Obama-Benghazi Like Carter-Tehran? Romney Hopes So

Obama put all United States diplomatic posts around the world on high alert: The fear that the Benghazi actions would have an imitative effect is obvious, and could draw the U.S. into an even more serious escalation of tensions. The killing of the ambassador and the three U.S. officials in the Consulate of Benghazi can “poison the relation between the U.S. and Libya, and cut off the hopes of the American public on the democratic effects of the Arab revolution,” observes The New York Times on its homepage.*

It is the first killing of a U.S. diplomat abroad in more than 20 years. The crisis in Libya coincides with the growing tensions between Washington and Israel on the Iranian nuclear threat. After the meeting with Obama was requested and denied on the occasion of the U.N. Assembly at the end of the month, Netanyahu launched a tough attack: America has “no moral right” to contain Israel’s actions for its own safety.

The Middle East has become a more cumbersome theme in the U.S. electoral campaign, with the right pressing Obama, accusing him of having weakened Israel as well as the strategic interests of the U.S. Republicans are attempting to push through the image that Obama is like Jimmy Carter on foreign policy. But the killings in Benghazi do not truly compare to the taking of hostages in Tehran in 1979 (that was a very long crisis, with an additional, tragically failed raid attempt, that gave a show of impotence for the U.S.). And, the White House is said to be “outraged” that Romney would seek to profit from the Benghazi tragedy and use it to attack the president.

This is the press release of the scandal, put out by Romney’s staff this evening: “It’s disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” The passage seems to refer to the fact that the White House, in condemning the aggression, has also reiterated respect for religions.

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.