In the Arena

The Last Word on Benghazi

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Certain Republicans–the neo-conservative war hawk faction–have spent the past year or so trying to blow the tragic deaths at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, into a scandal of some sort.

These have been ludicrous in the extreme. John McCain compared the episode to Watergate. But a recent extensive report in the NY Times found no organized attempt by Al Qaeda to attack the consulate. And now we have this, from the latest budget deal:

Despite the concern over security after the 2012 attack on the United States Mission in Benghazi, Libya, the spending bill earmarks less to embassy security, construction and maintenance than it allotted for fiscal 2013 — $2.67 billion, down by $224 million.

I mean, if the neoconservatives are so concerned about the safety of U.S. diplomats, why don’t they put their money where their mouths are? The Benghazi tragedy should have led to a serious conversation about embassy security, and how much risk U.S. diplomats should be allowed to take in order to be part of the communities where they’re serving. But, as usual, we’ve had the Big Bellow from Fox and friends…which adds up to precisely nothing, except a smokescreen.