Two Sides Trade Criticism in Rancor Over Libya Attack
Source: NYT
Caught in the uneasy nexus between politics and foreign policy, the debate over the violence in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed four American lives turned angry on Sunday as Republicans said it reflected a dangerous failure by the Obama administration to protect Americans across the region. Democrats, meanwhile, accused the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, of “cravenly” trying to exploit the episode in a political “witch hunt.”
A Romney supporter, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said that the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi called into question a fundamental claim of the Obama administration: that with the death of Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda has been gravely weakened and Americans are safer.
“The truth is, we’re not safer; Al Qaeda is alive and counterattacking,” Mr. Graham said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.” He added, “This whole region is about to explode; Al Qaeda is on the march.”
David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign, pushed back hard at the criticism from those supporting Mr. Romney. “From the beginning of this issue, before any facts were known, he was cravenly trying to exploit it,” Mr. Axelrod said of Mr. Romney on “Fox News Sunday.”
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/us/politics/bengazi-episode-takes-on-political-overtones.html
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