To continue getting breaking news and the full stories from The Boston Globe, subscribe today.

The Boston Globe

World

White House faces dilemma in Libya attack response

Strike forces, drones on alert in North Africa

WASHINGTON — The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali — if investigators can find the Al Qaeda-linked group responsible for the death of the US ambassador and three other Americans in Libya.

But officials say the administration is weighing whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on Al Qaeda is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group’s profile in the region, alienate governments the United States needs to fight it in the future, and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.

Comments

This comment has been removed.

Tough decision. Military action late October/early November is going to be questioned for political motivation.

Replies

All they know is politics. Everything that they do is motivated by politics, including the timing of Hillary's statement regarding security.

Obama killed two birds with one stone: 1) shirking his foreign policy responsibilities he showed us his disconnect from administration responsibilities, & 2) squashing future political plans for his nemesis, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

Replies

Not many presidents ask their nemesis to fill the sec. of state position.

Interesting. I thought the attack on the consulate was a spontaneous demonstration in response to the offensive video. Isn't that what Susan Rice said on five Sunday talk shows? Isn't that what Jay Carney said in multiple press briefings? Isn't that what Obama himself said on Letterman? Why are they finally telling the truth now, weeks after the fact? Are they just trying to wiggle out of getting caught in a lie? With the aid of a compliant media, of course.

A thoughtful, careful administration...this is a treasure. Knowing when to act and how by evaluating thoroughly. That's called responsible leadership.

But no matter what they do, it will be called political because we have stopped being patriots. We have become partisan bigots. If you are not behind your president during a challenge like this, just call yourself Mitch McConnell and admit that you want the country to fail so your party can take over. Pathetic.

Replies

Bobby - Does that mean that you have no problem with them telling blatent lies? They knew that it was a terrorist attack an still were telling us that it was all because of the video.