Shrug: Obama Says Benghazi Attack Isolated Incident, Localized Threat

In his Thursday speech at the National Defense University in Washington D.C., President Obama went out of his way to spin the terrorist attacks in Benghazi as a predictable result of loosely-affiliated terrorism.

First, Obama stated that “the core of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is on the path to defeat … They did not direct the attacks in Benghazi or Boston.” This is a bizarre spin, considering that the Benghazi attackers were from Ansar al-Shariah, a terrorist group directly affiliated with al Qaeda, and that Ansar al-Shariah is a highly organized local terrorist group. In any case, al Qaeda is an umbrella organization working with dozens of terrorists groups around the world.

Obama continued trying to claim that Benghazi was an isolated incident, despite the fact that the terrorist attack there was merely the latest in a long line, and very similar to terrorism from Iraq to Afghanistan. He said, “We’ll face more localized threats like what we saw in Benghazi … in which local operatives – perhaps in loose affiliation with regional networks – launch periodic attacks against Western diplomats, companies and other soft targets, or resort to kidnapping and other criminal enterprises to fund their operations.” But Benghazi is nothing new. That has been the pattern of terrorism for the last forty years. Obama’s attempt to claim that he has effected a groundshift in the nature of terrorism is simply false.

Then, Obama compared Benghazi to Boston again: “Our nation is still threatened by terrorists. From Benghazi to Boston, we have been tragically reminded of that truth. But we recognize that the threat has shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on 9/11.” Again, this is an odd spin – Benghazi and Boston were in no way similar, and Benghazi represented an entirely predictable terrorist action in an area rife with such terrorist actions. Obama’s attempts to play Benghazi as a Boston-like black swan attack are empty.

Finally, Obama claimed that Benghazi had been fixed. He said that diplomats belong in dangerous places, and refused to take any blame for security.

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).