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====Libyan War and the Benghazi attack====

====Libyan War and the Benghazi attack====

:''See also [[Libyan War]] and [[Benghazi attack]]''

:''See also [[Libyan War]] and [[Benghazi attack]]''

Obama Takes Hard Line With Libya After Shift by Clinton: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself juggling the inconsistencies of American foreign policy in a turbulent Middle East. She criticized the foreign minister of the [[United Arab Emirates]] for sending troops to quash protests in Bahrain even as she pressed him to send planes to intervene in Libya. She was a skeptic on whether the United States should take military action in Libya (It is said that that day (March 14) she met in Paris with members of the Libyan rebels committee and [[Bernard Henri Levy]]). Mrs. Clinton changed course, forming an unlikely alliance with a handful of top administration aides who had been arguing for intervention. Within hours, Mrs. Clinton and the aides had convinced Mr. Obama that the United States had to act, and the president ordered up military plans, which Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hand-delivered to the White House the next day. On Thursday (March 17), during an hour-and-a -half meeting, Mr. Obama signed off on allowing American pilots to join Europeans and Arabs in military strikes against the Libyan government... The president had a caveat, though. The American involvement in military action in Libya should be limited — no ground troops — and finite. “Days, not weeks,” a senior White House official recalled him saying. [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19policy.html?_r=2&hp]

Obama Takes Hard Line With Libya After Shift by Clinton: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself juggling the inconsistencies of American foreign policy in a turbulent Middle East. She criticized the foreign minister of the [[United Arab Emirates]] for sending troops to quash protests in Bahrain even as she pressed him to send planes to intervene in Libya. She was a skeptic on whether the United States should take military action in Libya (It is said that that day (March 14) she met in Paris with members of the Libyan rebels committee and [[Bernard Henri Levy]]). Mrs. Clinton changed course, forming an unlikely alliance with a handful of top administration aides who had been arguing for intervention. Within hours, Mrs. Clinton and the aides had convinced Mr. Obama that the United States had to act, and the president ordered up military plans, which Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hand-delivered to the White House the next day. On Thursday (March 17), during an hour-and-a -half meeting, Mr. Obama signed off on allowing American pilots to join Europeans and Arabs in military strikes against the Libyan government... The president had a caveat, though. The American involvement in military action in Libya should be limited — no ground troops — and finite. “Days, not weeks,” a senior White House official recalled him saying. [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19policy.html?_r=2&hp]

[[South Africa]] is the superpower on the continent, but relations were strained with the U.S. under the country's erratic former president, Thabo Mbeki. He for example, fought against American effortt to stamp out AIDS, sugginsting the disease was a Western conspiracy. The new president, Jacob Zuma, is an unknown quantity.  South Africa is in its first recession in more than a decade. With riots on the streets over his failure to deliver on promises to the country's poor, Zuma may hope to capitalize on improved relations with the United States. That bodes well for Clinton.One of the biggest splits was over Zimbabwe, where Bush wanted Mbeki to take a more pro-active role, while Mbeki wanted the United States to stay out of his tyranny.  

[[South Africa]] is the superpower on the continent, but relations were strained with the U.S. under the country's erratic former president, Thabo Mbeki. He for example, fought against American effortt to stamp out AIDS, sugginsting the disease was a Western conspiracy. The new president, Jacob Zuma, is an unknown quantity.  South Africa is in its first recession in more than a decade. With riots on the streets over his failure to deliver on promises to the country's poor, Zuma may hope to capitalize on improved relations with the United States. That bodes well for Clinton.One of the biggest splits was over Zimbabwe, where Bush wanted Mbeki to take a more pro-active role, while Mbeki wanted the United States to stay out of his tyranny.  

[[Angola]] is now the top oil exporter in Africa, with the usual corrupt pattern of concentrated oil wealth, wobbly, and a 48% unemployment rate. American oil companies are active and the U.S. is providing business and military support. American support for Angola causes resentlment in the rest of Africa, where critics attack the American friendship with President José Eduardo Dos Santos, who has held power for more than 30 years. President Bush's oft-stated concern for human rights and democracy in Angola was seen by African nationalists as little more than a pretense.

[[Angola]] is now the top oil exporter in Africa, with the usual corrupt pattern of concentrated oil wealth, wobbly, and a 48% unemployment rate. American oil companies are active and the U.S. is providing business and military support. American support for Angola causes resentlment in the rest of Africa, where critics attack the American friendship with President José Eduardo Dos Santos, who has held power for more than 30 years. President Bush's oft-stated concern for human rights and democracy in Angola was seen by African nationalists as little more than a pretense.

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Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, embarked on an official African trip that took her to Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, embarked on an official African trip that took her to Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia.