Rewrite Nov 3^rd

Our favorite economist, Thomas Sowell, has determined that “…having intervened in Libya to help overthrow the government of Muammar Qaddafi, who was no threat to America’s interests in the Middle East, The Obama administration was confronted with the fact  that Qaddafi’s ouster simply threw the country into such chaos that Islamic terrorists were able to operate freely in Libya.”

Mr. Sowell’s avowed point in his column is to call out Hillary Clinton’s change of position on various issues, particularly on the Benghazi affair. To do this he apparently feels compelled to present us with his version of what happened in Libya and how America, and particularly Secretary Clinton, is responsible for all of it. This won’t wash of course.

First of all, l the fall of Qaddafi was part of the “Arab Spring” series of uprisings. This also produced the fall of Mubarak in Egypt which was covered incessantly by our mainstream media. In Egypt the Islamic Party eventually managed to get control of the government as a result of an election. They won over 70 percent of the seats in the Egyptian Parliament. Then, naturally, the army decided that they objected so now there is an unelected General in charge of the government; and if you object to that you’ll get the same treatment you would have received under Mubarak. We continue to support the Egyptian military. I guess none of this is Clinton’s fault.

The same thing happened in Libya but with several differences: The first difference was that NATO, and that also meant the United States, became actively involved in helping the rebels against Qaddafi. Planes from Denmark, France, Britain, Italy and the U.S. were all involved in fighting Qaddafi’s forces. As a result Qaddafi was defeated and killed. We were involved militarily because this was a NATO operation; we were not involved militarily in the overthrow of Mubarak.

Post-Qaddafi the Islamists moved in but there was no effective counterforce; there was no new Libyan strong man to restore order, so order was not restored and as a result four Americans were killed.  This tragedy is obviously the fault of Hillary Clinton…according to Sowell and other  desperate Republicans.

Now, once again, consider Sowell’s assertion that Qaddafi was no threat to the United States. I presume Sowell has never heard of Pan Am Flight 103 It was brought down by a bomb over Lockerbie Scotland killing, altogether, 270 people. Qaddafi later proudly claimed the he arranged for this massacre. Perhaps this might have had something to do with our interest is his removal in spite of Sowell’s contention that “He was no threat to America’s interests in the Middle East.”