House Benghazi Hearings: Too Much Too Late ... Last week the US House of Representatives called former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to appear before a select committee looking into the attack on a US facility in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. The attack left four Americans dead, including US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. As might be expected, however, the "Benghazi Committee" hearings have proven not much more than a means for each party to grandstand for political points. In fact, I would call these Congressional hearings "too much, too late." –Ron Paul Institute

Dominant Social Theme: Political coverage must always declare a winner and loser.

Free-Market Analysis: The mainstream media's obsession with keeping score when it comes to politics often distracts even the most knowledgeable political observers from considering the underlying, more important issues. This is just as true, surely, in Europe as it is in the US.

Ron Paul is, of course, concerned particularly with the US and that is where his editorial is aimed. He calls the Benghazi hearings "too much, too late." What he means is that the probe into Benghazi has been overly extensive and doesn't address the real problem, which is why the US went to war in Libya in the first place.

For Ron Paul, and other constitutionalists, the US's constant overseas military interventionism is a fundamental national problem, one that must be addressed before other national problems can be solved. The "fog of war" erodes private enterprise and strengthens central government. From Ron Paul's point of view, it leaves the Constitution in tatters.

Here's more:

Why no House Committee hearing before President Obama launched his war on Libya? Why no vote on whether to authorize the use of force? Why no hearing after the President violated the Constitution by sending the military into Libya with UN authorization rather than Congressional authorization?

There are Constitutional tools available to Congress when a president takes the country to war without a declaration or authorization. At the time, President Obama claimed he did not need authorization from Congress because the US was not engaged in "hostilities." It didn't pass the laugh test, but Congress did next to nothing about it. ...

Why were there no hearings at the time to discuss this very important Constitutional matter? Because the leadership of both parties wanted the war. Both parties — with few exceptions — agree with the ideology of US interventionism worldwide.

Secretary Clinton defended the State Department's handling of security at the Benghazi facility by pointing out that there are plenty of diplomatic posts in war zones and that danger in these circumstances is to be expected. However she never mentioned why Benghazi remained a "war zone" a year after the US had "liberated" Libya from Gaddafi.