The Corridors of Power

[pensive music] [car engine hums] [Jake Sullivan] The time pressure was enormous.

We started that process thinking, we've got some time.

then, town after town fell.

Fast.

Really fast.

[shots fired] Within days, [man speaks Arabic] Gaddafi's forces were knocking on the doorstep in Benghazi.

[man shouts in Arabic] [tank engine revs] [news report] Colonel Gaddafi's forces are pushing east.

[intense music] They seem unstoppable.

[shots fired] The regime claims that within two days, these troops will be in Benghazi.

[crowd cheer in the background] Now Ajdabiya but tomorrow in Benghazi.

[shots fired] [music fades] [Barack Obama, archival recording] We are still recovering from our involving in Iraq... On March 15th the President convenes his National Security Cabinet and a few back-benchers like myself.

The President opens up the meeting, and he's not in a good mood.

[indistinct archival audio recording] The meeting begins with a briefing from the intelligence community.

and there's a map in front of everybody.

[pensive music] And there's a dot on the map: Benghazi, a city of several hundred thousand people.

You can see the progression of Gaddafi's forces.

They're in a town called Ajdabiya.

It is explained to us that this is like the last stop on the way to Benghazi.

And from this position, they can move in and just... Gaddafi said: they were gonna go door-to-door and kill people like rats.

I remember, it going around the table, and Obama's literally asking people, Should I take action?

To save these people in this city we all know are gonna be killed?

Or should I not?'

[indistinct archival audio recording] [Hillary Clinton] I laid out all of the factors including the Arab support.

Not just rhetoric but commitments for military assets and action.

And our major allies in Europe.

We historically are always asking them to support us.

But now they were asking us to support them.

[indistinct archival audio recording] I argued against intervening.

The main concern was that it was a set of responsibilities that were beyond what I thought was prudent given the other demands on the United States at the time.

I thought we should avoid another military conflict.

den says, No, you'd be crazy to get another war in the Middle East.'

Bob Gates says no.

The military is saying, We have too much to do in Iraq and Afghanistan and we can't afford to move all these resources over here.'

I remember, it is working its way around to me.

My argument was essentially, if you don't do this, and these people all get massacred, how will you explain this, I mean how can we tell the world, everybody was ready to act, and what would it say if we don't act in this circumstance?

[indistinct archival audio recording] [Antony Blinken] It really went to the fact that we had a unique situation, that there was a responsibility but also an opportunity to demonstrate that the international community could act effectively to stop atrocities.

Could do it in a way that was grounded in international law, And the failure to take action would contribute, potentially to the further unraveling of the international system.

[indistinct archival audio recording] Obama described this decision to me as kind of a 51-49 call in his mind.

He had to weigh both sets of arguments and he decided to do it.