Hillary Clinton's 'smart power' disaster in Libya

In the Democratic presidential debate earlier this month, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the U.S. intervention in Libya “smart power at its best.” She boasted that “the Libyan people had a free election for the first time since 1951.”

These triumphal statements bear very little resemblance to the reality in Libya today. For one thing, that government the Libyans elected is not actually in charge. Libya is a failed state with two rival governments, and most of the country is under the control of neither. Fighting rages amongst various factions, including all of the well-known terrorist groups. Nearly 10 percent of Libya’s population has been forced to flee their homes.