New Hillary Clinton Emails Show She Wanted Credit for Libya Intervention in 2011. Now She Doesn’t.

[think]

New Hillary Clinton Emails Show She Wanted Credit for Libya Intervention in 2011. Now She Doesn’t.

BY BRANKO MARCETIC - NOVEMBER 11, 2015

Now that Libya has descended into chaos, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is at pains to dispel the notion that, as secretary of state, she led the U.S. intervention that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Yet the latest tranche of emails from Clinton’s private server, released by the State Department on October 30, shows there’s one individual who would strongly object to those efforts: the Hillary Clinton of 2011 and 2012.

A report in June by the New York Times revealed that in August 2011, Clinton’s advisors had urged her to take credit for what was then seen as a military success in Libya. Now, the newly released emails show that the former secretary of state was herself intent on emphasizing her key role in the affair—and that her team used cozy relationships with the media to help her do so.

~Snip~

Furthermore, over the last few years, Clinton has tended to lay the decision to go into Libya squarely at Obama’s feet. Clinton says in her memoir that “the president decided to move forward with drawing up military plans and securing a UN Security Council resolution,” rhetorically removing herself from the equation. Likewise, in response to a question by Peter Roskam (R-IL) during the latest Benghazi hearing about whether she “persuaded President Obama to intervene militarily” in Libya, Clinton stressed that “there were many in the State Department” in favor of intervention, and pointedly stated that, “at the end of the day, this was the president’s decision.”

Yet the timeline produced by Clinton’s own team calls her “a leading voice for strong UNSC action and a NATO civilian protection mission” and has her securing “Russian abstention and Portuguese and African support for UNSC 1973 [which authorized a no-fly zone over Libya], ensuring that it passes.” Moreover, the Post article that Clinton’s aides helped influence paints her as the deciding factor in Obama’s decision to intervene. “The president,” the article states, “who had been weighing arguments from a sharply divided Cabinet for several days, sided with his secretary of state,” who had become a “strong advocate” for intervention by the time she spoke with Obama on March 15, according to an anonymous “administration official.”

Read more:
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18592/new-clinton-emails-expose-collaboration-with-media-on-benghazi-coverag1

[peacebird]

1. "We came, we saw, he died" wants to distance herself from her triumphant laughter?

Gosh, thought she was so proud of that killing, it proved her strength and leadership....

Guess now that the exciting slaughter is over, and the crows have come home to roost showing that there are consequences, NOW she is not so anxious to take credit....

[orpupilofnature57]

3. She refered to Wallstreet as Us .

[peacebird]

5. WallStreet may be Her, but it sure is not us.

[tex-wyo-dem]

25. As the weathervane spins...Nt

[MaggieD]

2. Where did she say she didn't want credit?

This article claims that, but anyone who watched the debates knows that is bullshit.

[RobertEarl]

9. To be clear... she can take credit?

Let it be known that H> does take credit for the Libya military intervention.

Are you willing to concede the point that H> is largely responsible for that military action? Yes, or no?

[MaggieD]

10. Well I'm sure Obama made the decision but she has not said anything....

Like this bullshit story claims. Why lie and smear?

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/561db1c3e4b050c6c4a35cbb

[RobertEarl]

12. Duck and shmuck from the Maggie?

Yes or no, M. Does the Truth hurt so bad you feel you have to duck and shmuck a simple question?

[MaggieD]

18. Read the link - her own words

Why are you so afraid of the truth?

[frylock]

4. Fascinating.

Another evolution!

[leftofcool]

6. Blah, blah, blah, more crappola Benghazi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[think]

7. No. Not Benghazi. Libya and SoS Clinton's demand for credit in taking Gaddafi out.

Completely different subject if you actually read the article.

[peacebird]

8. But its easier to attempt to deflect and claim it was blah blah benghazi than admit the truth

I find some of her true believer get angry when we post videos of her saying something inconvenient for them as well....

[MaggieD]

11. She deserves credit

What is with this left wing extremist crap supportng a brutal dictator who killed so many people, including Americans????

You guys have jumped the shark on this one.

[RobertEarl]

13. Libya is destroyed.

Glad to see you give credit to H> for doing her part in the destruction and ruining the lives of so many. So many that they are now taking refuge in Europe. Way to go H>.

She should just go away. The world would be more peaceful almost immediately.

[think]

15. She does deserve credit for destabilizing Libya & turning it into a major terrorist haven.

Libya Rank On Global Terrorism Index Increases Amid Escalating Violence In Benghazi, Tripoli

By Erin Banco - November 26 2014

Libya is now the 15th country in the world most plagued by terrorism, up nine places since 2012, according to a report published last week by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent research organization known for its Global Peace Index reports. The report published by the organization is based on data from 2013. In 2011, before the civil war began that led to the downfall and murder of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Libya was ranked 90th on the index.

Source:
http://www.ibtimes.com/libya-rank-global-terrorism-index-increases-amid-escalating-violence-benghazi-tripoli-1729873

Chapter 5: Terrorist Safe Havens (Update to 7120 Report)

~Snip~

Libya. With a weak government possessing very few tools to exert control throughout its territory, Libya has become a terrorist safe haven and its transit routes are used by various terrorist groups, notably in the southwest and northeast. The General National Congress has tried to tackle the lawlessness of the southern region by temporarily closing – at least officially – the country’s southern border, and declaring large swaths of area (west from Ghadames, Ghat, Ubari, Sebha, Murzuq, and across a 620 miles off-road east to Kufra) as closed military zones to be administered under emergency law. In reality, however, Libya’s weak and under-resourced institutions have had little influence in that region, and have failed to implement this vague decree, as is evident from frequent ethnic clashes in the area. Instead, tribes and militias continue to control the area, and traders, smugglers, and terrorists continue to utilize ancient trade routes across these borders. All of Libya’s borders are porous and vulnerable to this activity, and the United States is working closely with the EU Border Assistance Mission to help the government mitigate these threats.

The Libyan government recognizes the gravity of the threats emanating from its borders, and is willing to work with the international community to overcome its inability to tackle these problems itself. In 2013, the United States signed an agreement with the Libyan government to cooperate on destroying Libya’s stockpile of legacy chemical weapons in accordance with its obligations as an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) member state. Libya successfully completed operations for the disposal of its remaining mustard gas filled in artillery projectile and aerial bombs in January 2014. Libya also previously completed the disposal of its remaining bulk mustard in 2013. There also have been reports of thousands of barrels of yellowcake uranium, a foundational material for nuclear enrichment, precariously secured in a former military facility near Sebha in Libya’s south. Although representing limited risk of trafficking due to the bulk and weight of the storage containers, Libya agreed to host an assessment team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to survey the stockpile in early 2014.

~Snip~

Source:
http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/224828.htm

[MaggieD]

23. OMG - you hate HRC so much you will defend

.... A murderous dictator. SMH.

[tex-wyo-dem]

26. Careful...

Murderous dictators can cause a lot of suffering and death among their people, but as we've learned in Iraq, Libya and dozens of other places around the world over the years, removing them can cause a whole new level of suffering and death.

[That Guy 888]

39. Did killing saddam hussein make Iraq a better safer nation?

Saying it's much, much worse for the majority of Iraqis doesn't mean your defending saddam.

[KoKo]

35. ...!

[AlbertCat]

31. supportng a brutal dictator

Oh please.

Nobody is "supporting" him.


Can Hillary supporters simply not stop going off the deep end? It's like some cult!


Was Obama "supporting" Gaddafi when he had doubts?...until his SoS allayed them?

[Rose Siding]

16. Could you point me to any "demand" in that article

Thanks.

I'm just seeing her want to have as detailed a record of her activities as possible. That's a good thing for a SoS, right?

[plus5mace]

17. 12000+ posts and each one a gem.

Protip: Sew the shirt to the pants and the pant legs closed the next time you build a strawman. Otherwise you'll keep getting straw everywhere.

[AtomicKitten]

14. She's a neoliberal hawk and a narcissist.

If it wasn't so scary it would be hilarious.

[bahrbearian]

19. Well, at least she made Obama take out Osama.

[The_Casual_Observer]

20. Back then DU was all for that intervention too.

So was NATO, NPR ....

They were all wrong, it wouldn't be the first time. Hillary doesn't make a habit of saying she made a mistake, but neither does anybody else in Washington.

[ozone_man]

22. DU wasn't for intervention in Libya or Iraq.

At least not members capable of critical thinking. I think a leader should be capable of critical thinking, and making correct and moral decisions, like Bernie Sanders did.

[The_Casual_Observer]

37. You were branded a monster around here if you said the Libya deal was a mistake

This is a fact.

[joshcryer]

41. That is total BS.

I was one of the handful of Libyan supporters then and I got shit on daily for it. Daily. I still get shit on regularly for it (see the post you replied to calling me "not capable of critical thinking&quot .

I did weekly reports on the Civl War, the most neutral news you could find anywhere, and I got real life death threats, mocked on other sites by DUers, and my threads which required several hours a day of input never got more than a handful of recs.

Your post is pure revisionism.

DU has never supported the Libyan people. They are just a soccer ball to be kicked around whenever people want to claim they were right or wrong about something. And every time their agency is reduced to racial stereotypes of barbarism.

[The_Casual_Observer]

42. The Libyans were certainly kicked around by the "supporters"

DUers and Kelly McEvers on NPR, who gave breathless reports every day about the heroic freedom fighters don't have the slightest idea of what's going on there anymore.

[joshcryer]

44. I keep in touch regularly.

And I do know what is going on over there. You have a few roaming bands of assholes numbering in the hundreds who try to take shit every now and again. You have two sections of the country governed by two different groups, like before the colonials divvied up the country. And you have Misrata, the most abused city in the Civil War, being a hotbed for radical islamists.

You get a report every week by some armchair analyst who says Libya is a shithole and that it's ungoverned, you get another report every week about how the whole continent is going to shit, and then people on forums throw the Libyan people under the bus.

Just like the people saying ISIS is dominating Iraq, when coalitions of Kurds, Arabs, Muslims, Yazidis, and Christians are kicking their fucking ass. They all live in this clickbait media bubble that has no basis in reality.

And, of course, being knowledgeable means shit all because I know for a veritable fact everyone who invokes Libya on internet forums doesn't care, it's just something to argue about. They don't read the articles, they don't read the news sites (written in Arabic), they don't have friends over there, they just are talking shit.

Just like your original assertion that DU supported the Revolution is total shit.

[bonzotex]

49. thank you, nt

[polly7]

47. +1,000,000 nt.

[polly7]

45. Yes, that IS fact. And many were tombstoned for opposing it loudly. nt.

[Segami]

21. Of course,....that's what weathervanes do....they spin

in all directions.....

[Prism]

24. It only counts as foreign policy experience if it's good

When referencing foreign policy and Clinton's credentials, please refrain from including any massive clusterfuck she may have contributed to or participated in.

Given her oddly neoconservative instincts, I'm at pains to understand how anyone will be surprised if we end up colon-deep in conflicts all over the world during her potential presidency.

I mean, yeah, her supporters will explain them all away - just as all things are explained away - but it will be interesting to watch ostensible liberals suddenly donning their neocon hawk caps.

Libya was just a taste. Wait til Iran comes up.

[DhhD]

36. How can I draw this map? Israel on the West, Saudi Arabia in the center and Iran on the East.

Oh wait, how did Saudi Arabia get the center? Was HRC Commander-In-Chief while the Army moved in?

[nenagh]

27. Thank you...

bookmarking

[Truprogressive85]

29. Regime Change !!

If HRC want credit for Libya let her have it
than she can answer why Libya is so f**** up and why Daesh is on the rise

Gaddafi was a brutal dictator,but extremists were scared shitless of the him because they knew that if they even thought of rising up they would be killed.

Regime Change in Iraq, Libya (attempted) in Syria has created a vacuum for extremists to rise thus toppling Saddam,Gaddafi (trying)with Assad has made this world much more unsafe.

Here is a bit of bad news we will never get rid of Daesh because you kill one there are about 100 ready to retaliate.

[AlbertCat]

32. Gaddafi was a brutal dictator,but extremists were scared shitless of the him ...

..... because they knew that if they even thought of rising up they would be killed.


Well, c'mon. It's not like anything like that has ever happened before!


Oh wait...

[ozone_man]

50. I think the U.S. knew what affect it would have.

How could they not? If it was so complicated, how could Bernie be right? How could so many of us be right about what happened?

Topple the dictators who kept things in control, and utter chaos would ensue. And these dictators, Hussein, Kaddafi, Assad, were secular. Who stands to gain? Two in particular, the military industrial complex, including the NSA, Homeland security, etc. And whoever gains from OPEC being destroyed, the oil consortium that Kaddafi helped create. The Plan for a New American Century.

Now we seem to have fostered the growth of ISIS to take over Syria, but the monster has gotten out of hand. We make half hearted attempts to get rid of them, while the Russians really are trying to get rid of them.

[MisterP]

30. she still wants "moderate" Syrian rebels given more and more and more

she made quite sure that democracy didn't get back in in Honduras

she's mute on North Yemen's hospitals burned

[grasswire]

33. for it before she was against it

Did Bill flip flop this much?

[jeff47]

52. Yes (nt)

[Bernblu]

34. How dare you use the words of Hillary Clinton of 2011 against the Hillary Clinton of 2015!

Don't you know that they are completely different people!

[Cheese Sandwich]

38. She probably loves the GOP's fake Benghazi scandals because it distracts from the real Libya scandal

The real scandal is the policy.

[winter is coming]

40. +1. n/t

[jfern]

43. ISIS has territory in Libya too

She wanted to remove Gaddafi, Saddam, and Assad. The first two are history, and the 3rd lost control of a lot of his country. In all 3 cases, ISIS was a winner.

[polly7]

46. The detritus of regime change in Libya

By Vijay Prashad
Source: al-Araby
November 1, 2015

.......In Iraq, parts of the deposed army and some Baath Party members linked up with al-Qaeda in Iraq, and then later the Islamic State of Iraq. It was these motivated and trained men that formed the backbone of the IS advance on Fallujah and Ramadi in 2014.

Much the same story is being repeated with the emergence of IS in Libya. Adversaries of Gaddafi in the 1990s took refuge in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group; one of whose strongholds was the town of Derna.

These fighters fled the country to join the Jihad International in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, Yemen and Syria.

It had become a familiar matter to meet an al-Libi in the redoubts of the jihadis. Studies show that Libya provided per capita the highest number of jihadis to this global campaign.

The lesson of Iraq was not learned. It was repeated in Libya. Both countries still hang by a thread. Their people suffer painfully. They have been sacrificed to a theory that is arrogant and erroneous. It deserves a place only in the dustbin of history.

Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-detritus-of-regime-change-in-libya/

bbm

[gordyfl]

53. Hillary ---> Foreign Policy Disasters

Yes. She voted for the Iraq War. She pushed for bombing Libya. She wants to escalate in Syria. She voted against the Democratic Party, siding with Bush on the Iran Resolution. And she threatened to bomb Iran if need be. Some are saying vote for Hillary because she has foreign policy experience. Hillary's a disaster on foreign policy. Bernie made so much sense today talking foreign policy.

[Scuba]

48. Yet some wonder why others don't trust Hillary.

[BootinUp]

51. Just Bunk!

Hillary does not back away from her part in Libya.