The real lesson of Benghazi

The tragic, horrific death of US Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens at the hands of an extremist mob is a sad case of chickens coming home to roost for US and Western policymakers.

The US government led by President Barack Obama strongly supported the toppling of longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi at the hands of a popular movement in October 2011. The revolution could not have succeeded if Britain and France, backed by Washington, had not flown months of air support missions for the rebels. These proved decisive in turning the tide.

Since then, Obama, to his credit, has resisted calls from both neo-conservative and militant liberal, often called neo-liberal, pundits in the US media to intervene on the side of the Syrian rebels currently fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.