Barack Æthelred Obama
The New York Times is now allowing the President's team to try and throw the US Military under the very crowded pile of people and institutions squashed by his reelection bus.
"An examination of these tumultuous events [in Benghazi] undercuts the criticism leveled by some Republicans that the Obama administration did not try to respond militarily to the crisis."
Nice try to help the President continue to divert his failure as Commander-In-Chief, but it will not work. The loss of the Battle of Benghazi, the first American defeat in the field by Al-Qaeda forces, cannot be diverted into the Obama "spin" of their reelection effort. They and the MSM have constantly tried to make the Battle a neverending process discussion and now they are moving to make it a partisan argument. They will fail because, the most basic principle of military leadership is simple and direct -- A leader can delegate authority but not responsibility.
President Obama is our Commander-in-Chief and has the full responsibility for losing the Battle. Consequently, if the New York Times wants to assert doubts about the military forces available during the Battle of Benghazi they have just compounded President Obama's dereliction of duty as CIC. It is still his fault; he wanted the job and wants to keep the job, but he failed when it counted.
Readers of The American Thinker well know that the President as Commander-in Chief and his Three Amigos -- Secretary Clinton, Ambassador Rice and NSC staff member Samantha Power -- launched the "ready fire aim" Odyssey Dawn using AFRICOM to fight that war.
Additionally, since General Powell is a big supporter of President Obama, the New York Times didn't think to ask him about his famous Pottery Barn Rule: "you break it you bought it." President Obama and his National Security Team "bought" Libya.
So if they are now proven remiss in ensuring military forces were available, they can thank themselves and not blame the military. In fact they even had a seminal book published in 02/2011 warning them about the AFU (All "Fouled Up") stand-up of AFRICOM. Nathan Hodge's excellent work, Armed Humanitarians, Rise of Nation Builders
"Nathan Hodge has just written an extremely important, well-documented and insightful book on peacekeeping and related adventures. The book provides insight into the launch of AFRICOM, a key command in the current Libyan operation. His Chapter 10, "Peace Corps on Steroids" describes with great insight and excellent sources, the creation of AFRICOM and should be required reading by all journalists covering the combat actions against Libya."
Sorry, no spin nor excuses, President Obama has proven to be a weak and indecisive CIC. Now according to the New York Times American voters tomorrow should consider President Obama as the modern day equivalent of an English King from a millennium back -- Æthelred the Unready".
King Ethelred through ineptitude and incompetence allowed England to be successfully attacked and earned his name "Æthelred the Unready." The legacy of King Ethelred lead directly to the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066.
The potential nasty strategic consequences of the Battle of Benghazi by "President Obama the unready" can be stopped by electing Governor Romney. It is that easy.