Sunday, September 16, 2012

Chris Stevens - American Warrior-Diplomat & Hero of the Libyan Revolution



                                                                       Chris Stevens


                        Chris Stevens - Eating native Libyan dish with locals shortly before he was killed

Chris Stevens – American Warrior Diplomat & Libyan Martyr

By William Kelly

Since they died for the same principles – freedom, liberty and justice, the names of Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods should be added to the Tripoli Monument at Annapolis, America’s first war memorial dedicated to the US Navy officers who died during the first war against the Barbary Pirates.

Stevens - the American hero of the Libyan Revolution, was a Peace Corp veteran and a dedicated diplomat who was sent into Benghazi to size up the revolutionary forces.

Arriving in Benghazi in the hold of a cargo ship, he met with all of the rebels, and tried to learn their true motives, beliefs and intentions. In breaking with the long held policy of backing dictators who support US economic, anti-communist and counter-terrorist policies, Stevens came down squarely on the side of the revolutionaries. He helped begin the political process that led to the US-NATO intervention, the establishment of the no-fly zone and saving the city of Benghazi from total destruction, as Gadhafi had done to other Libyan cities.

While most critics, mainly on the liberal left, decried the support of the rebels as an extension of the American war program as exercised in Iraq and Afghanistan, Stevens saw it in its proper historical context – the fight for liberty and freedom that went back over 200 years.

With the success of the revolution, Stevens was named the new US Ambassador to Libya, and was recognized as a true friend of the new Libya. One of the first public events Stevens did as ambassador was a Memorial Day 2012 ceremony at the graves of the American sailors from the USS Intrepid.

The USS Intrepid, a captured pirate ship, was used in a number of daring commando raids, that preceded the establishment of such special operations units like the Army Rangers and Navy SEALS. One mission on the Intrepid sank the captured frigate USS Philadelpha in Tripoli harbor. Then the Intrepid was converted into a fireship and sailed into Tripoli harbor at night with the intention of destroying the anchored pirate fleet. Instead the ship blew up prematurely and killed all thirteen men, including the commander, Lt. Richard Somers. Their remains were recovered and buried just off the beach near the old castle fort at Martyr’s Square, the epicenter of the Libyan revolution.

The only real martyrs buried at Tripoli’s Martyr’s Square are US Navy heroes killed fighting tyranny over two hundred years ago. And now those graves run the risk of being desecrated and destroyed while the US military conducts studies of the feasibility of repatriating their remains. 

Although these men were killed in action during the battle immortalized in the US Marine hymn, “to the shores of Tripoli,” they fought for the same reasons and principles we fight for today, and Stevens felt a personal affiliation with them, and in a sense, helped complete their mission.

The situation in 1804 was not that much different than it is today, as pirates were marauding American merchant ships off Africa and enslaving and ransoming their passengers and crew.  When tribute payments stopped, Yousef Karamanli, the chief pirate and tyrant of Tripoli, declared war against the United States by chopping down the flag pole outside home of the US counsel.

With the slogan of “Millions for defense but not once cent for tribute,” Americans decided to build a navy and fight the pirate, rather than pay the tributes and ransoms. Commodore Edward Preble led the American fleet in a blockade of Tripoli harbor, while William Eaton, the US Counsel to Egypt, convinced Hamid Karamanli, the deposed brother of the tyrant, to reclaim his kingdom. With Sergeant Presley O’Bannon and a squad of eight US Marines, a few hundred Greek Christians mercenaries and a cavalry of Bedouin tribesmen, the motley army marched across the desert and captured the eastern port city of Derna, much like Lawrence of Arabia captured Akaba. 


                                            William Eaton - American Warrior - Diplomat

After repelling a loyalist counterattack, Eaton, Hamid Karamanli, O’Bannon and their makeshift army, similar in their diversity to the 2012 revolutionaries, prepared to march on Tripoli. But before they did, another US diplomat, Tobias Lear accepted a peace treaty with Yousef Karamanli, paying him $60,000 ransom for the 300 US Navy prisoners from the captured frigate USS Philadelphia.

Paying the ransom was not only against the declared US policy, it also left Yousef Karamanli in power. When they learned of the treaty, Eaton, Karamanli, O’Bannon and the marines had to sneak out of Derna at night by boat and abandoned their army, much like the Cubans were abandoned at the Bay of Pigs. But in appreciation for fighting with him, Hamid Karamanli gave Sgt. Presley O’Bannon his Mamaluke sword, which was adopted as the official dress sword of the U.S. Marines.

Over a hundred and fifty years later, in 1949, present at an official ceremony at the graves of the men of the USS Intrepid, was Youself Karamanli, the mayor of Tripoli, namesake  and direct descendent of the tyrant who was the first to declare war against the United States.

From 1949 until Gadhafi seized power in 1969 the Tripoli graves of the men of the Intrepid were maintained by the Officer’s Wives Club of Wheelus Air Force. It wasn’t until Gadhafi renounced terrorism, paid off the victims of the Lockerbie bombing and turned over his weapons of mass destruction that US diplomats returned to Tripoli. And one of the first things they did was to conduct a ceremony at the graves of the Intrepid sailors and convince the Gadhafi government to restore the historic Old Protestant Cemetery.

In the meantime, the family of the Intrepid’s commander  Lt. Richard Somers of Somers Point, New Jersey petitioned the US Navy to repatriate the remains of Somers and his men, an effort that was joined by the family of the Intrepid’s second in command, Lt. Henry Wadsworth, uncle of Longfellow. Their efforts led to the inclusion of an article in the 2012 Defense Appropriation Act requiring the military conduct a feasibility study of repatriation of the remains of these men, a study that is due soon.

Shortly after the restoration of the cemetery, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visited Tripoli and stopped by the Intrepid graves to pay his respects to the American heroes buried there.

Then after the Arab Spring revolutions began in Tunisa and forced the outster of a number of dictators, the Gadhafi government arrested a Benghazi lawyer who represented over one thousand families of political prisoners Gadhafi had executed in one day. On February 17, 2010, less than one hundred, mostly women protested the arrest of their lawyer in Benghazi, a protest that, while it led to the release of the attorney, was joined by others, and the Libyan revolution was on.

While the US government officially supported Tunisia’s Ali, Mubarak of Egypt and Gadhafi, as they had agreed to support US economic and counter-terrorism policies, Chris Stevens was sent in to evaluate the rebels and find out who they were and what they represented. His reports greatly influenced US policy makers, especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,and the decision was made to forgo support for Gadhafi and back the rebels instead. It was a decision made at the same time Gadhafi’s military forces were about to level Benghazi, as they had other rebellious towns and cities.

This change in US policy, from support of friendly dictators to backing the democratic revolution to overthrow them, is a major change in American policy, and one that should be upheld in other countries controlled by dictators.

Stevens didn’t give his life for NATO, the UN or the Arab League, he died for the freedom, liberty and justice for the Libyan people – the same reasons that Richard Somers and the men of the Intrepid died, fighting the tyranny of Yousef Karamanli.

And in a sense, two hundred years after William Eaton's march on Triopli began and was thwarted by political diplomacy, Chris Stevens, an Army of one, was able to complete Eaton's mission and help his Libyan friends liberate Tripoli from a dictatorial dynasty.  

In recognition of the fact that Americans fight today for the same reasons that they fought for two hundred years ago, freedom – liberty – justice and democracy - the names of Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods should be added to the names of those American heroes inscribed on the Tripoli monument.

And the remains of the Naval heroes still buried in Tripoli should be repatriated home immediately and reburied with full military honors in a safe and secure location that can be visited by those who have been inspired by their actions.



                                                          Tripoli Monument at Annapolis 











Glen Doherty - American Hero



                                                                      Glen Doherty

By LEE FERRAN
Sept. 13, 2012


One of the Americans killed alongside Ambassador Christopher Stevens in an attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya Tuesday told ABC News before his death that he was working with the State Department on an intelligence mission to round up dangerous weapons in the war-torn nation.

In an interview with ABC News last month, Glen Doherty, a 42-year-old former Navy SEAL who worked as a contractor with the State Department, said he personally went into the field to track down so-called MANPADS, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, and destroy them. After the fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the State Department launched a mission to round up thousands of MANPADS that may have been looted from military installations across the country. U.S. officials previously told ABC News they were concerned the MANPADS could fall into the hands of terrorists, creating a threat to commercial airliners.

Doherty said that he traveled throughout Libya chasing reports of the weapons and once they were found, his team would destroy them on the spot by bashing them with hammers or repeatedly running them over with their vehicles. When ABC News spoke to Doherty in late August, he was enjoying a short time off in California before heading back to Libya just days ago.

The State Department declined to comment on Doherty's involvement in the MANPADS program, but pointed to a previous statement from State Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro in which he said the department was looking at "every possible tool to mitigate the threat."

According to military records provided to ABC News, Doherty joined the Navy in 1996 and was a combat medic and a decorated member of the elite SEAL teams by the time he left active duty in 2004. He's described in glowing terms as a top-tier SEAL and better friend in the book "The Red Circle," written by Doherty's longtime friend and SEAL sniper school partner, Brandon Webb.

"Glen was a superb and respected operator, a true quiet professional," Webb told ABC News today. "Don't feel sorry for him, he wouldn't have it. He died serving with men he respected, protecting the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and doing something he loved. He was my best friend and one of the finest human beings I've ever known."

Doherty's mother, Barbara, told ABC News' Boston affiliate WCVB she had been notified of her son's death late Wednesday.

"He was the most wonderful person," she said. "We are all in pain and suffering."

Ambassador Stevens and State Department information management officer Sean Smith were killed in the first wave of attacks in Benghazi when the building they were in was set on fire around 10 p.m. local time Tuesday, a senior administration official told reporters. Doherty was apparently one of two other Americans who were killed in a firefight nearly two hours later, while the facility was still under attack. The fourth victim was Tyrone S. Woods, also a former Navy SEAL, according to a State Department news release.

“I never thought he’d be another victim of 9/11,” his sister Katie Quigley told The Boston Globe.

Diplomatic service veteran Sean Smith was also killed. The name of the fourth victim has not yet been released.

Doherty, who was from the Boston suburbs, enlisted in the Navy at age 30 intending to become a SEAL. He served for seven years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Libya, he was working as a State Department contractor. His mission was to round up and destroy weapons.

BOSTON - A former Navy SEAL from a Boston suburb was one of four Americans who died in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya Wednesday.

Forty-two-year-old Glen Doherty was killed with U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, a family friend told CBS Boston on Thursday.

"He was on security detail and he was protecting the ambassador and also helping the wounded"' when he was killed, his sister, Katie Quigly told the Boston Globe.
Doherty was a 1988 graduate of Winchester High School.

A third victim has been identified as Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria.


(CNN) -- Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were former Navy SEAL commandos working as diplomatic security officers. Sean Smith was a computer expert with an online alter-ego legendary in the gaming world.

The three men and U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens died in the assault on the American consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Details of how they met their fates in the Mediterranean city that had been the cradle of Libya's 2011 revolution were just beginning to emerge Thursday.

On Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed Woods as among the dead. "Tyrone's friends and colleagues called him 'Rone,' and they relied on his courage and skill, honed over two decades as a Navy SEAL," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement.

"In uniform, he served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2010, he protected American diplomatic personnel in dangerous posts from Central America to the Middle East. He had the hands of a healer as well as the arm of a warrior, earning distinction as a registered nurse and certified paramedic. All our hearts go out to Tyrone's wife Dorothy and his three sons, Tyrone Jr., Hunter, and Kai, who was born just a few months ago."
A diplomatic source told CNN that Doherty was in Libya to search for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles -- a mission given high priority after the fall of longtime Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

Doherty grew up in Massachusetts with a passion for the outdoors, particularly the mountain West, his family said. Outside the family's home in Woburn, near Boston, his sister remembered him as "our American hero."

Glen lived his life to the fullest," Katie Quigley told reporters. "He was my brother, but if you ask his friends, he was their brother as well."

The 42-year-old graduated from high school in 1988 in neighboring Winchester, where flags were displayed at half-staff on Thursday. He played on the varsity tennis and wrestling teams, school officials said in an announcement marking his death. His junior-year English teacher, Judy Hession, recalled him as "bursting with life."

"Every day his huge smile and his happy-go-lucky optimism filled my classroom," Hession said in a statement released by the school district. "He got along with all types of people, was a class leader and, from the perspective of 30 years of teaching, one of my most memorable students."

After college in Arizona and stints as a "ski bum" and raft guide in Utah, Doherty joined the Navy and became a member of the elite Navy SEAL commandos in 1995, his family said in a statement. He had planned to leave the service after knee surgery in 2001, but after the al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, he "was not allowed to to leave and didn't want to," his family said.

Doherty served two tours of duty in Iraq, starting with the U.S. invasion in 2003, before leaving the military in 2005. He then became a private security contractor, working in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen -- a job that took a toll on his home life and contributed to a divorce, his family said.

He also joined the advisory board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that has battled religious intolerance in the U.S. armed forces. Its president, former Air Force officer Michael "Mikey" Weinstein, said he was "in a state of shock" after learning of Doherty's death.

"He was one of our most active advisory board members," Weinstein said. "I was surprised he was willing to come on and lend the gravitas that comes with being a Navy SEAL to our cause." Doherty's involvement "made it easier for others to come to us," Weinstein added.

He said Doherty believed the kind of violent jihadists American troops faced were "a very small percentage of the overall mosaic of the Muslim faith," and saw anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States and in the ranks as something that hurt U.S. national security.

"He went back to the Middle East because he cared deeply about the Muslim people, and because he cared about bringing freedom and democracy and human rights to the Middle East," Weinstein said. Doherty "was a kind and caring person, and I'm sure that he gave every last bit of his courage and strength" to defend the consulate and Stevens, he added.
"All this is going to do is light a further fire under us in Glen's name and memory to continue to fight for religious freedom and respect and tolerance."

He also co-authored a 2010 book, "The 21st-Century Sniper: A Complete Practical Guide," with former comrade Brandon Webb. In a statement accompanying the family's, Webb said, "Don't feel sorry for him, he wouldn't have it."

"He died serving with men he respected, protecting the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and doing something he loved," Webb said.

In her statement, Clinton said Doherty, a paramedic, was referred to as "Bub" by his friends and family. "In the end, he died the way he lived -- with selfless honor and unstinting valor," she said.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Chris Stevens - Another Victim of September 11th


Chris Stevens, US liaison to the Libyan rebels in Benghazi 





US Ambassador to Libya pays his respects at graves of sailors from USS Intrepid, 1804 


                           Chris Stevens, US Ambassador to Libya - September 11, 2012 - Benghazi



U.S. ambassador's killers must not go unpunished


Even words like shocking and outrageous fall short in characterizing the killings of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats Tuesday in Libya.

Stevens' killing, the first for a U.S. ambassador on duty since 1979, was all the more painful coming on the day when Americans marked the 9-11 anniversary.

Reports were emerging Wednesday that the attacks in Libya had been planned by terrorists, possibly linked to al-Qaida, who took advantage of the disruption created by a mob that stormed the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

The mob was protesting an American-made video that ridiculed and insulted Islam. It also sparked protests in Egypt, where thugs scaled the U.S. Embassy walls in Cairo to tear down the American flag and put up a black banner associated with radical Islamists.

The offensive video is amateurish, produced by a real-estate developer in California who calls Islam "a cancer." Reportedly he has slipped into hiding. How valiant of him.

There's a Florida connection to this story: Terry Jones, the Gainesville pastor notorious worldwide for preaching hate against Muslims, has been promoting the video. Jones incited deadly riots in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, first by threatening to burn copies of the Quran, then by incinerating one in his church.

The film and Jones' efforts to promote it are reprehensible, but they're no justification for murder. No expression of free speech is, no matter how offensive.

Stevens could not have been a less deserving target for hostility in the new Libya. At great personal risk, he served as the U.S. envoy to the rebels who rose up against and eventually toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year. Stevens had spent much of his career building better relations between the United States and countries in the Mideast and North Africa.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the attack in Libya was the work of "a small and savage group," not the Libyan government. Now it's up to that fledgling regime to take the lead on pursuing and punishing the cowards behind the crime, and to better protect diplomats on its soil. It'll be a test of whether Libya can be a reliable U.S. ally and a respectable member of the international community.

Other new governments, including Egypt's, also have a responsibility to ensure the safety of envoys from the United States and other countries on their soil.

Stevens' killing must not stand. If Libya's leaders cannot bring the culprits to justice, the U.S. must. The safety of America's diplomats, and the nation's continued resolve to fight terror, are at stake.

Copyright © 2012, Orlando Sentinel

U.S. vows to hunt down perpetrators of Benghazi attack
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 7:31 PM EDT, Wed September 12, 2012


Washington (CNN) -- The United States on Wednesday vowed to avenge the killings of its ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, moving warships toward the Libyan coast and preparing to track the suspected perpetrators with surveillance drones, officials said.

The slain ambassador, Chris Stevens, helped save Libya's eastern city of Benghazi during last year's revolution. He died there Tuesday night, along with another diplomat and two State Department security officers, when a mob stormed the U.S. Consulate and set it ablaze.

The Benghazi consulate was one of several American diplomatic missions that faced protests after the online release of a film that ridiculed Muslims and depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a child molester, womanizer and ruthless killer.

But U.S. sources said Wednesday the four-hour assault in Benghazi had been planned, with the attackers using the protest as a diversion.

"We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act," President Barack Obama said. "And make no mistake, justice will be done."

A senior U.S. official told CNN that American surveillance drones are expected to join the hunt for jihadists who may be tied to the attack. The drones are expected to gather intelligence that will be turned over to Libyan officials for strikes, the official said.

But two American destroyers also are being moved toward the Libyan coast, two U.S. officials told CNN. Both the USS Laboon and USS McFaul are equipped with satellite-guided Tomahawk cruise missiles that can be programmed to hit specific targets.

The move "will give the administration flexibility" in case the administration orders action against targets inside Libya, one senior official said. The McFaul was making a port call on Mediterranean island of Crete, while the Laboon was outside Gibraltar, a few days away from Libya.

Libya's leaders apologized for the attack, with Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib calling it a "cowardly, criminal act." And Obama said that despite the inflammatory movie, the violence was unwarranted.

"Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others," he said. "But there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence -- none."


U.S. and NATO warplanes helped the Benghazi-based rebellion drive on Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi last August. The jihadists suspected in Tuesday night's attack "are a very small minority" who are taking advantage of a fledgling democracy, Ali Suleiman Aujali, the Libyan ambassador the United States, told CNN's "Amanpour."

"The good thing about this is the majority -- 95, 98% of the Libyan people -- care not for this," he said.

Sources tracking militant Islamist groups in eastern Libya say a pro-al Qaeda group responsible for a previous armed assault on the Benghazi consulate is the chief suspect. A senior defense official told CNN the drones would be part of "a stepped-up, more focused search" for a particular insurgent cell that may have been behind the killings.

The FBI also is investigating, the bureau said Wednesday.

In June, a senior Libyan official told CNN that U.S. controllers were already flying the unmanned craft over suspected jihadist training camps in eastern Libya because of concerns about rising activity by al Qaeda and like-minded groups in the region.


Tuesday's attack took place on the 11th anniversary of the al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington. But White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said assigning any motive for the attack was "premature."

"As the president said, make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people." Vietor said.

Gunfire erupted outside the consulate about 10 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), senior administration officials told reporters. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the attackers broke into the consulate compound about 15 minutes later.

The main building was set ablaze by a rocket-propelled grenade, a senior U.S. official familiar with the details told CNN earlier. Three people -- Stevens, Foreign Service information management officer Sean Smith and a U.S. security officer -- were inside at the time, according to the senior administration officials who briefed reporters Wednesday afternoon.

The security officer managed to get out and brought others back to retrieve Smith and Stevens, the officials said, but they found Smith dead and Stevens missing. The ambassador's body was handed over to U.S. personnel at the airport after dawn, the officials said.

"There are reports out there that I cannot confirm that he was brought to the hospital by Libyans who found him," one of the officials said. "Obviously, he had to get there somehow. No Americans were responsible for that."


Two U.S. security guards were killed and two more wounded in the next hour, as they attempted to re-establish control of the consulate compound. Libyan security forces helped retake the complex about 2:30 a.m., the officials said.

American sources could not say whether the attackers instigated the protest or merely took advantage of it, and they say they don't believe Stevens was specifically targeted.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dispatched Stevens to Libya to be the American link to rebel forces battling to overthrow Gadhafi.


"He arrived on a cargo ship in the port of Benghazi and began building our relationships with Libya's revolutionaries," Clinton said Wednesday. "He risked his life to stop a tyrant, then gave his life trying to build a better Libya."

At a Washington news conference held by American religious leaders to condemn both the violence and the anti-Muslim film, Aujali called Stevens "the right man for the right position for the right time."

"He believed in the Libyan people," said Aujali, who said Stevens was a personal friend. "He believed that America should support the Libyan people to get their country back. We need to practice democracy like other nations in the world."


Clinton said Smith was a 10-year veteran of the State Department, a husband and a father of two. The two other victims had not been named Wednesday evening as the government worked to contact their families.

Clinton said their deaths are "not easy." But she added, "We must be clear-eyed even in our grief."

"This was an attack by a small and savage group, not the people or government of Libya. Everywhere Chris and his team went in Libya, in a country scarred by war and tyranny, they were hailed as friends and partners. And when the attack came yesterday, Libyans stood and fought to defend our post."

Meanwhile, the protests over the video resumed Wednesday night in Egypt, where several men scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down its American flag on Tuesday. Police used tear gas on protesters outside Cairo embassy and in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolt that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.


Stevens spoke Arabic and French and was among the first U.S. diplomats sent to Libya in 2007, when Washington and Tripoli resumed ties. He was the sixth U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of service, while two others have died in plane crashes.

The last time an American ambassador was murdered was in 1979, when the envoy to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped and killed during an attempt to rescue him, according to State Department records.


SEPTEMBER 12, 2012


The Driving Force Behind Anti-Americanism
Humiliation and Rage in Libya
by VIJAY PRASHAD

Al-Nass (The People), and other television channels of “Satellite Salafism,” broadcast news of a year old mediocre film trailer about the life of the Prophet Mohammad, made by an Israeli-Californian and championed by a Florida-based Christian pastor. Across the waters, radicals spurred each other on. The reactions in Cairo and Benghazi were swift. Crowds formed in front of the US embassy in Egypt and the US consulate in Libya, storming them, and, in Benghazi, a rocket-fired grenade – it seems – killed four US officials, including the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.

The crowds in both Cairo and Benghazi included not only radical Islamists, but also groups such as Egypt’s Ultras, the soccer fan club that played an important role in the 2011 revolution. The media has concentrated on the presence of bearded men and black flags to paint these protests as the work of Salafis, and to point the finger at Ansar al-Shariah and other fringe groups. The black flag (the banner of the eagle) does not, of course, belong solely to al-Qaeda or even to Islamic radicalism. It has become a commonplace symbol used by those who want a more robust Islamic presence in the public sphere as well as by those who want to live under an Islamic theocracy. Both claim the flag, so its presence is not conclusive about the currents that took part in this, and other such events. It will take time to fully understand the roots of such violent acts, after careful forensic reporting on those who came to the protests. Nevertheless, some preliminary observations can be made regarding the ongoing social convulsions, at least in the Libyan case.

Benghazi’s Long Resentment of the West

This is not the first such protest in Benghazi, the eastern city of Libya. Over the course of this year, tumult has been the order of the day. In January, a crowd stormed the headquarters of the National Transitional Council. In April, a bomb was thrown at a convoy that included the head of the UN Mission to Libya, and another bomb exploded at a courthouse. In May, a rocket was fired at the Red Cross office. A convoy carrying the head of the British consulate was attacked in June, and since then the consulate has been abandoned. In August, a pipe bomb exploded in front of the US consulate building.

Frustration with the West is commonplace amongst sections of society, who are not Gaddafi loyalists, but on the contrary fought valiantly in the 2011 civil war against Gaddafi. The NATO intervention did not mollify a much more fundamental grievance they have against the US-UK, namely the sense of humiliation of the Arab world against the arrogance of Western domination in cultural and political terms.

An earlier incident helps to highlight this point. In late 2005, protests across the world took place in reaction to a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, publishing cartoons that demeaned the Prophet Mohammad. This upsurge came to eastern Libya in early 2006. An Italian minister, Roberto Calderoli, wore a t-shirt that bore that offensive cartoon. A demonstration of more than 1,000 people, mainly political Islamists and pious Muslims, gathered in front of the Italian consulate in Benghazi on 17 February 2006. The Gaddafi regime sent in its armed police, who opened fire, killing 11. After the police firing, a section of the middle-class that was not sympathetic to the Islamists turned against the Gaddafi regime. Intellectuals such as Fathi Terbil, Terbil Salwa and Idris al-Mesmari joined a platform to bring justice not only to the families of the slain in 2006, but also for the families of those members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and others who were massacred in Abu Salim prison in 1996.

To commemorate the slain on the fifth anniversary of the firing, on 17 February 2011, Terbil and others organized a demonstration in Benghazi. It was to block this protest that Terbil was arrested on February 15, and it was to demand his release that the crowds came out in Benghazi inaugurating the major upsurge against Gaddafi in 2011. Gaddafi lost control of the entire eastern part of the country within a week. The social roots of humiliation played an important part in the February Revolution in Libya.

Western Support for Gaddafi Not Forgotten

The protests were not just about the cartoons. They were also about the 1996 massacre in Abu Salim prison and about the collaboration of the Gaddafi regime with the War on Terror. From the late 1980s, Gaddafi’s regime had harshly repressed any signs of political Islam. Prisons were filled with bearded men, and there was no tolerance for any dissent amongst the population along Islamic lines. This is the reason why LIFG members fled the country for Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and of course Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Gaddafi regime was not able to reach the militants of the LIFG and associated bodies because it had no capacity to reach them in those far off locales.

After 9/11, when the West wanted to outsource torture to prisons outside its direct control, Gaddafi (like Mubarak and Syria’s Assad) offered his services. In March 2004, the US opened a diplomatic mission in Tripoli, and the CIA opened up an office there as well. Later that month, Tony Blair came to Libya, the first British prime minister to visit the country since 1943, and he spent considerable time talking about commercial interests (to get Shell its oil concessions) and the “common cause” in fighting terrorism. Blair was excited to meet Gaddafi (the “Leader,” as the British faxes to Tripoli put it) in his tent because “journalists would love it. If this is possible, No. 10 would be grateful.” As quid pro quo, the British organized the “rendition” of LIFG militants into the hands of the Gaddafi regime. “This was the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over the years,” wrote Sir Mark Allen, head of Britain’s MI6 to Gaddafi’s henchman Moussa Koussa on 18 March 2004. The specific matter here was the “safe arrival of Abu Abdallah Sadiq,” the nom de plume of Abdul Hakim Belhadj, former emir of LIFG and now leader of the al-Watan political party (and a crucial leader of the military part of the 2011 Revolution).

A comprehensive Human Rights Watch report, Delivered into Enemy Hands: US-Led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya, released last week details the stories of a number of the leading figures who were arrested around the world, tortured in US-run prisons in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and then delivered back to Libya. They were handed over to the Libyan authorities with full-awareness that they were going to be tortured or even killed. Belhadj and his wife, Fatima Bouchar (four months pregnant at the time), were picked up in Malaysia and allegedly tortured by the CIA in Bangkok, Thailand. Bouchar told Human Rights Watch, “They knew I was pregnant. It was obvious,” and yet, she, who had no affiliations with any militant groups, was chained up and given no food for five days. The couple were then taken to Libya. In one fax, the CIA thanks the Libyan security service for its “hospitality” and says that its visit was “very productive.” When the couple arrived in Libya, Moussa Koussa chillingly greeted Belhadj, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

In April 2012, Belhadj told the European Parliament, “All we seek is justice. We hope the new Libya, freed from its dictator, will have positive relationships with the West. But this relationship must be built on respect and justice. Only by admitting and apologizing for past mistakes can we move forward together as friends.” People like Belhadj stand for a social section that has had its dignity compromised by Western actions. A longing for dignity drives revolts. It is what compelled the rebellion against Gaddafi’s regime. It is what remains a major catalyst for unrest in the region against Western interests, particularly since there will be no apology for the rendition program or for the close, even servile, collaboration with the Gaddafi regime from, at least, 2003 to 2011. Gaddafi’s henchman, Moussa Koussa was spirited off on a British military plane in March 2011, payback for his services to MI6, and now lives in a comfortable bungalow in Doha, Qatar. Neither he, nor his friend Sir Mark Allen, nor the CIA’s Steve Kappes, will ever have to admit to what they did, apologize for it, or be charged with grave violations of international law.

The humiliations accumulate without outlet.

Libyan Rage Despite Elections

The elections in July heralded an opening for Libya. The results were celebrated in the West, since it seemed that unlike Tunisia and Egypt, the Islamists had not garnered the fruits of the revolts. The neo-liberal sections, led by Mahmoud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance won a majority. Jibril had been the political face of the Libyan Diaspora. After a career in the Gulf, he returned to Libya in the 2000s at the urging of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who wanted to convert his country into a “Kuwait on the Mediterranean.” When things did not work out as planned, Jibril got frustrated. He had no political base. When the rebellion broke out, Jibril threw in his lot with it, and thanks to NATO intervention, was able to use his affinity with the West to put himself into a position of political power. His victory in the polls vindicated NATO, which now felt that it had its man in charge – open to sweetheart deals for Western oil companies and eager to push further the neo-liberal agenda that was constrained five years ago.

The rules for the July elections provided Jibril’s Alliance with a clear road to victory. Only 80 of the parliament’s 200 seats could be contested by political parties, with the rest were to be filled with independents. That was always going to be an advantage for Jibril’s Alliance because it could attract these parliamentarians into its bloc. The whiff of proximity to the West, and the fears of Islamism, helped cement that linkage. Very strict rules against the Muslim Brotherhood’s use of its primary ideology constrained Belhadj’s political force, the Justice and Construction Party (JCP), from moving its own agenda. Furthermore, disagreements between two central Islamist leaders, Ali al-Salabi and Belhadj, prevented the JCP from fighting the election with robust unity.

Gaddafi’s anti-Islamist propaganda of the past two decades certainly has not dissolved, and with only 18 days to run an election campaign, it was clear that the JCP would not have been able to make inroads into sections who remain suspicious of it, and are yet sympathetic to its general orientation. That is to say, they might not share its tendency toward theocracy, but it does share its frustrations at what is perceived to be the Arab world’s enduring humiliation at the hands of the West. Jibril does not know how to address this humiliation, comfortable as he is with the Western agenda. The results of the July elections, therefore, are not representative of the social character of the country, where political Islam plays an important role. Talk of the “defeat” of the Islamists in the ballot box further inflames a section that believes that it remains integral to the future of Libya.

It is too early to make a full judgment about the attack on the US consulate. Details are slowly emerging about the nature of the protest and the firing of the grenade at the consular building itself. But it is not too early to assert that the protest emerged out of a long-standing sense of humiliation and anger, at the sanctification of Islamophobia in the West and at the failure of the political institutions in the new North Africa to take into consideration the sacrifices and the programs of the Islamists.

Vijay Prashad’s new book, Arab Spring, Libyan Winter , is published by AK Press.
This article originally appeared in Al-Akhbar.

U.S. sends marines, warships to Libya after attack kills U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, 3 others
Originally published: September 12, 2012 7:46 AM
Updated: September 12, 2012 7:50 PM
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


BENGHAZI, Libya - The U.S. dispatched an elite group of Marines along with two warships to Tripoli on Wednesday following a mob attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. U.S. officials are investigating whether the violence — initially blamed on an anti-Islamic video — was a terrorist attack planned to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11.

Tuesday's stunning attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi poses a daunting task for U.S. and Libyan investigators: searching for the culprits in a city rife with heavy weapons, multiple militias, armed Islamist groups and little police control.

The one-story villa that serves as the consulate was a burned-out wreck after the crowd armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades rampaged through it. Slogans of "God is great" and "Muhammad is God's Prophet" were scrawled across its scorched walls. Libyan civilians strolled freely in charred rooms with furniture and papers strewn everywhere.

President Barack Obama vowed in a Rose Garden address that the U.S. would "work with the Libyan government to bring to justice" those who killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, information manager Sean Smith and two other Americans who were not identified. Three other Americans were wounded.

Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador killed in the line of duty in 30 years.

"We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, but there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence. None," said Obama, who also ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic posts abroad.

Republican Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration of showing weakness in the consulate killings, but the president retorted that his rival "seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later." Some in the GOP called Romney's remarks hasty.

The mob attack was initially presumed to have been a spontaneous act triggered by outrage over a movie mocking Islam's Prophet Muhammad that was produced in the U.S. and excerpted on YouTube. The video also drew protests in Cairo, where angry ultraconservatives climbed the U.S. Embassy's walls, tore down an American flag and replaced it with an Islamic banner.

But a U.S. counterterrorism official said the Benghazi violence was "too coordinated or professional" to be spontaneous. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.

The FBI was sending evidence teams to Libya, a law enforcement official said.

Libya's new leadership — scrambling to preserve ties with Washington after U.S. help to overthrow former dictator Moammar Gadhafi — vowed to find those behind the attack. Interim President Mohammed el-Megarif apologized to the United States for what he called the "cowardly" assault, which also killed several Libyan security guards at the consulate in the eastern city.

Parliament speaker Omar al-Houmidan suggested the attack might have been planned, saying the mob "may have had foreign loyalties" — an apparent reference to international terrorists. "We are not sure. Everything is possible," he said.

A Libyan jihadist group, the Omar Abdel-Rahman Brigades, claimed responsibility for a bomb that went off outside the Benghazi consulate in June, causing no injuries. The group, which also carried out several attacks on the International Red Cross in Libya, said at the time that the bomb was revenge for the killing of al-Qaida's No. 2, Abu Yahya al-Libi, in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan.

About 50 U.S. Marines were sent to Libya to guard U.S. diplomatic facilities. The Marines are members of an elite group known as a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, or FAST, whose role is to respond on short notice to terrorism threats and to reinforce security at embassies.

The Marines, sent from a base in Spain, were headed initially to the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, not to Benghazi, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

The consulate attack illustrated the breakdown in security in Libya, where the government is still trying to establish authority months after Gadhafi's fall.

There also were indications that two distinct attacks took place — one on the consulate, then a second hours later early Wednesday on a nearby house to which the staff had been evacuated.

The crowd of several thousand that descended on the consulate was armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, said Wanis el-Sharef, the deputy interior minister of Libya's eastern region.

A small contingent of Libyan security protecting the facility fired in the air, trying to intimidate the mob. But faced with superior size and firepower, the Libyan security withdrew, el-Sharef said. Gunmen stormed the building, looted its contents and torched it, he said.

Details of how the Americans were killed were still unclear.

Stevens, 52, and a consulate staffer who had stayed behind in the building died in the initial attack, el-Sharef said. The rest of the staff successfully evacuated to a nearby building, preparing to move to Benghazi Airport after daybreak to fly to the capital of Tripoli, he said.

Hours after the storming of the consulate, a separate group of gunmen attacked the other building, opening fire on the more than 30 Americans and Libyans inside. Two more Americans were killed, he said.

Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid, who treated Stevens, told The Associated Press that he died of asphyxiation, apparently from smoke. In a sign of the chaos, Stevens was brought by Libyans to the Benghazi Medical Center with no other Americans, and no one at the facility knew who he was, Abu Zeid said.

He said he tried to revive Stevens for about 90 minutes "with no success." The ambassador was bleeding in his stomach because of the asphyxiation but had no other injuries, the doctor said.

Widely regarded as one of the most effective American envoys to the Arab world, Stevens brokered tribal disputes and conducted U.S. outreach efforts in Jerusalem, Cairo, Damascus and Riyadh. As a rising star in U.S. foreign policy, he retuned to Libya four months ago, determined to see a democracy rise where Gadhafi's dictatorship flourished for four decades.

Smith, 34, was an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria. Smith was also well-known in the video game community.

The bloodshed stunned many Libyans, especially since Stevens was a popular envoy among different factions and politicians, including Islamists, and was seen as a supporter of their uprising against Gadhafi.

The leader of Ansar al-Shariah, an armed ultraconservative Islamist group, denied any involvement in the attack.

"We never approve of killing civilians, especially those who helped us," Youssef Jihani said in a reference to Stevens. "We are well-educated and religious."

The violence in Libya raised worries that further protests could break out around the Muslim world, but the reaction was limited.

The two-hour movie that sparked the Cairo protests, titled "Innocence of Muslims," came to attention in Egypt after its trailer was dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube. The video-sharing website blocked access to it Wednesday. The trailer depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

In Cairo, some 200 Islamists staged a second day of protest outside the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday, but there were no more attempts to scale the embassy walls. After nightfall, the group dwindled and some protesters scuffled with police, who fired tear gas and dispersed them, emptying the streets.

In a statement on his official Facebook page, Egypt's Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, condemned the movie, saying the government was responsible for protecting diplomatic missions as well as the freedom of speech and peaceful protest.

But, he added, authorities "will confront with full determination any irresponsible attempt to break the law."

Romney's criticism of Obama didn't mesh completely with events in Cairo.

A U.S. Embassy statement that Romney referred to as akin to apology was issued by the Cairo embassy at midday on Tuesday at a time the staff was aware of still-peaceful demonstrations nearby. It was four or five hours later when the mob breached the compound's walls and tried to burn a U.S. flag, and later still when the Libya attack happened.

The embassy statement condemned "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions," and noted that religious freedom is a cornerstone of American democracy.

About 50 protesters burned American flags outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia's capital Wednesday but were kept away from the building by reinforced security. And in Gaza City, dozens of protesters carrying swords, axes and black flags chanted "Shame on everyone who insults the prophet." The rally was organized by supporters of a militant group aligned with the ruling Hamas movement.

Afghanistan's government sought to avert any protests. President Hamid Karzai condemned the movie, and authorities also temporarily shut down access to YouTube, said Aimal Marjan, general director of Information Technology at the Ministry of Communications.

A man identifying himself as Sam Bacile, a 56-year-old California real estate developer, said he wrote, produced and directed the movie.

He told the AP he was an Israeli Jew and an American citizen. But Israeli officials said they had not heard of Bacile and there was no record of him being a citizen. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not permitted to share personal information with the media.

Separately, the film was being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States

Broken pots and rubble lie at the burned-out entrance to the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, following an attack the night before by protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in the attack. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Alaguri)

US sends Marines to Libya after deadly attack
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press  / September 12, 2012


BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — The U.S. dispatched an elite group of Marines to Tripoli on Wednesday following a mob attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. U.S. officials are investigating whether the violence was a backlash to an anti-Islamic video with ties to Coptic Christians, or a plot to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11.

Tuesday’s stunning attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi poses a daunting task for U.S. and Libyan investigators: searching for the culprits in a city rife with heavy weapons, multiple militias, armed Islamist groups and little police control.

The one-story villa that serves as the consulate was a burned-out wreck after the crowd armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades rampaged through it. Slogans of ‘‘God is great’’ and ‘‘Muhammad is God’s Prophet’’ were scrawled across its scorched walls. Libyan civilians strolled freely in charred rooms with furniture and papers strewn everywhere.

President Barack Obama vowed in a Rose Garden address that the U.S. would ‘‘work with the Libyan government to bring to justice’’ those who killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, information manager Sean Smith and two other Americans who were not identified. Three other Americans were wounded.

Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador killed in the line of duty in 30 years.

‘‘We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, but there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence. None,’’ said Obama, who also ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic posts abroad.

Republican Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration of showing weakness in the consulate killings, but the president retorted that his rival ‘‘seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later.’’ Some in the GOP called Romney’s remarks hasty.

The mob attack on Tuesday — the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strike in the U.S. — was initially presumed to have been a spontaneous act triggered by outrage over a movie called ‘‘Innocence of Muslims’’ that mocked Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that was produced in the U.S. and excerpted on YouTube. The amateurish video also drew protests in Cairo, where angry ultraconservatives climbed the U.S. Embassy’s walls, tore down an American flag and replaced it with an Islamic banner.

But a U.S. counterterrorism official said the Benghazi violence was ‘‘too coordinated or professional’’ to be spontaneous. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.

The FBI was sending evidence teams to Libya, a law enforcement official said.

Libya’s new leadership — scrambling to preserve ties with Washington after U.S. help to overthrow former dictator Moammar Gadhafi — vowed to find those behind the attack. Interim President Mohammed el-Megarif apologized to the United States for what he called the ‘‘cowardly’’ assault, which also killed several Libyan security guards at the consulate in the eastern city.

Parliament speaker Omar al-Houmidan suggested the attack might have been planned, saying the mob ‘‘may have had foreign loyalties’’ — an apparent reference to international terrorists. ‘‘We are not sure. Everything is possible,’’ he said.

A Libyan jihadist group, the Omar Abdel-Rahman Brigades, claimed responsibility for a bomb that went off outside the Benghazi consulate in June, causing no injuries. The group, which also carried out several attacks on the International Red Cross in Libya, said at the time that the bomb was revenge for the killing of al-Qaida’s No. 2, Abu Yahya al-Libi, in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan.

About 50 U.S. Marines were sent to Libya to guard U.S. diplomatic facilities. The Marines are members of an elite group known as a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, or FAST, whose role is to respond on short notice to terrorism threats and to reinforce security at embassies.

The Marines, sent from a base in Spain, were headed initially to the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, not to Benghazi, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

The consulate attack illustrated the breakdown in security in Libya, where the government is still trying to establish authority months after Gadhafi’s fall.

There also were indications that two distinct attacks took place — one on the consulate, then a second hours later early Wednesday on a nearby house to which the staff had been evacuated.

The crowd of several thousand that descended on the consulate was armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, said Wanis el-Sharef, the deputy interior minister of Libya’s eastern region

A small contingent of Libyan security protecting the facility fired in the air, trying to intimidate the mob. But faced with superior size and firepower, the Libyan security withdrew, el-Sharef said. Gunmen stormed the building, looted its contents and torched it, he said.

Details of how the Americans were killed were still unclear.

Stevens, 52, and a consulate staffer who had stayed behind in the building died in the initial attack, el-Sharef said. The rest of the staff successfully evacuated to a nearby building, preparing to move to Benghazi Airport after daybreak to fly to the capital of Tripoli, he said.

Hours after the storming of the consulate, a separate group of gunmen attacked the other building, opening fire on the more than 30 Americans and Libyans inside. Two more Americans were killed, he said.

Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid, who treated Stevens, told The Associated Press that he died of asphyxiation, apparently from smoke. In a sign of the chaos, Stevens was brought by Libyans to the Benghazi Medical Center with no other Americans, and no one at the facility knew who he was, Abu Zeid said.

He said he tried to revive Stevens for about 90 minutes ‘‘with no success.’’ The ambassador was bleeding in his stomach because of the asphyxiation but had no other injuries, the doctor said.

Widely regarded as one of the most effective American envoys to the Arab world, Stevens brokered tribal disputes and conducted U.S. outreach efforts in Jerusalem, Cairo, Damascus and Riyadh. As a rising star in U.S. foreign policy, he retuned to Libya four months ago, determined to see a democracy rise where Gadhafi’s dictatorship flourished for four decades.

Smith, 34, was an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria. Smith was also well-known in the video game community.

The bloodshed stunned many Libyans, especially since Stevens was a popular envoy among different factions and politicians, including Islamists, and was seen as a supporter of their uprising against Gadhafi.

The leader of Ansar al-Shariah, an armed ultraconservative Islamist group, denied any involvement in the attack.

‘‘We never approve of killing civilians, especially those who helped us,’’ Youssef Jihani said in a reference to Stevens. ‘‘We are well-educated and religious.’’

The violence in Libya raised worries that further protests could break out around the Muslim world, but the reaction was limited.

The movie, ‘‘Innocence of Muslims,’’ came to attention in Egypt after its trailer was dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube. The video-sharing website blocked access to it Wednesday. The trailer depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

In Cairo, some 200 Islamists staged a second day of protest outside the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday, but there were no more attempts to scale the embassy walls. After nightfall, the group dwindled and some protesters scuffled with police, who fired tear gas and dispersed them, emptying the streets.

In a statement on his official Facebook page, Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, condemned the movie, saying the government was responsible for protecting diplomatic missions as well as the freedom of speech and peaceful protest.

But, he added, authorities ‘‘will confront with full determination any irresponsible attempt to break the law.’’

Romney’s criticism of Obama didn’t mesh completely with events in Cairo.
A U.S. Embassy statement that Romney referred to as akin to apology was issued by the Cairo embassy at midday on Tuesday at a time the staff was aware of still-peaceful demonstrations nearby. It was four or five hours later when the mob breached the compound’s walls and tried to burn a U.S. flag, and later still when the Libya attack happened.

The embassy statement condemned ‘‘the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions,’’ and noted that religious freedom is a cornerstone of American democracy.

About 50 protesters burned American flags outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia’s capital Wednesday but were kept away from the building by reinforced security. And in Gaza City, dozens of protesters carrying swords, axes and black flags chanted ‘‘Shame on everyone who insults the prophet.’’ The rally was organized by supporters of a militant group aligned with the ruling Hamas movement.

Afghanistan’s government sought to avert any protests. President Hamid Karzai condemned the movie, and authorities also temporarily shut down access to YouTube, said Aimal Marjan, general director of Information Technology at the Ministry of Communications.

The search for those behind ‘‘Innocence of Muslims’’ led to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production.

A man identifying himself as Sam Bacile told the AP on Tuesday that he wrote, produced and directed the film.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told the AP in an interview outside Los Angeles that he was manager for the company that produced ‘‘Innocence of Muslims.’’

Nakoula denied directing the film and said he knew Bacile. But the cellphone number that the AP used Tuesday to reach the man who identified himself as Bacile was traced to the same address near Los Angeles where the AP found Nakoula. Federal court papers said Nakoula’s aliases included Nicola Bacily, Erwin Salameh and others.

Nakoula told the AP that he was a Coptic Christian and said the film’s director supported the concerns of Christian Copts about their treatment by Muslims.

Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

Nakoula denied posing as Bacile. During a conversation outside his home, he offered his driver’s license to show his identity but kept his thumb over his middle name, Basseley. Records checks by the AP subsequently found the name ‘‘Basseley’’ and other connections to the Bacile persona.

Bacile told the AP he was an Israeli-born, 56-year-old, Jewish writer and director. But a Christian activist involved in the film project, Steve Klein, said Wednesday that ‘‘Bacile’’ was a pseudonym, that he was not Jewish or Israeli, and a group of Americans of Mideast origin collaborated on the film. Officials in Israel also said there was no record of Bacile as an Israeli citizen.

And even though Bacile told AP he was 56, he identified himself on his YouTube profile as 74. Bacile also said he is a real estate developer, but his name does not appear in searches of California state licenses, including the Department of Real Estate.

Film industry groups and permit agencies said they had no records of ‘‘Innocence of Muslims.’’ A man who answered a phone listed for the Vine Theater, a faded Hollywood movie house, confirmed the movie had run for a least a day, and possibly longer, several months ago, arranged by a customer known as ‘‘Sam.’’

Michael reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Esam Mohamed in Tripoli, Matthew Lee and Stephen Braun in Washington, Gillian Flaccus in Los Angeles, Joseph Federman in Jerusalem and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.