Wingnut Republicans seem intent on electing Hillary Clinton president of the United States. That is the only conclusion that can be drawn from the embarrassing Benghazi committee hearings, which provided wall-to-wall positive media and a day of free airtime for the former secretary of state.

Congressional Republicans shooting themselves in the foot isn’t new. What’s tragic about the Benghazi hearings is that they displace the serious inquiries that we desperately need about the direction of our foreign policy.

The United States invaded Iraq more than a decade ago. The assault—with costs including nearly 4,500 US soldiers killed and more than $2 trillion and counting—destabilized the entire region. The Islamic State grew in the ruins. No viable government has been created, and US troops are going back in. We went after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan over a decade ago. Now Osama bin Laden is dead, but somehow the United States is becoming the guarantor of an Afghanistan government that can’t defend itself despite billions of dollars’ worth of arms and training. Obama now concedes that 5,500 troops or more will be staying on guard.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.