Writing at the Week, Michael Brendan Dougherty is puzzled as to why Republicans and journalists haven’t hit Hillary Clinton on this one key issue- the transformation of Libya into a terrorist playground:
Just 350 miles from the tiny European member state Malta, ISIS has set up a colony in Surt, Libya. This Libyan outpost is now receiving veteran fighters and administrators from the burgeoning theocratic blob that has spread across Syria and Iraq. It is from this redoubt in Surt that the Islamic State can project power across North Africa, according to an in-depth report from The New York Times.
Now that we’ve seen the Islamic State lash out on European soil, the prospect of them establishing a statelet 400 miles from Italy should give us pause. How did they get there? How was Surt made ready to be the Islamic State’s caliphate away from the caliphate?
Look no further than the woman most likely to become our next president, Hillary Clinton. Using American power to help overthrow Moammar Gadhafi’s government was her signature idea as secretary of state. Surely, the Arab Spring rebels would handle the mop up. Alas, it didn’t turn out that way.
However, beyond a tut-tutting tweet from Jeb Bush, don’t expect any of Clinton’s 2016 rivals for high office to criticize her for it. The Republican Party is now congenitally unable to criticize the result of a war without promising to double — nay, Supersize — its awful consequences. And socialist hero Bernie Sanders is too busy beating on the billionaires to take much notice of violent extremism. His plan to stop the spread of terrorism is to cool the planet.
Only Donald Trump and Rand Paul saw fit to ask any questions about the wisdom of Middle Eastern intervention without congressional authorization. Many candidates, like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, would like to keep that authority, despite traditional constitutional limitations. This leaves them unfit to assault Hillary on perhaps her greatest failure, and that’s a shame.
AAN Staff
The staff at American Action News are consummate professionals, who when not producing original, hard-hitting content, are scouring the internet to bring you the unfiltered news that matters to you! Our mission is to maximize your experience on our website. If we can ever be of assistance, please do not hesitate to let us know!
