Obama admits that failing to plan for what would happen in Libya post-Gaddafi is his 'worst mistake as President'

[superbeets]

[h=1]Obama admits that failing to plan for what would happen in Libya post-Gaddafi is his 'worst mistake as President'[/h]

• Obama stood by his decision to lead NATO coalition to overthrow Gaddafi
• Dictatorial ruler was beaten and shot by rebels after NATO bombing in 2011
• But the President said the chaos that followed was his 'worst mistake'
• Admits he failed to plan for post-Gaddafi world in which the country split apart and allowed ISIS to gain a foothold there

By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 04:19, 11 April 2016 | UPDATED: 05:27, 11 April 2016




As he winds down toward the end of his eight-year term as President, Obama has been keen to trumpet all of the things he believes his administration got right during his time at the helm.
But during an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Obama took a moment to reflect on his biggest mistake while Commander in Chief.
Speaking to host Chris Wallace, Obama said: 'Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya.'



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[superbeets]

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Barack Obama has acknowledged that his biggest mistake as president was failing to prepare for what would happen to Libya after the fall of Colonel Gaddafi back in 2011

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While Libyans initially rejoiced at their new-found freedom, the country quickly descended into chaos as armed militias split it apart and no central government could be formed

In 2011, a US-led NATO coalition began bombing forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi as he threatened to slaughter the residents of Benghazi following rebellions there in the wake of the Arab Spring.
Those strikes helped turn the balance of power in favor of the rebels who ejected Gaddafi from his power-base in Tripoli, before facing down in a last-stand at the city of Sirte, on the coast.


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[superbeets]

As the last loyalist district of the city fell, Gaddafi attempted to flee in a convoy which was picked up and then bombed from the British Royal Air Force.
Rebel troops soon found Gaddafi hiding in a culvert at the side of the road before dragging him out and beating him.
Graphic footage taken at the time shows a heavily bleeding Gaddafi being dragged through an aggressive crowd before he was shot dead.
While the overthrow of his dictatorial regime was hailed as a success for NATO coalition, forces quickly withdrew from the country without providing support to any government that emerged.
As a result the country broke apart and is now governed by a series of militias that fought against Gaddafi, who regularly spar with one another while no central government has formed.

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Obama has previously said he considers Libya to be 'a mess', though aides have confided that in secret he refers to the country as a 's***-show'

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Gaddafi was forced from his stronghold of Tripoli following pressure from armed rebels and US-led NATO airstrikes, before he was found hiding in a culvert, beaten, and then shot

As a result, ISIS has managed to take advantage of the situation and now controls a large swathe of coastline including Gaddafi's former stronghold of Sirte.
Obama has discussed the shortcomings of the mission in Libya before. In a profile piece with The Atlantic he described the situation as 'a mess', though aides say in private he calls it a 's***-show'.
While accepting his own part of the blame for Libya turning out as it has, Obama also laid a fair share of the blame in Europe's doorstep in the same interview.
He said: 'When I go back and I ask myself what went wrong, there’s room for criticism, because I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya’s proximity, being invested in the follow-up.'
Speaking about his own missteps, he added: 'The degree of tribal division in Libya was greater than our analysts had expected.
'And our ability to have any kind of structure there that we could interact with and start training and start providing resources broke down very quickly.'


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[superbeets]

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The political instability in Libya has allowed groups such as ISIS to seize territory around Gaddafi's old stronghold of Sirte (pictured here in black)

Later in the same interview Obama addressed his potential successor in the White House, saying Hillary Clinton never jeopardized national security in the handling of her emails.
'I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America’s national security,' Obama stated, adding that Clinton has recognized a carelessness on the email issue in which she used a private server for Government business.
Clinton has noted publicly that none of the information was marked classified at the time she sent it, but rather was retroactively classified so the government could be able to withhold it from the public as her emails came out through Freedom of Information Act requests.


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[Dave007inVegas]

Barack Obama has acknowledged that his biggest mistake as president was failing to prepare for what would happen to Libya after the fall of Colonel Gaddafi back in 2011.


I disagree, his biggest mistake was getting elected.

 

[busterhyman]

really didn't think he had it in him- to admitted to any mistake. wonder if the sun rises tomorrow.