Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Accountability at State over Benghazi contrasts with the lack of such at the Pentagon over the Abu Ghraib mess

A bunch of senior State Department officials got booted over security failures at Benghazi. A friend comments, “This is functionally equivalent to the sacking of GOs.” The contrast to the lack of accountability for the Abu Ghraib mess is striking. And I am confident that the prisoner abuse scandal, by outraging Iraqis and fanning the ...

Wikimedia
Wikimedia
Wikimedia

A bunch of senior State Department officials got booted over security failures at Benghazi. A friend comments, "This is functionally equivalent to the sacking of GOs."

A bunch of senior State Department officials got booted over security failures at Benghazi. A friend comments, “This is functionally equivalent to the sacking of GOs.”

The contrast to the lack of accountability for the Abu Ghraib mess is striking. And I am confident that the prisoner abuse scandal, by outraging Iraqis and fanning the flames of the insurgency, resulted in the deaths of more Americans than did the lapses in Libya.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.