Libya - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Libya Index / Locations Transcripts Michael Mullen ...if you will, or the opposition in Benghazi —which that was going to be the cente... ...the loss of Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi , etc. But I hadn't really looked a... ...Libya, because of the investigation on Benghazi . And since that time, it's sort o... William Burns ...then, at the very end of the term, came Benghazi . And I'd seen a lot of politicize... ...So it's not as if what we saw in the Benghazi hearings was unique, but I do think i... ...gaining steam in the east, in Benghazi . And Libya was a really complicate... ...again, to protect people in Benghazi . Because another element to this wa... ...tens of thousands of people killed in Benghazi . You also then had the reality tha... ...couple of months before the tragedy in Benghazi , when he was killed. There had bee... Show more... Anne Patterson ...People were out a lot. It was before Benghazi [September 11, 2012, attack on America... ...on American diplomatic compound in Benghazi , Libya], which meant that we had a lo... ...impact on the State Department, was Benghazi . We can talk about that maybe for ... ...would come to a dead halt. But Benghazi did spook everybody, and that ha... Anne-Marie Slaughter ...It said, “People are going to die in Benghazi . We're going to see a bloodbath. W... Samantha Power ...home of the revolution, a town called Benghazi , Libya's second largest town, home t... ...proposing here in this resolution, and Benghazi is still going to be laid waste to i... ...it really take to save the people in Benghazi ?” And there has been a lot since wher... ...clear in Obama's mind. The people of Benghazi believed that Qaddafi would massacr... ...vast majority of people living in Benghazi , or who had experienced Qaddafi's rul... ...So they were not going to leave Benghazi , and they were not going to make thi... ...of bloodshed is going to occur before Benghazi actually falls into his hands? And I'... ...into his hands? And I'm talking about Benghazi , because it's such a large town, an... ...is, a no-fly zone is not going to save Benghazi . So what I need is an option tha... ...think that Obama should have just let Benghazi fall, again, I think we'd be havin... Show more... Stephen Kroft ...of a marathon session to talk about Benghazi . And we made the decision. We shoul... ...have spent some more time talking about Benghazi . We really didn't, and the theor... ...and months and months of talk about Benghazi in the media, there was a fairl... ...have asked some more questions about Benghazi , and we got hammered for that, bu... ...was really, because we figured that the Benghazi stuff was sort of bad news. It was sor... ...whole thing, but handled herself. The Benghazi thing was just a mess, just ... ...was involved in the narrative around Benghazi , right? Because you had interviewe... ...president right around the time of the Benghazi attack. Not right around th... ...to not include some of the material on Benghazi in that package. What's the story fro... ...gone back and done a whole new thing on Benghazi . We couldn't get back into the Whit... ...the circumstances that gave rise to Benghazi . They, all of a sudden, ended up wit... ...of the embassy, or the consulate, in Benghazi would be a dangerous point. And it go... ...the foreign policy side? We mentioned Benghazi , which—that occurs in 2012, but the... Show more... Martin Dempsey ...we had our share, whether it was Benghazi [September 11, 2012, attack on America... ...on American diplomatic compound in Benghazi , Libya] or something else. But then... ...Mind you, a year earlier had been the Benghazi crisis. So I'm thinking to myself, ... Harold Hongju Koh ...his opposition, including the people of Benghazi . He said that they were rats, and h... ...instructions to just kill everybody in Benghazi . Estimated fatalities would b... ...Libya didn't turn out well, but—and Benghazi then later became the subject of mor... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Labor Labor go to the Hawaii Hawaii go to the Women and Girls Women and Girls go to the Middle East and North Africa Middle East and North Africa go to the Western Hemisphere Western Hemisphere