Why no one has been right about Libya

This post originally appeared on Slate.

It has been more than a month since the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and no one has gotten the Libya question right. Not the president, not Mitt Romney. The most recent blunder was Romney's decision to attack President Obama during the last debate for not declaring the attacks in Benghazi "an act of terror." This has set off a heated argument about the difference between an "act of terror" and "terrorism."

Conventional wisdom seems to be that the president is winning that debate--which may explain why Romney has gone quiet on Libya since he walked out of the auditorium at Hofstra University. Romney charged that Obama had not used the words "act of terror," when in fact the president clearly had in his statement from the Rose Garden on Sept. 12. But Romney's loss wasn't clarity's gain. Indeed, the president is clinging to his Rose Garden transcript specifically with the intent of obfuscating his administration's fuzzy evolution on what happened and why.

Play Video

Second presidential debate: Libya

The third presidential debate is to be devoted to national security and foreign policy, which should be the most important debate if you are serious about what a president actually does in office. A president holds more personal power to shape foreign affairs than he does domestic affairs. President Obama personally approves every action taken against those on a "kill list" of suspected terrorists. Despite his campaign rhetoric about engaging Iran, he embraced President George W. Bush's covert cyber operation against Iran's nuclear program, as David Sanger outlines in his book Confront and Conceal.

So for the next debate we should get into big questions: What is the biggest crisis you've faced? How do you define the national interest? What is a sufficient justification for military action? What theory of human rights will determine the decisions you make about the use of drones? What is the greatest foreign policy threat facing the United States?

Play Video

Obama to Jon Stewart: Consulate attack response "not optimal"

Right now, the conversation is headed in the opposite direction. We are going small bore on Libya, delving into the tiniest questions and definitions of what happened there during a few hours one day in September. We're certain to get even smaller as Republicans seize on the president's comments to Jon Stewart: "If four Americans get killed it is not optimal." (True dat, Spock)

• Obama to Jon Stewart: Benghazi response "not optimal"
• Fact-checking the second presidential debate

Mitt Romney started the push to the picayune. He reacted prematurely after the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, asserting that a press release from the U.S. embassy in Cairo had been a drastic sign of U.S. weakness. The instinct to condemn the whole of U.S. foreign policy based on a one-paragraph statement is what you want to do as a politician. But it is the opposite of what the statesman wishes to project. Doing so, especially during a crisis, is a warning to voters, a suggestion that this person is not serious. In matters of foreign policy, a person playing the small game often doesn't appear to have the prudence, wisdom, and judgment that the job requires.

That was Barack Obama's argument against Mitt Romney. Presidents don't rush in to score political points in a crisis. That's a style point, and style is part of diplomacy. But prudence is also a part of foreign policy. Perhaps the prudent political thing was to move quickly to hurt Obama, but the prudent move of a statesman is to think and consider. Presidents know that initial reports are almost always wrong.

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[JustABlogger98]

This is another fine example of the "media" playing distraction for the Obama administration. Instead of digging into what happened with Benghazi, they instead focus (falsely) on what Obama versus Romney said. Remember CBS, we can live without your programming and will. You laugh as you say you are already part of the cable lineup? Laugh's on you. Cable can be purchased ala carte now. I refuse to support a network who fails in their duty to inform the public of the facts rather than push their opinions and agenda.

[jaggal]

Mr. Dickerson, you should be ashamed calling yourself a reporter. You know damn well that Mr. O did not call the attack in Benghazi a terrorist attack! You are a lame leftist and a communist! Just like our current pres., you would prostitute yourself to get a story, rather than tell the truth to the American people. That is why Mr. O is going down in flames, along with all of you in MSM who call yourself reporters!

[eroteme2]

No one has been right about Libya? Wrong. Myself and countless others were sure it was a terrorist attack when it happened on 9/11. It should not come as a surprise if a future attack occurs on 9/11 but the same experts will most likely again scratch their heads wondering if it might be a terrorist attack.

[Gary___K]

The statement in this article indicates that the President was right about calling the attack in Libya Terrorism. IF you look at the text of the September 12th Rose Garden speech it is clear that the statement about terrorism is totally apart from the happenings in Libya. What the President was referring to, by mentioning terrorism and our country not allowing it, was September 11th, 2001 attack on New York and Washington. So those who know do know that Mitt Romney was not wrong but right and the President didn't call the Libya attack Terror on Sept 12th nor weeks afterwards. There was a concerted effort on all Administration officials and employees to start and build up a coverup. This coverup and events make Watergate pale in comparison yet you don't hear or see our media outlets doing their jobs in getting to the root of the coverup.

[Golfimbul]

You're wrong. The entire Sep. 12 speech was about the Benghazi attack the previous day. And this is the paragraph in question:

"No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done."

It's obvious that "this terrible act" that led us to "mourn four more Americans" is one of the "acts of terror" in the first sentence.

[dcunning30]

We were right when we noticed Susan Rice roped Obama into a war we had no business in.

We were right when we noticed Obama violated the War Powers Act over Libya.

We were right when we said Qadafhi was a contained enemy, Al Qaeda was involved with the Libyan Rebels, therefore an uncontained enemy with much uinknown.

We were right when we saw a fools errand when Obama began siding with and supporting the Libyan Rebels, who had Al Qaeda amongst them.

We were right when we saw the collapse and destabalization of Libya after Obama's adventures over there. BTW, where are the missing man-portable SAMs?

WE WERE RIGHT FROM DAY 1. BUT NOBODY WAS LISTENING!

[chevyhotrod]

Rafterman11 replies: The GOP cut the diplomatic security budget. Ask Mr. Boehner


I see Raferman has his talking points down.....lol

US rage as Clinton opts for Swedish crystal Published: 16 Mar 10 10:11 CET


Swedish glass maker Orrefors Kosta Boda has landed a $5.4 million contract to supply fine crystal stemware to US embassies worldwide.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department handed the multi-million dollar contract to a small Washington DC-based firm who in turn brought in Orrefors, one of Sweden's best-known brands.

The items are to be embellished with the seal of the United States and used for functions at 400 embassies and ambassadors' residences worldwide.

contract should have gone to an American firm.

"Hillary Clinton's State Department is spending $5.4 million to buy fine crystal stemware for American embassies - but it won't give the US economy much of a boost," the New York Post tabloid reported on Monday.

Politicians have also expressed concern over sending the prestigious contract overseas while unemployment remains high in the US.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a9d_1269206839

[dcunning30]

Many of us were dead-on right about Libya from day 1. (no pun intended) But the mainstream media was far too sofisticated to listen to a bunch of Tea Party conservatives.

....makes me angry!

[daveg426]

My condolences to the Stevens family and all that knew him, I find it hard to believe that he would appreciate this situation being politicized but apparently Romney and the entire republican party know no shame. All the more reason the entire Republican ticket needs to be defeated. Ambassador Stevens was well aware of his surroundings and made a decision to stay in Benghazi, this was an unfortunate error on his part. It was well within his authority to remove himself and his staff from Benghazi and relocate to the Embasy in Tripoli until the security needs were worked out. Perhaps congressman Issa would also like to investigate the murder of diplomat Foley in 2002 or the events leading up to 9/11/01. There was plenty of intelligence prior to each of these events that was not acted on, this occured under the Bush administartion and the democratic party did not politicize either event. They united as one, and did what they believed was best for the country - TO ALL THE REPUBLICANS OUT THERE, SHOW ME ONE THING IN THE LAST 4 YEARS THAT YOUR PARTY HAS DONE TO MAKE THIS PRESIDENT A SUCCESS - YOUR SILENCE IS DEAFENING!

[Grecos68]

The POTUS, according to his account, stood in the Rose Garden and said terrorist had just attacked our diplomats. His next move was to get on a plane and fly to Las Vegas for a fundraiser.

The POTUS enjoyed a super majority for two years. If he had lead and not given his power to Pelosi we might be seeing results from his actions. Instead we are no better off than we were when he took office. I'm sorry, we are 5 trillion more in debt and still have a massive number of Americans out of work.

His time is over.

[middlechamber]

Before you ask what has any republican done, answer this. After Obama took office he said in many a statement... President Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning - but he also left no doubt about who's in charge of these negotiations. "I won," Obama noted matter-of-factly.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17862.html

This has been his tack from day 1. He had cotrol of the house and the senate for 2 years but didn't do a thing except cram bogus bills down the throats of Americans, to bail out the unions in the auto industry, not the industry but the UNION PENSIONS. He hasn't don't a thing to keep a watchful eye on all the waste and abuse of all that stimulus money as he promised.
http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/obama-jobs-speech-september-8-2011-joint-session-of-congress-more-shovel-ready-jobs-more-obama-promises-more-obama-spending/.
Do you want me to keep going? I can list all the waste and abuse, that mount into hundreds of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
As far as Benghazi is concerned OBAMA KILLED THOS PEOPLE BY HIS LACK OF LEADERSHIP. NOT TAKING DAILY BRIEFINGS BUT INSTEAD PLAYING GOLF, GOING TO FUND RAISING EVENTS ETC ETC

[GumpChun]

A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for war.

The one who needs to do further study and come clean is not Obama, but the supine and lazy press like Mr Dickerson, who can't seem to actually read or understand this total non-issue to any degree fo accuracy or sophistication.

Mr Obama referred to terrorist acts in relation to MULTIPLE ATTACKS going on in that period. From Cairo to Yemen, and HE WAS INDEED REFERRING TO LIBYA. Stop parroting GOP lies and recall what was happeing,

NOBODY knew exactly what happened, and they STILL DON'T. The attack was clearly linked to the anti-Muslim video, it was no coincidence in timing. And initial CIA reports said it looked to be a crowd or protest began it. And that may STILL BE TRUE. In addition the White House, including Ms. Rice, said that the reports WERE PRELIMINARY AND MIGHT CHANGE.

David Ignatius says the CIA is fully backing up the White House on what was advised to the President and his staff. And that the investigation has not determined if it was purely a terror attack or had some protest element.

The problem was security, NOT the story

So there is no attempt by the White House "mislead." This is a GOP lie, and exactly the kind of hack reporting and poodle following Mr Dickerson should be proudly refusing to do.

Do your homework FULLY Mr. Dickerson. Please stop being a tool.

[chevyhotrod]

It had nothing to do with a video, which is lie.

It had everything to do with the anniversary of 9-11.

Your lies will be met with truth.

[Dontbeblind]

Don't you feel like an idiot parrot? Read the emails and look at the timeline. Now we know Obama was not being honest with the American people.
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Benghazi_alerts.pdf

[D1DURE]

TITANSURFER7
What do you call the Ft Hood massacre?
13 of our citizen/military personal died at the hands of an Islamic terrorist.