The “blame game” will go around for quite a while. However, in hindsight, here are a few quick points as to why it was quite simple to topple the embassy in the first place as Libya is descending to ‘hell in a handbasket’:
- The embassy was already poorly guarded and without marines.
- America had been warned 48 hours prior to the attack, but chose to do nothing instead.
- Egyptian intelligence sources warned America on September 4th about attacks on embassies, but the US administration still chose to do nothing. This repeats the nonchalant and general recklessness of the previous point.
The film that had angered the population so much was merely an excuse to do what they have long wanted and would’ve eventually done, but it was made easier due to a lack of adequate security.
The bottom line is this:
Regardless of all the finger pointing to come, the current White House administration helped in overturning the previous regime, and now they must own up to the new regime they helped install and all of the consequences as a result. As people would say about the Bush administration, likewise, the Obama administration has done something without thinking of the end result.
The country has been going to hell in a handbasket for months now. We just weren’t paying attention.
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So who is responsible? While the reaction to the online release of an incendiary film viewed as offensive to the Prophet clearly set the stage for Tuesday’s attacks in Libya and Egypt, the attacks in Benghazi, which involved small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, were clearly more than just a mob that got out of control and accidentally burned down the U.S. consulate.
The first impulse of the Libyan government has been to point the finger at holdover Qaddafi-regime sympathizers. That Libya’s new government should blame Qaddafi is understandable given how long they suffered under him and the fact that their authority comes from first defying and then ousting him.
But while these claims are plausible, the evidence for them is thin. They seem more aimed more at keeping the spirit of the revolution alive in hope of distracting from the slow progress in other areas and the government’s own lack of authority.
Full article: Libya’s Downward Spiral (Foreign Policy)
Global Geopolitics 