Sunday, August 11, 2013

Benghazi Fever Responsible for Latest Embassy Closings

Images of 2012 Attack on Benghazi, Libya Consulate from Aug 2013 New Yorker

The GOP led by Darrell Issa, which had played Watergate 2.0 over some ATF decisions among staff in Arizona, used the attack on the Libyan Consulate in Benghazi to start Watergate 3.0, making wild claims and allegations with no evidence other than insinuations from right wing media.

Esteemed Middle East Analyst Juan Cole says GOP over-reaction after the Benghazi Attacks led to the closings this month in the Middle East which has harmed the image of the United States in the world.

the GOP is inadvertently pushing the US into a posture of dangerous diplomatic weakness.  This weakness is clear in the unprecedented closing of 21 US embassies in the Middle East this weekend because of a vague terrorist threat apparently emanating from “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” based in Yemen. The Obama administration most likely took this weird step to insulate itself from any further witch hunts of the sort the Republicans launched over the tragic attack on a CIA safe house doubling as a US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2011.  
(I would never attempt to correct Mr. Cole a well recognized expert on the Middle East and events there, but my memory and a Google search agrees the attack took place in 2012. That must not diminish what he has said.  He was superior in his insight as to any success the United States would have in finding any program to develop WMDs or evidence of any useful examples of such items in Iraq from before any troops, or even inspectors stepped foot on their sovereign soil.)