Obama Says His Biggest Mistake Happened in 2011

He wishes there had been a better plan for Libya
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 11, 2016 3:47 AM CDT
Updated Apr 11, 2016 6:35 AM CDT
Obama Says His Biggest Mistake Happened in 2011
President Obama walks away from the podium after speaking at the Libya Contact Group meeting at the UN Building on Sept. 20, 2011.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Obama is now about 90% of the way through his presidency and apparently feels he has little to lose by talking to Fox News about his mistakes. In a Fox News Sunday interview, the president said that a failure to plan for the aftermath of intervention in Libya was "probably" his biggest blunder, Bloomberg reports. He told host Chris Wallace that while intervening to get rid of Moammar Gadhafi "was the right thing to do," he regrets "failing to plan for the day after."

CNN notes that in a recent interview with the Atlantic, Obama described today's situation in Libya as a "mess" and criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron and other European allies for getting "distracted" and failing to come up with a post-intervention plan when they should have been "invested in a follow-up." Obama voiced the same regret about Libya in 2014 and said he looks back to it when he considers intervention in places like Syria. (In the Fox interview, Obama also discussed Hillary Clinton's email scandal and revealed what he considers to be his best and worst days in office.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X