WHERE COMPETENCE IS INSUFFICIENT, FEAR MUST SUFFICE: Fear of ‘Another Benghazi’ Drove White House to Airstrikes in Iraq. I disagree, however, that Obama has had a “longstanding reluctance to use military force.” He was quick to use it in Libya, and he was eager to use it in Syria until Putin outsmarted him. He is, perhaps, reluctant to use military force when it’s obviously in America’s interest, but that’s a different thing.