Candidate Romney states the attack on our Consulate in Benghazi on September 11th, 2012 was likely the work of forces affiliated with those that attacked our homeland on September 11th, 2001.
According to some observers, Republican Candidate Mitt Romney’s VMI speech was reasonably aggressive, but not negative. The Republican nominee's speech built upon a narrative that President Barack Obama has been mistaken in his world strategy for almost four years; and Romney was very specific telling how this played out in the current events in North Africa and elsewhere.
Romney focused on a series of missed signals in the Middle East, which the Obama Administration failed to recognize and/or failed to act upon, whether as warnings or as emerging opportunities. These included ongoing events in Iran, Israel, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Mr. Romney, these included several unfortunate failures, which possibly were not intended by President Obama, but did occur on this President’s watch.
Those reverses or failures to move forward resulted from the sitting President’s tendency to "lead from behind" on difficult matters, especially during troubling circumstances. Mitt Romney also noted that President Obama's apparent reliance on drone warfare was no substitute for an appropriate national security strategy. Romney suggested that engagement abroad is an American calling, a mission to not only make ourselves safer, but to spread American values, and to encourage what he called “decent modern governments.” To that end, Romney said that he would require countries that receive U.S. aid to protect the rights of women and minorities. The Republican nominee criticized Obama's failure to sign or advance any new free trade agreements.
Governor Romney’s text contained the following telling passages:
“General Marshall [George Catlett Marshall, a VMI graduate, was Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense] once said, ‘The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.’ Those words were true in his time—and they still echo in ours.... *** Statesmen like Marshall rallied our nation to rise to its responsibilities as the leader of the free world. We helped our friends to build and sustain free societies and free markets. We defended our friends, and ourselves, from our common enemies. We led. And though the path was long and uncertain, the thought of war in Europe is as inconceivable today as it seemed inevitable in the last century. *** This is what makes America exceptional: It is not just the character of our country—it is the record of our accomplishments. America has a proud history of strong, confident, principled global leadership—a history that has been written by patriots of both parties. That is America at its best. And it is the standard by which we measure every President, as well as anyone who wishes to be President. Unfortunately, this President’s policies have not been equal to our best examples of world leadership. And nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle East.... *** Sir Winston Churchill once said of George Marshall: ‘He … always fought victoriously against defeatism, discouragement, and disillusion.’ That is the role our friends want America to play again. And it is the role we must play. *** The 21st century can and must be an American century. It began with terror, war, and economic calamity. It is our duty to steer it onto the path of freedom, peace, and prosperity. *** The torch America carries is one of decency and hope. It is not America’s torch alone. But it is America’s duty – and honor – to hold it high enough that all the world can see its light....”
Mitt Romney was anything but vague in his view of recent calamitous events in Libya and across the Islamic world. His commentary to the VMI cadets included Romney’s view of those events, as follows:
“Last month, our nation was attacked again. A U.S. Ambassador and three of our fellow Americans are dead—murdered in Benghazi, Libya. Among the dead were three veterans. All of them were fine men, on a mission of peace and friendship to a nation that dearly longs for both. President Obama has said that Ambassador Chris Stevens and his colleagues represented the best of America. And he is right. We all mourn their loss. *** The attacks against us in Libya were not an isolated incident. They were accompanied by anti-American riots in nearly two dozen other countries, mostly in the Middle East, but also in Africa and Asia. Our embassies have been attacked. Our flag has been burned. Many of our citizens have been threatened and driven from their overseas homes by vicious mobs, shouting “Death to America.” These mobs hoisted the black banner of Islamic extremism over American embassies on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. *** As the dust settles, as the murdered are buried, Americans are asking how this happened, how the threats we face have grown so much worse, and what this calls on America to do. These are the right questions.... *** The attacks on America last month should not be seen as random acts. They are expressions of a larger struggle that is playing out across the broader Middle East—a region that is now in the midst of the most profound upheaval in a century. And the fault lines of this struggle can be seen clearly in Benghazi itself. *** This latest assault cannot be blamed on a reprehensible video insulting Islam, despite the Administration’s attempts to convince us of that for so long. No, as the Administration has finally conceded, these attacks were the deliberate work of terrorists who use violence to impose their dark ideology on others, especially women and girls; who are fighting to control much of the Middle East today; and who seek to wage perpetual war on the West....”
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