When the U.S. was preparing for war against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi (remember him?), we wrote, “Neither the U.S. Constitution nor facts on the ground support American military intervention in Libya.” But the neocons drummed President Obama into implementing a “no-fly zone” over the country. As we have pointed out, “The Obama/Clinton team has flipped a match into a high-octane can of gas that will shortly explode in its face, with unpleasant results for Americans.” Then the U.S., along with its NATO allies, armed and supplied the rebels based in Benghazi with the aim of deposing Gaddafi and replacing him with a friendly regime. The allies succeeded, and Gaddafi is no more.
There were reports early and often of connections between Al Qaeda and the Libyan rebellion. Back In 2011, “Blowback” was certainly not a concept unknown to the mainstream, and the idea of blowback from our Libyan exercise should come as no surprise.
Fast-forward a year and a half: The U.S. ambassador to Libya, along with other members of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, has been killed. Al-Qaeda affiliates, armed in all likelihood with NATO-supplied weapons, stormed the U.S. embassy. The ambassador and his staff fled to a safe house in the city, where Al-Qaeda thugs slaughtered them before U.S. commandos could reach them. This entire attack was planned and disguised as a mock protest. Protesters don’t normally show up with AK-47s and RPGs. But the media is intensely focusing on the movie the protest was allegedly targeting, rather than on the violent actions of the terrorists.
There has been information suggesting for some time that American interests in Libya may be attacked to take revenge for the death of an al Qaeda chief, a native Libyan. According to CBS:
Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi, said there had been threats that Islamic militants might try to take revenge for the death of al Qaeda’s No. 2 commander Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in June, and he said the U.S. consulate should have been better protected.
Confirming al-Libi’s death for the first time in a video posted online Monday, al Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri called on Muslims in al-Libi’s native Libya to take revenge for his death.
Perhaps this information was included in one of the intelligence briefings the president has missed during the last week while he was attending fundraisers and getting bear hugs from pizza chefs.
Rather than focusing on the massacre of Americans in a foreign land, the Obama administration has been jabbing Mitt Romney. As National Review points out, “Americans are murdered by Islamists, and sovereign American soil is violated, on the anniversary of September 11, and the first word from the administration to reach the world is an apology.”
When America sticks its nose into the business of other nations, it inevitably asks for retribution. Sometimes, as in the case of Libya, America even arms those seeking retribution. To avoid future foreign entanglements, America would be well served in taking the timeless advice from George Washington in his farewell address: Avoid Foreign Entanglements.