Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi!

I have had it with hearing about Benghazi. It was awful, tragic, and criminal, but I’m talking about the actual event, of course. Unlike our Republican/Tea Party contingent. Benghazi is, and may always be, too awful, tragic, and criminal to forget about, but they refer to the supposed scandal. They paint President Obama with the brush of failure, corruption, and wickedness even as they fail to look at reality. (What is WITH this reality problem?)

There are other, equally tragic, incidences of American embassies being bombed, American lives being lost, in our not-too-distant past:

• On January, 31, 1968, in Saigan, Vietnam, Viet Cong commandos forced their way onto Embassy grounds, killing 5 U.S. Security forces.
• On April, 18, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, an Islamic Jihad car bomb destroyed the Embassy. 63 souls lost their lives, 17 of them American.
• Also in Beirut, on September 20, 1984, Hezbollah’s car bomb at the U.S. Embassy killed 24.
• Not an embassy, but worthy of mention, is the October 23, 1983, Beirut Barracks Bombings. 229 American and French servicemen were killed when 2 truck bombs struck separate barracks during the Lebanese Civil War.
• August 7, 1998, in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, al-Qaeda attacked 2 U.S. Embassies, killing 224, including 10 Americans.

Diplomatic security has not been fully funded since 2010. Budgetary issues forced a lack of funding outside the hot countries: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Libya received less funding in the form of security upgrades for embassies and consulates. Republicans voted for the budgetary disbursements, and bear responsibility for the lack of security at Benghazi as much as anybody else.

The fact that Republicans now decry President Obama and Hilary Clinton is grotesque, and their continued focus on prolonging the “scandal” is disingenuous. Republicans need to let go of the past, and their past beefs, and try to move on. More important, Republicans would be wise to start dealing in reality. Eventually, even their own constituents will start to see through their duplicity.

image credit thepoliticalcarnival.net