Benghazi

Benghazi was a massacre –
Some claimed it did not have to be,
Forewarned that it could well occur,
Officials met…did not agree;
For days and weeks the plea was raised
By those upon the Libyan sand
For greater force as buildings blazed,
Explosions heard throughout the land.

But president stood firm, declared
That brutal thugs were neutralized,
So, four who died were ill-prepared,
Their danger hardly realized
By those in power who would not heed
The warnings by those on the ground…
By bureaucrats who felt no need,
Who felt the warnings were not sound.

Predictably, the hammer fell,
Surprising no one on the ground,
As torture, murder then befell
Americans to terror bound;
But president could not admit
Assassination had not meant
That terrorism was forfeit
To one act of his intellect.

And so deception slyly drawn
Was foisted on the citizens,
The word was passed by just next dawn
Protesters there were denizens
Inflamed by film on Internet
Insulting their iconic god.
And then their forces, grimly met,
Grew violent to praise their god.

And praising Allah meant bloodshed
By Muslims throughout all the world,
But in Benghazi those four dead
Were not the targets of rocks hurled;
No…they were victims of attack
By terrorists well-trained to kill
And burn the buildings fiery black
With rockets, bullets and great skill.

The president knew within hours
Of all that happened in the night,
Indeed, officials watched for hours
The scene unfold, sometimes by sight
Through circling drone surveilling there,
The flames engulfing Consulate,
And dialogue with others there
Attacked elsewhere, who feared their fate.

Elections were two months away,
The president had campaigned hard
And tried with fervor to allay
The fear that jihad was not barred
By him or any other powers,
That terrorists still held full sway.
Benghazi, though, in those sad hours
Proved he was wrong, with hell to pay.

So…on next morn he made a speech,
Along with State Department head,
To the effect a U.S. leech
Had made a film that caused four dead;
It was a lie, as he knew well
But took that line for weeks to come,
It was a lie straight out of hell,
Should earn impeachment…thought by some.

United Nations was the scene,
The place to set the record straight
Two weeks beyond the deaths obscene,
Where life jihad would desecrate;
The president there made his speech
And blamed the film for frightful acts
And there the truth he did impeach –
His speech devoid of just the facts.

Perhaps he thought the people dumb
Or not concerned with truth and such
Or simply in recession – numb,
About most things not caring much;
He could be right, with nothing changed,
He could be wrong, still nothing changed,
But his response, so ill-arranged,
Will make a legacy deranged.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark