Hillary Clinton hasn’t held a single press conference in 2016. For more than eight months she has not allowed the American people to ask her any unscripted questions. This begs the question, what is she trying to hide?
That she was extremely careless with classified emails?
That her pay-to-play “foundation” took $25 million from Saudi Arabia?
That she left Libya in shambles?It is this last scandal on which I would like to concentrate. You see, I was in Libya just as Clinton was taking over as secretary of state. At that time, I was chairman of one of the largest energy contractors in the world, Willbros. In that role, I spent time in Libya meeting with government officials and our U.S. Ambassador’s staff.
When Sec. Clinton assumed her new role, Muammar Gaddafi was in power, Libya was incredibly safe and the country had a functioning government. While in Tripoli, I enjoyed great restaurants, taking a break at Green Square near the Mediterranean, and touring ancient beautiful ruins.
As it is today, Libya is no longer a functioning country. The restaurants I frequented are now shut down. Green Square is now Martyrs’ Square. Americans are warned against all travel in Libya. And the late Ambassador Chris Stevens is now a victim of terrorism.
It’s a shame that Clinton didn’t provide the security necessary to keep Stevens and his staff safe on that horrifying day in September 2012 when terrorists executed a planned and coordinated attack on the embassy complex in Benghazi. It’s also a shame that we didn’t try to rescue the brave men who were defending Stevens and his staff. And it’s a terrible shame what Hillary Clinton did to that country.
What difference, at this point, does it make? Hillary Clinton is now in the running to become president of the United States of America. Inherent in that role is keeping Americans safe. Clinton’s mishandling of email, foundation donations, and Benghazi makes her ability to perform the duties of that office questionable to say the least.
John T. McNabb, a former executive at the Willbros Group and Duff & Phelps, is an emeritus member of the Board of Visitors of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
