his VP pick. It may be announced as early as later today. Biden’s long insisted he was going to pick a woman of color to be his running mate. That’s not the whole truth of it. The nation is filled with honorable and accomplished women of color. Biden’s nominee needed two additional qualities for Democrats to let her on the ticket:

1. She needs to be a progressive eager to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America
2. She needs to be willing to say or do anything to gain or keep power.

And on both counts, Susan Rice and Kamala Harris fit like a pair of bicycle shorts. We’re taking a look at the two alleged finalists. You can read our account of Sen. Kamala Harris here. Today let’s examine former National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

An Indelible Image

Any discussion of Susan Rice cannot begin, cannot continue and cannot conclude without this man’s stricken face burned in our minds.

That is murdered U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. On Sunday, September 11, 2012 — on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — al-Qaeda allied forces unleashed a coordinated military-style terrorist attack. The target? Our diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. For 13 hours, a battle raged, with two waves of assaults on the compound and nearby CIA annex. By the time it was over — with little help from the Obama Defense Department — four Americans were dead. CIA operatives Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, information officer Sean Smith and Ambassador Stevens.

Stevens was the first ambassador killed in an attack since 1979. He was dragged through the streets. Unconfirmed reports suggested his body was violated, like the body of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi months before. 

U.S. officials knew very quickly the Benghazi was an organized terrorist attack.

1. Sean Smith knew something dangerous was set to go down. He learned that from the movements of the local Islamist group Hillary hired to help provide security. He wrote to fellow gamers hours before the attack, “Assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.” He had told his mother as well about the picture-taking and had reported it.
2. The CIA contractors involved in the battle knew they were facing a coordinated, sophisticated military operation. That the supposedly secret CIA annex had been compromised.
3. As the attack unfolded, “DOD officials believed the Benghazi attacks to be terrorist-imposed, rather than a ‘protest gone awry.'” So says a House Armed Services Committee Report.
4. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emailed her daughter the night of the Benghazi attack, pinning the attack on an “Al Qaeda-like group.” 
5. Within 24 hours, FBI specialists had concluded Benghazi was a terrorist attack. But the brass didn’t want to admit that. As The Hill reported in 2017, an FBI supervisor told then-congressman Ron DeSantis then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe gave marching orders. Agents were not to report the Benghazi attack as an act of terrorism to other intelligence agencies. The supervisor was concerned. After all, “his unit had gathered incontrovertible evidence showing a major Al Qaeda figure had directed the attack and the information had already been briefed to President Obama.”

And yet, a full week after the fact — after being coached by the White House — then-UN Ambassador Susan Rice went on five national Sunday morning shows. She told America that the incident was a spontaneous riot. It was sparked by a video mocking Mohammed. A crude, cheesy video hardly anybody had seen.  

Rice flat out lied to the American people. Told an unimaginably outrageous and grotesque lie. One that White House staffers joked about in newly uncovered emails. One that should still turn the stomach of every patriotic American. One that should immediately disqualify her for public office. Obama didn’t punish that lie. He rewarded it, and her loyalty, promoting her to National Security Adviser. 

And today Joe Biden is seriously considering promoting her as the next Vice President of the United States. 

Why Lie?

When considering Rice’s fitness for the Oval Office, we have to ask “Why did she lie?”

1. She was being obedient to Obama. Someone had to go out and pitch the fiction concocted by Obama strategist Ben Rhodes. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who should have been the one speaking the Sunday after an ambassador’s assassination, refused. (Hillary’s no dummy.) National Security Adviser Tom Donilon also refused. But Rice? Rice was willing do what was necessary to protect Obama.
2. It was two months before the 2012 election. Obama had been running around the country crowing, “Bin Laden’s dead, Al-Qaeda’s on the run.” Having another al-Qaeda-connected attack on the 9/11 anniversary? Even Mitt Romney could have had a field day with that fact. 
3. Obama, Clinton and Rice had to pin Benghazi on an unruly spontaneous mob. They could not draw attention to the people they were doing business with in Libya. The very people they’d helped to overthrow Gadhafi. The people they’d armed. Al Qaeda.

The Obama Administration had teamed with radical Islamists in Libya to overthrow the longtime dictator. They were now teaming with Turkey and radical Islamists in Syria to overthrow President Assad. (What was Stevens doing in Benghazi? The best evidence says he was trying to collect weapons Hillary had supplied the Libyans to smuggle over to Syria. Interestingly, just weeks before the 2016 election, the federal government dropped charges against arms dealer Mark Turi. Turi was threatening to reveal Clinton’s role in his sale of weapons to Libyan rebels. But back to 2012 … . )

It is one thing if al-Qaeda or like-minded jihadists successfully conducted an attack against Americans. That’s bad before an election, but America voters are smart. They understand stuff happens. You can’t stop terrorists all the time. However, if it was known two months before the 2012 election that Obama had been partnering with al-Qaeda connected jihadists?! Hello, President Romney. 

There’s one more point to consider. Even if you still refuse to acknowledge the horror of Benghazi. If you want to dismiss what I’ve written as “conspiracy theory.” Or you want to echo Hillary’s infamous, “What difference, at this point, does it make?” Consider this: Susan Rice was part of the team that took part in and celebrated the overthrow of the Libyan government. Libya has since been in chaos. On policy grounds alone, it was a disaster. So much for judgment. But this gets worse.

We’ve been hearing a lot in recent months about the evils of slavery. We are punishing people long dead for an evil we ended in this country 150 years ago. Today, amid the chaos Rice helped unleash in Libya, human slavery has returned there. Captured African migrants are bought and sold in the harsh heat after her Arab Spring. Will there be any consequence for Rice? Or will we have to wait 150 years before changing the names of schools named after President Susan Rice?

Note: There is so much more to say about Rice, including her role in Russiagate. But that’s for another time. 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream and co-author, with @JZmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl. And if you aren’t already, please follow The Stream at @Streamdotorg.