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Benghazi is Libya’s second-largest city, and is the capital of Cyrenaica (the country’s eastern region). The city was the epicenter of protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising and subsequently served as the de facto headquarters of the anti-Qaddafi rebellion.
In fact, it was Qaddafi’s near-reconquest of Benghazi that prompted the Western intervention in the Libyan civil war on March 18, 2011. That intervention, roughly a month after the anti-Qaddafi uprising began, ended after Western-supported rebel forces took the capital of Libya, Tripoli, on August 22 of that year. Tripoli was Qaddafi’s final stand, and his regime collapsed after its fall.
Given Benghazi’s “cradle of the revolution” status, the US believed it needed to maintain a mission there to keep up with local politics and key members of the revolution it had supported.
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What was the Benghazi attack?
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Why are there so many militias in Benghazi?
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Did the CIA, NSA, or anyone else have intel that an attack was coming?
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Why didn’t Ambassador Chris Stevens get the security he requested?
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What’s the precise timeline of the events of the night of the attack?
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Who were the Benghazi attackers?
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Were the attackers angry about an anti-Islam movie?
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Did al-Qaeda do it?
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Could the US military have stopped the Benghazi attack?
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Why is Benghazi such a big deal politically?
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Why do Obama critics tend to focus so much on Benghazi?
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Why do liberals make fun of “#Benghazi” all the time?
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What are “the talking points?”
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Is the Obama Administration to blame for Benghazi?
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What was the political fallout from the Benghazi investigations?
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Does the ongoing Benghazi investigation still matter?
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Could something like the Benghazi attack happen again?
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