What difference at this point does it make?

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes people are thrown under the bus to "protect" the institution.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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At the DiploPundit, a sort of unofficial (and seditious) underground blog for the US Department of State, we have a comment on part of the Benghazi Imbroglio.  Before we proceed, I will state my take on the affair.  Bad things happen in Diplomacy and Ambassador Chris Stevens was out there trying to make good things happen, walking on the edge of the line, when things went south.  This was probably not about him, but about CIA operations out of Benghazi, but he and three others were killed.  The Obama Administration handled the fallout very poorly, including trashing the First Amendment in an attempt to put the blame on some Videographer out of California, a chap with a fifteen minute short.

The State Department ended up firing (demoting) four mid-level administrators, one of whom was career employee Raymond Maxwell.  Mr Maxwell has written a poem about his experience, "Raymond Maxwell:  Former Deputy Ass't Secretary Removed Over Benghazi Pens a Poem".  The lede at the DiploPundit blog post:

In December 2012, the NYT reported that four State Department officials were removed from their posts after an independent panel criticized the “grossly inadequate” security at a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that was attacked on Sept. 11, leading to the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.  According to the report, the four officials “have been placed on administrative leave pending further action” citing the State Department’s spokeswoman as source.

Here is Mr Maxwell's poem:

Invitation
– Posted on April 1, 2013

© Raymond Maxwell

The Queen’s Henchmen
request the pleasure of your company
at a Lynching – to be held
at 23rd and C Streets NW
on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
just past sunset.

Dress: Formal, Masks and Hoods -
the four being lynched
must never know the identities
of their executioners, or what/
whose sin required their sacrifice.

A blood sacrifice –
to divert the hounds -
to appease the gods -
to cleanse our filth and
satisfy our guilty consciences.

Arrive promptly at sunset –
injustice will be swift.
there will be no trial,
no review of evidence,
no due process, and no
accountability.

Dress warmly -
a chilling effect will instantly
envelop Foggy Bottom.
Extrajudicial.
Total impunity.
A kangaroo court in
a banana republic.

B.Y.O.B.
Refreshments will not be served
because of the continuing resolution.

And the ones being lynched?
Who cares? They are pawns in a game.
Our game. All suckers, all fools,
all knaves who volunteered to serve -
Us. And the truth? The truth?
What difference at this point does it make?

In the event of inclement weather,
or the Queen’s incapacitation,
her Henchmen will carry out this lynching -
as ordered, as planned.

* * *

I especially liked the penultimate stanza.

Regards  —  Cliff