The Benghazi Situation

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In order to determine whether the Obama Administration's handling of the Benghazi situation was incompetent or immoral, we must first examine the situation and the Obama Administration's handling of that situation. On the eleventh anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, a mob of angry protestors had gathered outside the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. The cause of the protest was a cheaply made YouTube video entitled "Innocence of Muslims," an anti-muslim movie trailer. Angry protestors eventually began an assault on the building, where the American Ambassador to Libya and several others were killed. Less than seventeen minutes after the attacks began, surveillance drones were directed to the area. About forty minutes later,…show more content…
They were eventually authorized to engage the enemy anyway. Hilary Clinton, the Secretary of State, took responsibility for the fact that the attacks happened in the first place, saying that she was responsible for her sixty-plus thousand personnel worldwide, and that any decisions made that led to the security holes were ultimately her fault. A comprehensive list of Obama Administration comments concerning the Benghazi attacks is available from CNN; the list is full of denouncement and implications that the attacks were indeed acts of terror, as should be expected from a United States…show more content…
Action was taken promptly, and surveillance and security was sent in as quickly as possible. Americans were evacuated from the area, and it seems like no second was spared to take care of the situation as efficiently as possible. There were actions taken that were less than ideal -- for instance, the denial of extra security (those specific security forces were denied entering the fray because they were not equipped to handle the situation, but eventually engaged the enemy anyway) -- but, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. With any unforeseen terrorist attack, quick decisions must be made. Whether or not every decision is the absolute most efficient in hindsight is irrelevant. When we step back and look at the way the administration handled this, we are left with an unremarkable picture. The only remarkable thing about the situation is how long the unnecessary "controversy" has continued, and just how long our politicians are willing to draw it out for political gain. Though ultimately, it may have been lax security which enabled the attacks to take place AND some statements may have been made prematurely (in particular, Clinton's remark about the YouTube video) the administration's actions were in no way immoral or
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