The Republicans made the issue of US deaths in the Libyan town of Benghazi the centerpiece of multiple investigations of Hillary Clinton as part of their sustained effort to discredit her and thus undermine her candidacy. But this news item has received surprisingly little coverage from US media.
When four US special forces soldiers died in an ambush earlier this month in scrubby desert in western Niger, attention was suddenly focused on one of the most remote and chaotic war zones on the planet.
The US troops had been embedded with a larger unit of Nigerien troops and were attacked as they left a meeting with local community leaders a few dozen kilometres from the remote town of Tongo Tongo.
Some reports claimed US troops were on a mission to kill or capture a high-value target in the area, perhaps even Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, the leader of the only local faction of fighters to have formally pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
Given the light armament of the US detachment, the scramble to evacuate them, and the lack of medical backup or reinforcements, this seems unlikely. The US troops were eventually rescued by French aircraft, which flew from bases about 300 miles away in neighbouring Mali.
Apart from the fact that we find yet another country where the US is engaged in undeclared wars, the idea that US troops were killed in a region where they had no support or medical help and the remaining troops had to be rescued by French planes would be the kind of thing that Republicans would have been screaming about if it had happened during a Democratic administration, as a symbol of its weakness and incompetence.
Let’s compare:
TONGO TONGOOO!!!!!!!
Good Lord, that sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Like the name of some kid’s TV show mascot. You can’t scream that and be taken seriously.
BENGHAZIIIIII!!!!!!!
Much better, with the right amount of screechiness at the end to be a satisfying shreik. And as we all know, image is more important than substance.
But seriously, if Trump supports where not hypocritical and lacking any fundamental principles of decency from the very beginning, they wouldn’t have voting for that piece of shit in the first place.
Why isn’t it Trump’s Benghazi? Because they don’t fucking care about Benghazi. They don’t care about emails. They don’t care about ANYTHING except pissing off liberals. They don’t know or care how badly they get fucked over, as long as PC liberals get pissed off.
Because the Democrats in Congress care about crony capitalism enough that they don’t want to engage in hyperbolic attacks that destroy the faith in democracy that ultimately gives congressional Democrats their power.
They slowly shake their heads and say, “If Republicans would simply show some intelligence and enlightened self interest, they too would avoid damaging the reins of power that they need to control this country for the enrichment of themselves and their friends.”
From the time they show up at their offices til they shut down the bar at today’s hate-a-democrat fundraiser that night, congressional Republicans are devoted to hating the people who aren’t them -- not just the queers and the muslims and the whoever else, but even the congressional Democrats who live lives that are almost indistinguishable from their own, save for fewer screaming, hateful rants.
Which all explains the Republican slogan:
Presumably because they need an hour for their hangover headaches to go away.
I don’t have a lot of respect for the Democratic caucuses (though I do for a small scattering of congress critters who belong to those caucuses), but if there’s no Trump Benghazi, that’s a good thing and reflects to their credit. It takes an unhinged, mendacious opposition to create a Benghazi.
People are nervous about how Trump will pronounce “Niger”.