The Benghazi Hearings 10-26-2015

26, October 2015                    The Benghazi Hearings

So fixated were the GOP Republications on inflicting damage on front-runner Hillary Clinton, they completely missed an important opportunity to uncover the real reasons behind the US bombing raids on Libya. Melvin Goodman, former CIA and State Department analyst, reflected wryly "What was learned was irrelevant, and what was relevant wasn’t discussed."

For example, why was Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi? Why were CIA officials trying to buy-back weapons that we had previously given to Gaddafi? Why were we trying to bring about yet another regime change after our abject failure in Iraq? Why was Clinton not challenged when she boasted “We came, we saw, he died" – a hasty decision which plunged the country into utter chaos. Why did we deliberately mislead the Russians claiming that our mission was limited? Was it to discourage Russia from using its veto power to block the invasion of Libya? Why was the State Department operating a transitional mission facility, in Benghazi when all other embassies and NGO’s had withdrawn their staff?

It seems we have learned little from past foreign policy blunders? A cardinal rule - NEVER launch military power on unstable regimes; pouring gasoline onto a raging conflagration is certain to make matters worse. Examples, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, gave rise to Hezbollah. Arming the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the 1980s, gave rise to the Haqqani faction, the Hekmatyar group, and al-Qaeda. Our invasion of Iraq precipitated the Sunni Awakening and the Islamic State.

In 2012, using Bush’s Iraq invasion playbook, ignoring constitutional authority, we bombed Libya and destroyed their army and obliterated their police stations. Devoid of any civil authority, armed brigades launched a reign of terror on the defenseless population; Al-Qaeda soon expanded its presence giving rise to even greater chaos.

Yes, Gaddafi was a brutal thug, but it often takes a thuggish leader to hold the nation together. Hillary Clinton and her boss President Barrack Obama must accept responsibly for the chaos in the wake of Gaddafi’s death. This is sure to be an indelible stain on Obama’s legacy.

Hillary Clinton has two strikes against her – support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Gaddafi. This should be enough to disqualify her for seeking the presidency.