In a 2001 article published in The Atlantic, Samantha Power, author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning A Problem of Hell and arguably the world’s foremost voice against genocide and who currently serves on the National Security Council as an aide to President Obama, referred to Ambassador Susan Rice and her colleagues in the Clinton Administration as Bystanders to Genocide. She quotes Rice in the 2002 book as saying, “If we use the word ‘genocide’ and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November congressional election?” Rice’s subordination of a human tragedy of epic proportions to partisan politic interests mirrors the current allegations of denying a terror attack in Benghazi for political gain.
Worse, the attempt to whitewash the Benghazi attacks as merely a protest that turned violent trivializes the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and the three Americans murdered with him and threatens to cheapen the life of every American diplomat currently serving in dangerous posts. We need to accept that the fear the United States once instilled in those with evil intent against our diplomatic staff has worn thin and the only way to reintroduce that fear is to understand fully what happened in Benghazi and rain fire on the culprits so that this never happens again.