So to recap: the NATO invasion of Libya opened up the Libyan desert for militants to set up training camps, and the Arab Spring, which was supposed to usher in an age of liberal democracy in Egypt, actually led to U.S.-hating terrorists escaping from jail.

Meanwhile, extremists control much of Mali (another consequence of the Libya invasion) and U.S. officials suspect that soldiers under the control of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president of Yemen who relinquished power in a U.S.-Saudi deal, abandoned their posts and allowed hundreds of protesters to breach the walls and break through to the inner part of the U.S. embassy compound on September 12. U.S. officials used to think Saleh was their best bet against Yemeni extremism, but because of the Arab Spring protests against him, they eased him out.