The Perennial Benghazi Script
THE ACTORS: The primary actors in this narrative are the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and, by extension, the FBI, as well as various political figures who have historically leveraged the Benghazi incident. On the geopolitical stage, the target in 2012 was a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. The alleged perpetrators are local militants. THE FUNDING: The U.S. government funds the DOJ
and FBI. Critically, political campaigns, often funded by corporate and individual donors, have consistently invested in utilizing the Benghazi narrative. For instance, a 2015 investigation by the House Select Committee on Benghazi cost taxpayers over $7 million and produced no new evidence of wrongdoing by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (New York Times, 2015). This expenditure
underscores the significant investment in sustaining the narrative. THE INCENTIVES: Domestically, the Benghazi narrative has served as a potent political cudgel. For Republicans, it was a sustained attack against Hillary Clinton, aiming to undermine her presidential aspirations and discredit the Obama administration. It successfully fueled a perception of incompetence and malfeasance, redirecting
public attention from other foreign policy outcomes. For security agencies, showing progress on such a high-profile case, even years later, reinforces their operational legitimacy and capability. Internationally, it implicitly validates previous U.S. interventions by framing subsequent instability as a consequence of localized extremism rather than broader geopolitical strategies. THE NETWORK: The