Clinton Calls Benghazi Her ‘Biggest Regret’ as Secretary

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday called the deadly attack on the United States mission in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 her “biggest regret” in the four years she served as secretary of state.

“It was a terrible tragedy losing four Americans — two diplomats and now it is public so I can say two C.I.A. operatives,” Mrs. Clinton said during remarks at the National Auto Dealers Association convention in New Orleans. “You make these choices based on imperfect information.”

Mrs. Clinton then added, “But that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be unforeseen consequences, unpredictable twists and turns.”

The remarks, delivered a year after she testified about the attack before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, represent some of Mrs. Clinton’s most candid about the matter. They come as both critics and supporters race to define her tenure at the State Department. Mrs. Clinton left her post last February and is completing a memoir about her time as the nation’s top diplomat that is due out this summer.

Mrs. Clinton’s handling of the attack in Benghazi and its aftermath have set off a fiercely partisan debate and remain the most contentious aspect of her tenure as a member of President Obama’s cabinet.

Republicans have accused the Obama administration of misleading the public about links between Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed four Americans, including J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador to Libya. Republicans have said that security was lax at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

Such criticism has prompted Mrs. Clinton’s supporters to fire back, with the hopes of squelching — or at least tempering — the issue should she decide to run for president again in 2016. David Brock, a Clinton supporter who founded Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group, recently published “The Benghazi Hoax,” an e-book that rebuffs attacks on Mrs. Clinton’s actions.

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