Blog 1: Benghazi Attacks

           This New York Times article discusses the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11^th, 2012. This attack was carried out by Islamic extremists who have a great deal of political power in the region after the fall of the Libyan government headed by Muammar Gaddafi. The attack on the Consulate left several dead including the American ambassador. The Obama administration was slow to label the attack as terrorist in nature citing possible ties to riots as the possible motive for the attack at first, the administration later labeled the attacks as terrorism.  The FBI is attempting to put the leaders of the extremist group to justice, however they are being hampered by the lack of willingness on the part of the weakened Libyan government to help.  In response to the attack, the Obama administration had to decide which route to take in seeking justice, a strong-arm tactic against Libya or a more strategic method of trying to work with the Libyan government to find the responsible individuals.

            The situation in Libya with rebel leaders overthrowing Muammar Gaddafi and the government in power goes to show how much civil unrest exists in the region.  When rebels overthrow the government-even one that is viewed as brutal- it shows a general failure of a governmental system as a whole and thus gives rise and opportunity to the groups to overthrow the current system and install a more useful one.  I would argue that the more useful government approach in Libya is a true democracy. Democratically elected leaders tend to have the most support even from opposition who perceive them better because a majority of their peers voted for them.  A democracy would allow a peaceful transfer of power and sustaining peaceful transfers through decades will strengthen the country and the region as a whole will benefit from stronger organization and less fighting.  I agree with the Obama administration’s decision to approach the matter of justice in a more peaceful manner as the article describes because justice should be pursued against the groups responsible for the death of American citizens but working together is the key to maintaining as much peace in the region as possible.  After reading of the Libyan government’s slow response to capture the head of the rebel group it becomes apparent to me that there is a real problem when these non governmental actors have such a strong bearing on how a weak and decentralized government responds to crime, this is a large contributor of  the unrest in the area.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/libya/index.html?inline=nyt-geo

Steven Harrison

January 25th, 2013

3:25pm