Dark Forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi

Timmerman (Shakedown), executive director of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, comprehensively challenges the Obama administration’s narrative of the events that took place in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. He presents Obama’s diplomatic overtures to the Muslim world as having the opposite effect as intended, with Muslim leaders convinced the U.S. “had lost its resolve and was not to be taken seriously.” That mind-set informed responses to covert American efforts in the aftermath of Muammar el-Qaddafi’s overthrow to funnel arms from Libya to Syrian rebels. Timmerman presents an account of the failed “doctrine of separating the jihadis from the proponents of political Islam.” It was a logical result, he claims, of the president, secretary of state, and their advisers not understanding developments in Libya, where security deteriorated to a point that danger pay for U.S. employees was increased 30%. As Iranian money flowed into Libya, jihadi militias probed for weak spots. The CIA annex in Benghazi “was supposed to be a secret base..., talk about this and it will end your career.” To Timmerman, the response to the embassy attack was implemented with incompetence, particularly by Hillary Clinton. The author’s conservatism is palpable, but he makes it clear that the Obama administration made grave errors in judgment and execution. (July)