Hillary Clinton Says Libya Chaos Shows Consequences of U.S. Withdrawal From Unstable Places

While all eyes in Washington watch the clash between former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and House Republicans over events in Benghazi four years ago, chaos reigns in Libya, where two separate governments battle for control. Islamists are in control in the capital city of Tripoli, and Islamic State militants are expanding their hold on cities and towns across the country.

The security situation has reached a new low in recent weeks as the faction in control in Tripoli and the rival secular government based in the city of Tobruk have refused to sign a peace deal that the United Nations and the Obama administration have been pushing for months.

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The Obama administration has a “very hands-off policy in Libya now,” said Bill Roggio, an editor of The Long War Journal published by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. “The administration provided military assistance to overthrow the government in 2011 and has since provided nothing concrete to deal with the problems on the ground.”

The worst part of the situation, Mr. Roggio said, is that Washington’s inaction in Libya has provided ammunition for some of the most radical critiques of the Obama administration’s overall policy toward the Middle East.

“We overthrow the regime, jihadists take control of various areas and the country becomes a basket case,” he said. “It’s amazing how we’re now playing into those narratives that feed conspiracy theories that the U.S. actually supports the overthrow of governments and then supplants them with jihadist groups.

“They are conspiracy theories,” Mr. Roggio said. “What is truly going on is shortsightedness in U.S. policy and a failure to understand who’s who on the ground, which groups are operating, and then the lack of political heft on the ground to get involved.”

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