tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33229431798256278782024-03-13T13:09:08.406-04:00Revolutionary ProgramWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.comBlogger633125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-71741733481311175702016-03-15T12:22:00.001-04:002016-03-15T12:22:13.810-04:00Arab Women at Yarmuk - A Battle that Changed the World <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Moment of Battle – The Twenty
Clashes that Changed the World</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">, by James
Lacey and Williamson Murray (Random House, 2013) p. 112-115<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Yarmuk – The Islamic Conquest Beings
636 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“In 629, the Prophet Muhammad,
taking advantage of a truce between himself and his mortal enemies, the Quraysh
tribe, took time to send a series of ultimatums to the kings of Persia, Yeman,
and Ethiopia and the Byzantine emperor Heracles: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">‘Peace be upon him, he who follows
the right path. Furthermore I invite thee to Islam; become a Muslim and thou
shalt be safe, and God will double thy reward, and thou reject this invitation,
thou shalt bear the sins of persecuting Arians.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The Battle of Yarmuk began on August
15, 636 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Believing his men would be
reluctant to abandon their wives and children to Byzantine mercy, he ordered
them to pitch camp directly behind the Arab battle formation. As the women
arrayed themselves, Abu Ubaidah visited the various camps, giving instructions
to the women: ‘Take tent poles in your hands and gather heaps of stones. If we
win all is well. But if you see a Muslim running away from battle, strike him
in the face with a tent pole, pelt him with stones…’ The women prepared
accordingly.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“…On the third Slavic charge, the
Arab line broke. An Arab cavalry charge slowed the Byzantine pursuit just long
enough to give the retreating Arabs time to reach their camp. Here they
encountered something more fearsome than the Slavs – their own wives….the women
screamed curses in an attempt to shame the fleeing Arab force. When this failed
to stem the Arab flight, the women assaulted them, as they had been instructed,
with stones and tent poles. ‘This was more than the proud warriors could take.
Indignant at their treatment, they turned back from the camp and advanced in
blazing anger.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: PMingLiU; mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“It
is one of the quirks of history that the Muslim invasions struck at what may
have been the only time they had the slightest chance of success….It is one of
the great what-ifs of history to ask what would have become of the Islamic faith
if the Byzantines had won at Yarmuk. At the very least, they would have
repelled the Islamic tide early, and the Arab-Islamic civilization that now
dominates from the Bosporus to the Strait of Gibraltar would not exist. The
entire Mediterranean would have remained culturally Greco-Roman and Christian,
and if it survived at all, Islam itself would arguably have been relegated to
the deserts of Arabia.” </span></div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-5664364987828947902013-11-01T03:04:00.002-04:002013-11-01T03:04:29.344-04:00Libyan Golf Report <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlJQGyQqSrzzbrietAF3W7PPpnhspjlck9FLqcJiwcUzGseydC4occIar85fP_PsM_Tv1JuvPrfq3y-uvr2cWm6nX9p-QmJBTlGeKolw_rnL86uQflqUUZgDvFy1KIs-3bFJJh_2Svvg/s1600/me03_big%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlJQGyQqSrzzbrietAF3W7PPpnhspjlck9FLqcJiwcUzGseydC4occIar85fP_PsM_Tv1JuvPrfq3y-uvr2cWm6nX9p-QmJBTlGeKolw_rnL86uQflqUUZgDvFy1KIs-3bFJJh_2Svvg/s320/me03_big%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saudi Gazette </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Perpetual Rough of Libyan Golf <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">November 1, 2013 </span><br />
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Course is mostly empty save workers, scavenging dog<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gunfire can break concentration, lower score<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ousted leader Qaddafi discouraged golf<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marie-Louise Gumuchian</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20131101185394"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20131101185394</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TRIPOLI </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">— Among the rubbish-strewn bushes and occasional bullet
shells on the rocky ground, nine flimsy flags flapping in the breeze mark the
holes of a golf course along Tripoli’s Mediterranean coast.<br />
<br />
The occasional volley of automatic rifle fire in the distance is yet another of
the unique “hazards”, and a reminder of the chaos that still reigns in many
parts of Libya.<br />
<br />
The course is mostly empty except for a few workers building what one day may
become a clubhouse and a dog sniffing discarded <a href="http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20131101185394"><span style="color: blue;">water
bottles</span></a>, fish bones and trash peppering the fairway.<br />
<br />
This is not the lush greenery of Augusta or St. Andrews but for Libya’s golf
fans the small course in the capital’s upmarket Gargaresh area is one of a
handful where they can get a game.<br />
<br />
Libya, a desert state apart from its coastal north, has no grass <a href="http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20131101185394"><span style="color: blue;">courses</span></a>,
just sand ones where the distinction between fairway and rough is extremely
tenuous.<br />
<br />
A wilderness of rocks, bushes and rubbish — and now empty bullet shells
following the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Qaddafi — the course could be
described as one perpetual rough.<br />
<br />
“The first time I played after the revolution, you looked for your ball among
pieces of metal, scrap, bullet cases,” said David Bachmann, former commercial
counselor at the Austrian Embassy in Tripoli.<br />
<br />
“It was all kinds of weird things you would not normally expect in the rough of
a golf course.”<br />
<br />
Drives streak across arrow-straight fairways from tees that consist of brick
platforms covered with damp sand. Occasional wooden markers make it just
possible to discern the boundaries between holes.<br />
<br />
Given the lack of grass, players carry a small stretch of <a href="http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20131101185394"><span style="color: blue;">artificial
turf</span></a> on which they place their ball to take a shot.<br />
<br />
The green itself is more like a “brown” — a patch of flattened damp sand that
needs to be smoothed out after putting — with a cup for a hole. <br />
<br />
Sometimes gunfire rattles in the distance as fighting rages between armed
groups.<br />
<br />
“One morning, myself and a friend from the United Nations made it to the course
in the quiet period after the previous night’s shooting subsided and before it
restarted,” a Western diplomat formerly based in Tripoli said.<br />
“I double-bogeyed the last hole with renewed gunfire interrupting my
concentration.”<br />
<br />
<b>Dodging Chickens and Camels</b><br />
<br />
While based in Tripoli this year, I played golf twice — once at Gargaresh,
where I had to borrow my male playing partner’s clubs because there was nowhere
I could rent them from.<br />
<br />
Taking my second shot by the sea, I was horrified when my ball hit a stone on
the fairway and came flying back at us.<br />
<br />
At Mudi golf course, a nine-hole par 36 some 50 kms (31 miles) west of Tripoli,
a caddie was on hand to guide us.<br />
<br />
Owner Abdullah Mudi said the course, boasting a driving range and clubhouse,
had been built on farmland.<br />
<br />
As I practiced, I waited as chickens passed the driving range before taking a
shot. I later lost my ball on a hole which overlooked an orchard and got
distracted by camels in a nearby pen.<br />
<br />
Before the war, Mudi also had cows and ostriches but scarce resources during
the fighting made it difficult to keep them. He says Qaddafi was not a fan of
the sport and it was neglected.<br />
<br />
“Qaddafi did not like golf and he didn’t support the game,” he said. “I sent my
son to the Junior Open in 2008 to show the world Libya likes this game.”<br />
<br />
The Libyan Golf Federation, registered with the International Golf Federation,
counts some 300 members in a country of more than six million people. Mudi said
Libyan golfers usually compete in regional competitions.<br />
<br />
“We don’t get good positions — sometimes fourth place, fifth place — never
first place,” he said.<br />
<br />
“I don’t know if the government will support us. We’ve been saying we need a
grass golf course to improve the game in Libya but nobody listens. There are many
problems in the country.”<br />
<br />
Those are mainly security woes as the Tripoli authorities struggle to impose
order on a country awash with weapons. Before the war, Bachmann said
expatriates drove to Djerba in neighboring Tunisia to play on grass courses.
Now, with their movements restricted and the border often shut, that is not so
easy, although still very few play in Tripoli.<br />
<br />
“The coastal geography is breathtaking and one could easily envision many
courses in the future,” the diplomat said. “For now it’s for die-hards only who
desperately need a golf fix.” — Reuters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-65125960871806471712013-10-07T22:48:00.002-04:002013-10-07T22:48:59.489-04:00Backlash Against USA Expected <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright', serif; font-weight: normal;">Libya demands explanation from US over 'kidnapping'<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<i><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Monday, October 07, 2013 - 08:12 AM<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/libya-demands-explanation-from-us-over-kidnapping-609336.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal;">http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/libya-demands-explanation-from-us-over-kidnapping-609336.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">A suspected Libyan al Qaida figure captured by US
special forces in a dramatic operation in Tripoli was living freely in his
homeland for the past two years, after a trajectory that took him to Sudan,
Afghanistan and Iran, where he had been detained for years, his family has said.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">The
Libyan government bristled at the raid, asking Washington to explain the
“kidnapping”.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">The
swift Delta Force operation in the streets of the Libyan capital that seized
the militant known as Abu Anas al-Libi was one of two assaults Saturday that
showed an American determination to move directly against terror suspects -
even in two nations mired in chaos where the US has suffered deadly
humiliations in the past.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Hours
before the Libya raid, a Navy Seal team swam ashore in the East African nation
of Somalia and engaged in a fierce firefight, though it did not capture its
target, a leading militant in the al Qaida-linked group that carried out the
recent Kenyan mall siege.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">“We
hope that this makes clear that the United States of America will never stop in
the effort to hold those accountable who conduct acts of terror,” US secretary
of state John Kerry said today at an economic summit in Indonesia. “Members of
al Qaida and other terrorist organisations literally can run but they can’t
hide.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Nazih
Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias Abu Anas al-Libi, is accused by the US
of involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, which killed more than 220 people. He has been on
the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list since it was introduced shortly after the
September 11 2001 attack, with a five million US dollar (£3.1 million) bounty
on his head.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">US
officials depicted his capture as a significant blow against al Qaida, which
has lost a string of key figures, including leader Osama bin Laden, killed in a
2011 raid in Pakistan.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">But it
was unclear whether the 49-year-old al-Libi had a major role in the terror
organisation – his alleged role in the 1998 attack was to scout one of the
targeted embassies – and there was no immediate word that he had been involved
in militant activities in Libya. His family and former associates denied he was
ever a member of al Qaida and said he had not been engaged in any activities
since coming home in 2011.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">But
the raid signalled a US readiness to take action against militants in Libya,
where al Qaida and other armed Islamic groups have gained an increasingly
powerful foothold since the 2011 ouster and killing of dictator Muammar Gaddafi
and have set up tied with a belt of radical groups across North Africa and
Egypt.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Libya’s
central government remains weak, and armed militias – many of them made up of
Islamic militants – hold sway in many places around the country, including in
parts of the capital. Amid the turmoil, Libyan authorities have been unable to
move against militants, including those behind the September 11, 2012 attack on
the US consulate in Benghazi, in which the US ambassador and three other
Americans were killed. Libyan security officials themselves are regularly
targeted by gunmen. The latest victim, a military colonel, was gunned down in
Benghazi today.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Several
dozen members of the Islamic group Ansar al-Sharia, which has links to
militias, today protested in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, denouncing
al-Libi’s abduction and criticising the government. “Where are the men of
Tripoli while this is happening?” they chanted, waving black Islamist flags.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Al-Libi’s
capture was a bold strike in the Libyan capital. He had just parked his car
outside his Tripoli home, returning from dawn prayers yesterday, when 10
commandos in multiple vehicles surrounded him, his brother Nabih al-Ruqai told
the Associated Press. They smashed his car’s window and seized his gun before
grabbing al-Libi and fleeing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">He was
swiftly spirited out of the country. US Defence Department spokesman George
Little said he was being held “in a secure location outside of Libya”. He did
not elaborate further.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">In a
statement, the Libyan government said it asked the US for “clarifications”
about what it called the “kidnapping”, underlining that its citizens should be
tried in Libyan courts if accused of a crime. It said it hoped its “strategic
partnership” with Washington would not be damaged by the incident.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Still,
the relatively soft-toned statement underlined the predicament of the Libyan
government. It is criticised by opponents at home over its ties with
Washington, but it is also reliant on security co-operation with the Americans.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">According
to the federal indictment of al-Libi in a New York court, American prosecutors
say he helped the African embassy bombings by scouting and photographing the
embassy in Nairobi in 1993. Al-Libi was a computer expert who studied
electronic and nuclear engineering at Tripoli University.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Al-Libi’s
son Abdullah al-Ruqai told The Associated Press his father was a member of the
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an Islamic militant group that waged a campaign
of violence against Gaddafi’s regime in the 1990s. Many of the group’s members,
including al-Libi, were forced to flee the country at the time. A faction of
the group allied with al Qaida, although others in the group refused to.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Al-Libi
is believed to have spent time in Sudan in the 1990s, when bin Laden was based
there. In 1995, al-Libi later turned up in Britain, where he was granted
political asylum under unclear circumstances and lived in Manchester. He was
arrested by Scotland Yard in 1999, but released because of lack of evidence and
later fled Britain.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">His
son said the family then went to Afghanistan, where they spent a year and a
half until they fled into Iran, where they were held in custody for seven
years. He did not elaborate, but Iran jailed a number of al Qaida-linked
figures who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion of that country.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">The
family returned to Tripoli in 2010 under a rehabilitation program for Islamic
militants run by Gaddafi’s son, and al-Libi himself returned in August 2011,
amid the uprising that toppled Gaddafi. Since then, al-Libi was not involved
with any groups.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">“He
would go from the house to the mosque, and from the mosque to the house,” Al
Libi’s son said, adding his father had hired a lawyer and was trying to clear
his name in connection to the 1998 embassy attacks.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">In the
earlier raid Saturday, the Navy Seal team targeted a figure from the al
Qaida-linked terrorist group al-Shabab. After landing on shore, the team
targeted a beachside house in the town of Barawe. The team ran into fiercer
resistance than expected, and after a 15 minutes to 20 minute firefight in
which they inflicted some casualties on the fighters, the unit’s leader decided
to abort the mission and the Americans swam away, US officials said.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">The
assault was carried out by members of Seal Team Six, the same unit that killed
Bin Laden in his Pakistan hideout in 2011, one senior US military official said.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Mr
Little confirmed that US military personnel were involved in a
counter-terrorism operation against a known al-Shabab terrorist in Somalia, but
did not provide details.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">The
leader of al-Shabab, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, also known as Ahmed Godane, claimed
responsibility for the mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, a four-day terrorist
siege that began September 21 and killed at least 67 people. A Somali
intelligence official said the al-Shabab leader was the US target.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">The
raid in Somalia came 20 years after the Black Hawk Down battle in Mogadishu,
when a mission to capture Somali warlords in the capital went awry after
militiamen shot down two US helicopters. Eighteen US soldiers died in the
battle, which marked the beginning of the end of that US military mission to
try to bring stability to the nation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Since
then, US military intervention has been limited to missile attacks and
lightning operations by special forces.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 14.25pt; mso-outline-level: 1; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 26.5pt;">Nabbing
of Libyan militant sparks fear of backlash<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.05in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The Associated Press<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.05in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.05in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/oct/07/ml-libya-militant-backlash/">http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/oct/07/ml-libya-militant-backlash/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.05in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 | 2:46 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
Libyan militant accused by Washington in the killing of the U.S. ambassador
told The Associated Press on Monday he's not worried about being next on the
list for capture by the Americans after the U.S. commando raid that spirited a
senior al-Qaida suspect out of Tripoli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ahmed Abu
Khattala's confidence reflects the power that Islamic militants have grown to
wield in Libya since the 2011 ouster of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Militia groups, some of them inspired by al-Qaida, operated with virtual impunity
in the country, with the central government too weak to take action against
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now many
of the groups are furious over Saturday's U.S. special forces raid that
captured Abu Anas al-Libi, wanted by the Americans for more than a decade over
the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. Some have hinted at retaliation
at U.S. and other foreign interests and have lashed out at the government,
accusing it of colluding with Washington.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"We
only fear God," Abu Khattala told AP by telephone from Benghazi, when
asked if he is concerned he too could be snatched. Abu Khattala lives openly in
the city, despite the indictment against him in a U.S. court over the Sept. 11,
2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed the ambassador and
three other Americans. He denies any role in the attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One
prominent ultraconservative Muslim cleric, Sheik Ahmed bu-Sidra, warned that
"all options are on the table" after the seizing of al-Libi, who was
spirited out of the country and is now being held on a U.S. warship, according
to American officials.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Moderates
will be unable to silence possible retaliation by "insane Libyans who
think death is a way to get close to God," bu-Sidra said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For more
than two years, Libya has been held hostage to increasingly powerful militias.
Initially they were formed out of rebel brigades that fought Gadhafi's forces
in 2011 uprising. The government has relied on them to carry out security
duties because of the weakness of the army, but they have carved out spheres of
power of their own, and many are made up of Islamic extremists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">No week
passes without assassinations and abductions of top security officials and army
officers, especially in Benghazi, the country's second largest city. In a
particularly humiliating show of state weakness, the son of defense minister
was kidnapped on Sept. 24.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"This
is a crime against the state, aimed at preventing the minister from pushing
ahead with his plan to put all the armed groups" under military control,
the head of the defense committee in the legislature, Bel-Qassem Derizib said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After
al-Libi's capture, the Libyan government said in a statement that it knew
nothing about the raid and had asked the Americans for
"clarifications" about the operation. Prime Minister Ali Zidan left
the country Sunday for a three-day visit to Morocco.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
operation _ which came on the same day that U.S. Navy Seals attempted to
capture an al-Qaida-linked militant in Somalia _ signaled an American readiness
to go after militants in nations where authorities are unable to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That has
raised expectations in Libya that further raids could follow, and many
militants are convinced the Libyan government is colluding with the Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"If
the U.S. administration is cooperating with the (Libyan) government, then we
hold the government responsible," Abu Khattala said. "If they did it
without Libyan government's knowledge, then this is violation of the
sovereignty of the Libyan state, which we reject."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"We
don't want them here if they act against us," he said, referring to
foreigners in Libya. "If you are a guest, then act respectfully, otherwise
your presence is not welcome."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Abu
Khattala was the commander of an Islamist militia group called the Abu Obaida
bin Jarrah Brigade. However, he said he abandoned the militia and now works as
a construction contractor. In earlier interview, Abu Khattala told the AP that
he was not in hiding and had not been questioned by Libyan authorities over the
consulate attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"I
am in my city, having a normal life and have no troubles," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Officials
in the U.S. have said he and an unspecified number of others were named in a
sealed complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. It's unclear what
charges he and the others face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A
previously unknown coalition of Islamic militants in three eastern Libyan
cities _ Benghazi, al-Bayda and Darna _ issued a statement Monday vowing to
avenge al-Libi's capture _ and blaming the government. It called the abduction
a "shameful act which will cost the Libyan government a lot."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Several
dozen members of the Ansar al-Shariah _ al-Qaida inspired group blamed earlier
for playing a role in the attack on US consulate protested on Sunday in
Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, denouncing al-Libi's abduction and
criticizing the government. "Where are the men of Tripoli while this is
happening?" they chanted, waving black Islamist flags.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A former
militant with the Ansar al-Shariah militant group said the raid "just
opened the doors of hell and it will be like the U.S. operation in Somalia. The
youth here are ready to fight," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He said
that counterattacks will be unavoidable, including kidnappings. He spoke on
condition of anonymity because of fears for his security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">An
Islamist in Tripoli close to the former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group warned
that extremists could kidnap or attack Americans here. The LIFG was a longtime
opponent of Gadhafi whose members fled the country with some defecting to join
al-Qaida. Some members now hold positions of authority in the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He too
spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of repercussions from militants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"There
is real fear of the reaction targeting foreigners, who are innocents and who
have nothing to do with what the United States did here. Such as businessmen or
companies," he said, "this will hurt Libya's economy at a time we are
searching for stability and normalcy."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-85639230294693526262013-09-23T01:11:00.003-04:002013-09-23T01:11:40.595-04:00CNN Libyan Timeline <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">(CNN)</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-- Here's a look at what you need to know
about the Libyan Civil War of 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">BK:: Wait, I thought it was a revolution? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/world/libya-civil-war-fast-facts/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/world/libya-civil-war-fast-facts/</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Timeline:</span></u></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">February 16, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b> </b></span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/16/muslim.world.unrest/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Protests break out in Libya's second largest city, Benghazi</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
17, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Demonstrations continue and spread from
Benghazi to other towns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
18-19, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Thousands more take to the streets in
Benghazi; dozens of people now have reportedly been killed by security forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
20, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Moammar
Gadhafi's son,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/16/world/africa/saif-al-islam-gadhafi-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Saif</span></a>, appears on television and states that his father will
fight until the "last bullet."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
20, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Demonstrations spread to the capital,
Tripoli, where protestors clash with forces loyal to Gadhafi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
20, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libya's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/30/world/meast/arab-league-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Arab League</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>representative,
Abdel-Moneim al-Houni, resigns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
21, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud al
Jeleil resigns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
21, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chief of State of Protocol Nuri al Mismari, a
Gadhafi aide for almost 40 years, resigns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
21, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi resigns in
protest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
21, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ambassador to the U.S. Ali Adjali resigns and
states that he is no longer representing the government of Gadhafi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
21, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan
diplomats at the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/03/world/united-nations-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">U.N.</span></a>, including Libyan Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi,
take the side of the opposition and demand the removal of "the tyrant
Moammar Gadhafi."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
21, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Two Libyan fighter pilots land their jets in
Malta and request asylum, defecting after being ordered to bomb civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
21, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/10/world/ban-ki-moon---fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>holds talks with Gadhafi and demands
that the conflict end immediately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
22, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">During an address, Gadhafi states he would
rather die a martyr than give up power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
22, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Former Ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi
claims that Libyan military aircraft are being used to attack civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
22, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al
Abidi resigns and throws his support behind the opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
22, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rebels claim control of eastern Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
23, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Former Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud
al Jeleil claims that he has evidence that Gadhafi ordered the 1988 bombing of
Pan-Am Flight 103.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
24, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Gadhafi
blames the unrest in Libya on al Qaeda and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/world/osama-bin-laden-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Osama bin Laden</span></a>. He also states that protestors are being fed
drugs and manipulated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
25, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The entire Libyan delegation to the Arab
League resigns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
25, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan Ambassador to the U.N. Abdurrahman
Shalgham denounces Gadhafi in a speech, "I tell my brother Gadhafi: leave
the Libyans alone."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
25, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The U.S. completes an evacuation of Americans
in Libya and announces it is closing its embassy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
25, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/26/us/barack-obama---fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">U.S. President Barack Obama</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>signs
an executive order freezing Gadhafi's assets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
26, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/03/world/united-nations-security-council-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The U.N. Security Council</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>imposes
sanctions against Libya, including an arms embargo and asset freezes. It also
refers Libya to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes
against humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
26, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Former Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud
al Jeleil announces the formation of an interim government to lead the eastern
regions under opposition control.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
28, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/world/europe/european-union-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">European Union</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>votes
to impose sanctions against Libya, including freezing Gadhafi's assets and
imposing an arms embargo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
28, 2001 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">In an
interview with Christiane Amanpour, Gadhafi states that his countrymen love him
and would die to protect him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">February
28, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The prime minister of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin
Jassim al Thani calls on Gadhafi to resign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 1,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The U.N. General Assembly suspends Libya's
seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 4,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libya appoints Ali Abdussalam Treki
ambassador to the U.N.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 7,
2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/30/world/nato-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">NATO</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>begins
24-hour air surveillance of Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 8,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The EU imposes sanctions on the Libyan
Investment Authority.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 10,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Mahmoud Jebril and Ali Essawi, representing
the Libyan opposition, meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 10,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels to
discuss establishing a no-fly zone over Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 10,
2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Speaking
before the House Appropriations Committee, Secretary of State<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/20/us/hillary-clinton---fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Hillary Clinton</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>says
the U.S. is suspending its relationship with the Libyan embassy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 14,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan forces retake Zuwarah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 15,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan TV claims its forces have retaken the
town of Ajdabiyah, but rebel forces dispute this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 15,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan opposition forces appoint former
Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al Abidi as head of the rebels' armed
forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 16,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan forces attack the rebel-held town of
Misrata with tanks and artillery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 16,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The New York Times reports that four of its
journalists are missing in Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 17,
2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The U.N.
Security Council votes to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and take "all
necessary measures" to protect civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 18,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa
announces a cease-fire. However, witnesses report government attacks on Misrata
and in eastern Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 19,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Government and opposition troops battle with
mortars, artillery fire and tanks in Benghazi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 19,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">French fighter jets begin enforcing the
no-fly zone over Libya, and the U.S. launches more than 100 Tomahawk missiles
at targets in Libya in Operation Odyssey Dawn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 20,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Gadhafi calls the countries involved in
Operation Odyssey Dawn airstrikes terrorists, and "the new Nazis,"
while promising a "long-drawn war."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 20,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Missile strikes target a suspected command
and control building at Gadhafi's Bab el-Azizia compound on the outskirts of
Tripoli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 21,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Four U.S. journalists with the New York Times
are released by their captors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 22,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">A U.S. Air Force fighter jet crashes in Libya
after experiencing equipment failure. Both crew members eject safely and are
rescued by U.S. forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 24,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NATO agrees to take command of the mission,
enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 28,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">U.S. President Barack Obama address the
American public on the situation in Libya and says, "tonight, I can report
that we have stopped Gadhafi's deadly advance" and that the United States
will "support the aspirations of the Libyan people" as the
"military effort ratchets down."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 29,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini
announces that "we are looking for countries" to host Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi if he goes into exile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 29,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets
for the second time with the opposition Libyan Interim National Council's
Mahmoud Jabril.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 29,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Representatives from more than 40 countries
and organizations meet in London to establish a "Libya Contact
Group." The group will coordinate the international response to the
crisis. Its next meeting is scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">March 30,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa arrives in
Great Britain and announces that he has resigned his post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 2,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NATO Airstrikes hit several rebel vehicles and
kill more than a dozen rebel fighters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 4,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini
announces that Italy will become the third country, after France and Qatar, to
recognize the rebel Libyan National Transitional Council as the legitimate international
representative of Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 6,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">An oil tanker under the control of the Libyan
opposition departs the port of Tobruk, bound for Qatar. It is the first known
rebel oil export.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 6,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">In a letter to President Obama, Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi urges him to end the NATO bombing campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 7,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rebel forces and civilians retreat from
Ajdabiya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 20,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Oscar nominated filmmaker Tim Hetherington
and photojournalist Chris Hondros are killed in Misrata.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 20,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Saif al-Islam Gadhafi speaks on state TV and
says that a new Libyan constitution will be unveiled after the civil war ends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 30,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Moammar Gadhafi speaks on state TV and says
he is ready to negotiate a ceasefire but that he will not step down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">April 30,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NATO launches a missile attack on a house in
Tripoli. The attack kills Gaddafi's youngest son, Saif al-Arab, and three
grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 1,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Crowds attack the British and Italian
embassies in Tripoli, in response to the death of Gadhafi's son.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 1,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Great Britain expels Libyan ambassador Omar
Jelban.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 2,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Switzerland announces that it has uncovered
$415.8 million assets linked to Gaddafi and his associates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 4,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis
Moreno-Ocampo announces he will request arrest warrants fro the deaths of
pro-democracy demonstrators in Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 5,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Libya Contact Group, which includes the
U.S., France, Great Britain, Italy, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, agrees to set up
a fund the provide money to the Libyan rebels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 6,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says
that Russia will oppose any military ground operations in Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 6,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">France expels 14 Libyan diplomats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 11,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The EU announces plans to open an office in
rebel-held Benghazi, to assist the opposition government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 11,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Opposition forces seize control of the
airport in Misrata.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 11,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Moammar Gadhafi appears on state TV, his
first public appearance since the death of his son on April 30.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 12,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NATO airstrikes target the Bab al-Aziziyah
compound of Moammar Gadhafi. The Libyan leader is uninjured, but three other
people are reported killed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 13,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi releases a
brief audio message saying he's in a place where he cannot be found or killed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 13,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Mahmoud Jibril, the interim prime minister of
council, meets in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
national security adviser Tom Donilon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 16,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The chief prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court requests arrest warrants for Gadhafi, his son Saif and his
brother-in-law. Luis Moreno-Ocampo says the court has evidence that the three
committed crimes against humanity during the Libyan civil war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 18,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Four journalists are released by the Libyan
military after spending several weeks in custody. They are: Americans Clare
Morgana Gillis, a freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor, the Atlantic
and USA Today; and James Foley of GlobalPost. The others are Spanish
photographer Manuel Varela, who also goes by the name Manu Brabo, and British
journalist Nigel Chandler.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">May 31,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Five Libyan generals tell a news conference
in Rome they are among as many as 120 Libyan military officers and soldiers who
have defected within the last few days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 1,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NATO extends its mission in Libya for another
90 days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 1,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The U.N. Human Rights Council announces that
during a fact-finding mission, it found evidence of war crimes and crimes
against humanity committed by Gadhafi's forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 1,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">National Oil Corp head, and former prime
minister, Shokri Ghanem, defects in Italy. He states that he has not seen
Moammar Gadhafi in months and that oil production in Libya is coming to a halt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 3,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">China's ambassador to Qatar, Zhang Zhilang,
meets with the head of Libya's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel
Jalil in Doha. It is the first meeting between China and the Libyan opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 7,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in a live
speech, again vows to fight to the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 8,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Spain recognizes the National Transitional
Council as Libya's legitimate representative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 8,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor
Luis Moreno-Ocampo announces that the court is investigating Gadhafi forces on
charges of rape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 9,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Australia recognizes the National
Transitional Council as Libya's legitimate representative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 9,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade appeals to
Gadhafi to step down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 9,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Germany's Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere
says that Germany would consider sending troops to Libya, as part of a U.N.
peacekeeping force, after Gadhafi is removed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 10,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Margot Wallstrom, special representative of
the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, charges that rape is
being used as a weapon of war in Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 13,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Germany recognizes the National Transitional
Council as Libya's legitimate representative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 14,
2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">South
African President<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/14/world/africa/jacob-zuma---fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Jacob Zuma</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>charges
that NATO is misusing the United Nations resolutions meant to protect
civilians, in order to pursue regime change and assassinate Moammar Gadhafi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 14,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Liberia severs diplomatic ties to Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 14,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">- Canada
recognizes the National Transitional Council as Libya's legitimate
representative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 15,</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The White House gives a detailed report to
Congress, justifying the administration's Libya policy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 15,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The White Houses announces that, as of June
3, the U.S. has spent $716 million on military operations and humanitarian
assistance in Libya. The cost is expected to reach $1.1 billion by September
30.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 16,
2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">House
Speaker<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/john-boehner-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John Boehner</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>says
that Congress could cut funding for U.S. military involvement in Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 16,
2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Russian
President<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/26/world/europe/dmitry-medvedev---fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Dmitry Medvedev</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and
Chinese President<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/20/world/asia/hu-jintao---fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Hu Jintao</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>issue
a joint declaration expressing concern about NATO's campaign in Libya and
urging "meticulous adherence" to the U.N. resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 17,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Moammar Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam tells an
Italian newspaper that Libya is open to the idea of national elections, and
that his father would step down if he lost. The Libyan opposition, NATO and the
U.S. reject the offer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 17,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan TV airs the audio of a speech by
Moammar Gadhafi, again vowing to defeat NATO and opposition forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 18,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Opposition oil chief Ali Tarhouni complains
that the rebels have run out of money, despite pledges from Western countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">June 21,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Opposition leader Mahmoud Jibril meets with
Chinese officials in Beijing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">July 15,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The United States recognizes the National
Transitional Council "as the legitimate governing authority" in
Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">July 27,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">U.K. Foreign Secretary announces that the
United Kingdom is recognizing the National Transitional Council as Libya's
legitimate government and expelling Libyan embassy staff from the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">July 28,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The National Transitional Council's top
military commander, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis, dies during an ambush<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August 9,
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chairman of the Libyan National Transitional
Council Mustafa Abdel Jalil dissolves the opposition's 14-member executive
board in response to the death of Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
11, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Libyan Embassy in Washington reopens
under the control of the Libyan opposition National Transitional Council. Ali
Aujali, the former Libyan ambassador to the U.S. under Moammar Gadhafi, resumes
his role, now representing the TNC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
15, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Gadhafi urges Libyans to fight opposition
forces and "cleanse this sweet and honorable land." In a speech
broadcast on state television, Gadhafi says: "The strikes will be over and
NATO will be defeated. Move always forward to the challenge; pick up your weapons;
go to the fight in order to liberate Libya inch by inch from the traitors and
from NATO. Be prepared to fight if they hit the ground."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
18, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan
Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoodi says the military is "powerful
enough to finish this battle" to its advantage, but warned that the cost
would be too high, calling again for dialogue to resolve the crisis peacefully
rather than militarily.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
19, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">U.S. officials say Gadhafi may be making
preparations for a "last stand" in Tripoli as a month-long NATO air
campaign continues amid reports of rebel advances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
20, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libyan rebels have taken their fight inside
Tripoli, home to the embattled Libyan leader, a rebel spokesman says.
Government spokesman Musa Ibrahim insists that all is safe and well. He says
the Libyan capital remains under government control. Libyan officials reject
rebel claims that Gadhafi is seeking refuge for his family, saying that neither
the leader nor his wife and children plan to leave the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
21, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">In an audio-only address on state television,
Gadhafi calls on Libyans to rally to the defense of Tripoli, as rebels capture
two of his sons. The International Criminal Court says it plans to negotiate
the transfer of Saif al-Islam Gadhafi who is wanted for crimes against
humanity, along with his father. Rebels declare Sunday, August 21, 2011
"Day 1," saying "Gadhafi is already finished," while NATO
says the regime was "crumbling." Government spokesman Musa Ibrahim
says some 1,300 people are killed and about 5,000 wounded in 12 hours of
fighting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
22, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">A rebel spokesman says Libya is now under the
control of the opposition; Gadhafi's whereabouts are unknown. The opposition
believes that Gadhafi is either hiding in Tripoli, has fled to southern Libya
or fled to neighboring Chad or Algeria. "Those are the only two
neighboring country that have been showing support for him," a El-Gamaty
said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
23, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">A spokesman for the National Transitional
Council claims that rebels control 85 percent of Tripoli. Rebel sources say
Libya's National Transitional Council has established a small office on the
outskirts of Tripoli. Moammar Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound is seized by
rebel fighters. Mahmoud Shammam, minister of information for the National
Transitional Council, says NATO has "hit some targets" in the
compound. Rebels battle forces loyal to Gadhafi Tuesday north of Tripoli
International Airport, along the main road into the capital. Gadhafi forces,
meanwhile, pose as rebels in Tripoli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
24, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">International<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/24/libya.war/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></span><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">journalists, including CNN's Matthew Chance, are released from Tripoli's
Rixos hotel</span></a>, where they have been held for five days by Gadhafi
forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
25, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">An agreement is reached in the U.N. Security
Council to release $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets to the country's rebel
government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
29, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Algeria's state press agency announces that
Moammar Gadhafi's wife Safia, daughter Aisha, sons Hannibal and Mohammed and a
number of grandchildren are in Algeria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
29, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Mahdi al-Harati, the vice chairman of the
rebel's Military Council, tells CNN that Moammar Gadhafi's son Khamis was
killed in battle and buried.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
30, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rebel commander Hisham Abu Hajer claims that
more than 50,000 Libyans have been killed in the uprising.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">August
31, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Moammar Gaddafi's foreign minister Abdel Ati
al-Obeidi is arrested by the rebel forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September-October
2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Fighting continues across Libya,
concentrating in Sirte.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
1, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">France's
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe announces that France is releasing 1.5 billion
Euros, frozen at the start of the war, to the NTC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
1, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Russia recognizes the National Transitional
Council as Libya's official government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
1, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sixty
countries meet in Paris to discuss Libya's transition from Gadhafi's rule to
democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
1, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">A British RAF C-17 transport plane delivers
280 million dinars (approximately $226,502,853 US) to the Central Bank of
Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
12, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil addresses
supporters in Martyrs' Square in Tripoli and says, "We aim to establish a
state of law, a state of welfare, a state where Islamic Sharia law is the main
source of legislation."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
15, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">British
Prime Minister<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/13/world/europe/david-cameron---fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">David Cameron</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and
French President<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/16/world/europe/nicolas-sarkozy-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Nicolas Sarkozy</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>travel
to Libya to pledge support for the National Transitional Council.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
16, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Niger tells a delegation representing the
National Transitional Council that it will not hand over Saadi Gadhafi,
believed to be hiding in a safe house in Niger's capital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
16, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The U.N. General Assembly announces that the
National Transitional Council will represent Libya during the annual General
Assembly later in September.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
16, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopts
a resolution to establish a support mission for Libya for the next three
months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
20, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Mahmoud Jibril, at the U.N. General Assembly,
says that he expects Libya to have a new government within 10 days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
20, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
congratulates the National Transitional Council for the revolution in Libya and
directs that the country's new flag be presented alongside the U.N. flag.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
24, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NTC Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril speaks to
the U.N. General Assembly, the first Libyan address since Moammar Gadhafi was
removed from power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September
29, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">U.S.
Senator<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/22/us/john-mccain-fast-facts/index.html" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John McCain</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>leads
a<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/29/politics/pol-libya-gop-delegation/" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Congressional delegation to Libya</span></a>. They meet with members of
Libya's interim governing council, military commanders and ordinary Libyans.
They also visit a prison to see the conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">October
20, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Moammar Gadhafi is killed after being
captured by rebel forces in his hometown Sirte, Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">October
20, 2011</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">-</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">According to Pentagon spokesman George
Little, U.S. Defense Department costs for operations in Libya stand at about
$1.1 billion as of September 30, which includes daily military operations,
munitions, the draw down of supplies and humanitarian assistance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">October
23, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Libya's
interim leaders<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/africa/libya-main/" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">declare the nation's
freedom in Benghazi</span></a>, where uprisings against Gadhafi's regime began
in February.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">October
27, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
United Nations Security Council<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/world/africa/un-libya/" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">votes unanimously to end
military operations in Libya</span></a>. The adopted resolution effectively
cancels the NATO mission in Libya as of October 31, 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">October
31, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
National Transitional Council elects<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/31/world/meast/libya-government/" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Abdurrahim El-Keib</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>as
acting prime minister, with the support of 26 of the 51 members who voted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">October
31, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">NATO
secretary general announces<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_71652.htm" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">the official end of the NATO mission</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="cnnstorypgraphtxt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 0px;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">November
19, 2011 -</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/19/world/africa/libya-gadhafi-son-profile/" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #004276; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Saif al-Islam Gadhafi is arrested</span></a>.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">September 21, 2013</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> – Saif al-Islam Gadhafi goes to
trial. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-39837619988192574852013-09-22T20:45:00.001-04:002013-09-22T20:45:36.964-04:00Libya Thwarts Arrests in Benghazi Attack <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BK Notes: They can't stop the Salafists from killing our Ambassador ir robbing the graves of Islamic Sufi saints and now they are assassinating officials and Sufi clerics and forming an alliance with al Qaeda and Saad Gadhafi, who has said that "I am not a politician, I am a Salafist" and is trying to start a counter-revolution to reclaim his family power. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Libya
Thwarts Arrests in Benghazi Attack<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/world/africa/libya-thwarts-arrests-in-benghazi-attack.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/world/africa/libya-thwarts-arrests-in-benghazi-attack.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_s_schmidt/index.html" title="More Articles by MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT">MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT</a> and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eric_schmitt/index.html" title="More Articles by ERIC SCHMITT">ERIC SCHMITT</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Published:
September 9, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WASHINGTON
— A year after the attacks in Benghazi that killed the United States ambassador
to Libya and three other Americans, the Justice Department has indicted
suspects. Intelligence officials have a general idea of where they are hiding.
And the military has a contingency plan to snatch them if that becomes
necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But the
fledgling Libyan government, which has little to no control over significant
parts of the country, like Benghazi and eastern Libya, has rebuffed the Obama
administration’s efforts to arrest the suspects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama">President Obama</a> promised the
day after the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks to bring the killers to justice, and the
fact that this has not happened has led Congressional Republicans to renew
their criticism of the administration for its handling of the Benghazi episode
as officials have made the case that Congress should authorize a military
strike against Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“You
cannot have an attack on the mission, 12 months later identified a good number
of the participants, and have absolutely no consequences for the taking of
American lives,” Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, who leads the House
Intelligence Committee, said in an interview.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Mr.
Rogers would not specify what action he supported, but he did not rule out
military action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Some
military and law enforcement officials have grown frustrated with what they
believe is the White House’s unwillingness to pressure the Libyan government to
make the arrests or allow American forces to do so, according to current and
former senior government officials. Mr. Obama acknowledged last month at a news
conference that the suspects had been charged but were still on the loose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Several
senior F.B.I. officials and members of the F.B.I. team based in Tripoli, Libya,
who have been building the investigation for the past year believe the White
House should be pressing harder for arrests. Among the decisions that the new
F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, will be confronted with in the coming weeks
will be how hard to lobby the White House to exert more pressure on the
Libyans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“Whether
he likes it or not, he is going to have to deal with this issue,” said a former
senior American official, referring to Mr. Comey. “There’s a huge frustration
on the issue among the agents about why nothing has happened to these guys who
have killed Americans.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, was asked on “Fox News Sunday”
why one of the suspects, Ahmed Khattala, has been interviewed by several
American news media outlets but has remained free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“The
United States government does what it says, and we will do what we say in this
instance, as we do in every other instance,” Mr. McDonough said. “I have no
doubt about that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Federal law
enforcement authorities have filed murder charges against Mr. Khattala, a
militia leader in Benghazi, in connection with the attacks. The authorities
have identified several others who they said they believe participated in the
attacks, and have filed charges under seal against some of them, according to
American officials.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Apprehending
the suspects could raise a series of thorny questions, like whether they should
be tried in Libya or the United States and, if they are tried in the United
States, whether they should be treated as civilians or military combatants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Some
senior Obama administration and law enforcement officials would like <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/libya/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Libya.">Libya</a> to arrest and try
the suspects because they do not want the United States to be seen as
interfering with another country’s sovereignty. But with militias controlling
much of eastern Libya, that may not be possible logistically or politically. If
the suspects were handed over to the United States, it is not clear whether
they would be tried in civilian courts or military tribunals, like the ones in
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“The
Libyan government has to wrestle with this idea: ‘What would that mean to us if
we apprehended some of these people, if we tried them, if we handed them
over?’ ” Gen. Carter F. Ham, a former head of the military’s Africa
Command, told a conference in Aspen, Colo., in July. “It’s a very, very complex
issue.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Among
the obstacles the F.B.I. has encountered in Libya has been a reluctance by some
police and government officials there to target members of Ansar al-Shariah, a
local Islamist group whose fighters joined the attack, according to witnesses.
Government officials in Benghazi have said it would be impossible for lightly
armed Libyan forces to arrest militia members. Leaders of Benghazi’s most
powerful militias, some of whom fought with Ansar al-Shariah members during the
uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, say they would be hesitant to act
against suspects unless they were shown conclusive proof of their involvement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Meanwhile,
the Pentagon has been preparing contingency plans should Mr. Obama order a
military operation against the suspects. For months, an unarmed American
military surveillance drone has flown virtually every day over Benghazi,
gathering information and poised to respond if any of the suspects are
identified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
top-secret Joint Special Operations Command has compiled “target packages” of
detailed information about possible suspects, senior military and
counterterrorism officials said. Working with the Pentagon and the C.I.A., the
command has been preparing the dossiers as the first step in anticipation of
possible orders from Mr. Obama to take action against those determined to have
played a role in the Benghazi assault that killed Ambassador <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/j_christopher_stevens/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about J. Christopher Stevens.">J. Christopher Stevens</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But a
number of Libyan political figures have expressed wariness that any unilateral
military action by the United States, like a drone strike, would fuel popular
anger and add a destructive new element to the uncertain security situation in
Benghazi, especially with the Obama administration considering military strikes
against Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A
version of this article appears in print on September 10, 2013, on page A7 of
the New York edition<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-39030732656320190442013-09-22T19:23:00.002-04:002013-09-22T19:24:50.014-04:00Salafists Destoy Sufi Shrine - Assassinate Sufi Cleric <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lQuv34MyWAxTDwQmSAGeRGdUI6EpvmtSiD_cxInXjz1NTGTGJbCiN68iVvPOYr35vaPzZ3xQZGORYoAFLWnDNbuESYAedvqoJC88zJp83LmxAsnfwVrfa7gp-B_fXJaFCMPBZJfgX3U/s1600/Tomb-of-Sayed-Abdul-Salam-al-Asmar-one-of-Imam-Hassan-as-descendants-in-Libya-demolished-recently-by-Nasibis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lQuv34MyWAxTDwQmSAGeRGdUI6EpvmtSiD_cxInXjz1NTGTGJbCiN68iVvPOYr35vaPzZ3xQZGORYoAFLWnDNbuESYAedvqoJC88zJp83LmxAsnfwVrfa7gp-B_fXJaFCMPBZJfgX3U/s320/Tomb-of-Sayed-Abdul-Salam-al-Asmar-one-of-Imam-Hassan-as-descendants-in-Libya-demolished-recently-by-Nasibis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cd1713; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/03/28/salafists-destroy-major-sufi-shrine/">Salafists destroy major
Sufi shrine</a> </span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Farah Waleed. Tripoli, 28 March 2013: The Al-Andlusi
mausoleum in Tajura area, one of the major Sufi shrines in Libya, was
destroyed early this morning, Thursday, in a bomb attack that is ...</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkRW5Z8ZFsDVpVj218iYDfIXhaLPu9GY76KBYpli93VsrvzPE3Hg6FGvRLYazsAQ1ZuIDmIOxT1olwsnEJcYqQriDAEZWR4d4J-BhXktPz2exbs3giAwCxELQ7oKdzzgXkQ373m07Ycg/s1600/Sufi-Derna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkRW5Z8ZFsDVpVj218iYDfIXhaLPu9GY76KBYpli93VsrvzPE3Hg6FGvRLYazsAQ1ZuIDmIOxT1olwsnEJcYqQriDAEZWR4d4J-BhXktPz2exbs3giAwCxELQ7oKdzzgXkQ373m07Ycg/s320/Sufi-Derna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prominent local Sufi cleric, Sheikh Mustafa Rajab Al-Mahjoubi,
was murdered on Friday morning in Derna, shot by unknown assailants just as
he was leaving his home early in the morning, reportedly to buy bread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #F8F8F8; color: #555555; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/08/30/league-of-libyan-ulema-draws-links-between-salafists-saadi-qaddafi-and-ssc/#axzz2ffFuFuEZ">http://www.libyah</a></span></span><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/08/30/league-of-libyan-ulema-draws-links-between-salafists-saadi-qaddafi-and-ssc/#axzz2ffFuFuEZ" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt;">erald.com/2012/08/30/league-of-libyan-ulema-draws-links-between-salafists-saadi-qaddafi-and-ssc/
- axzz2ffFuFuEZ</a></div>
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<i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tripoli, 22 September
2013</span></i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A prominent local Sufi cleric, Sheikh Mustafa Rajab Al-Mahjoubi,
was murdered on Friday morning in Derna. He shot by unknown assailants just as
he was leaving his home early in the morning, reportedly to buy bread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is shock in the town at the killing. “He was a lovely man,
a decent man”, one Derna resident told the</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Libya
Herald</span></i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. “He was very popular. No one disliked him – except for
some fanatics.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Responsibility for the murder has been claimed by a supposedly
Islamist group calling itself “Vanguards Of The Caliphate”. However, some
locals refuse to believe that Islamists were responsible. “I don’t’ believe
it,” said one, indicating he thought there others were involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There has been an ongoing struggle between Sufis and Salafists
over the past two years throughout Libya with Salfist supporters destroying
dozens of Sufi shrines and mausoleums.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Derna itself has earned
the reputation of being a centre of Salafist militancy, notably involving Ansar
Al-Sharia, although this is said by many in the town to be an exaggeration.
However, it was one of the earlier towns to see its main Sufi shrine destroyed.
In June last year, a bomb</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/07/09/breaking-news-derna-mosque-bombed/#ixzz2fevj3vOh"><span style="color: #cd1713; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">exploded</span></a></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">at the Sahaba Mosque destroying the tomb of Zuhayr Ibn Qais
Al-Balawi, a seventh-century Arab commander who helped bring Islam to the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Derna comes second only
to Bengahzi in the number of political killings there over the past year. These
are said to be connected to power struggles in the town between Islamists and
state officials. In July, a retired colonel, Abdullateef Emdawi Al-Dali
Almzeni, was</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/22/retired-colonel-assassinated-in-derna/#ixzz2fexOPICZ."><span style="color: #cd1713; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">murdered</span></a></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in the town, just a week after the Commander of the Search and
Rescue division of the Libyan Air Force, Colonel Fathi El-Emami was</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/16/air-force-search-and-rescue-head-assassinated-in-derna/#ixzz2fexhxH1U"><span style="color: #cd1713; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">assassinated</span></a></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">there. <a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/16/air-force-search-and-rescue-head-assassinated-in-derna/#ixzz2fexhxH1U"><span style="color: #cd1713; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In June, a prominent local judge, Judge Najib Mohamed Huwaidi was
also assassinated. Buildings too have been attacked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Friday’s killing, though, is the first of a religious leader.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" name="fb_share"></a><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More from Libya
Herald..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/03/28/salafists-destroy-major-sufi-shrine/"><span style="color: #cd1713; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Salafists destroy major
Sufi shrine</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Farah Waleed. Tripoli, 28 March 2013: The Al-Andlusi
mausoleum in Tajura area, one of the major Sufi shrines in Libya, was
destroyed early this morning, Thursday, in a bomb attack that is ...</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/08/29/why-the-supreme-security-committee-must-be-brought-to-heel-before-its-too-late/"><span style="color: #cd1713; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Why the Supreme Security
Committee must be brought to heel – before it’s too late</span></a><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By
George Grant. Tripoli, 29 August: Many outsiders looking at events in
Libya from afar are probably not fully aware of the powerful significance
of the recent desecration of Sufi shrine...</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/08/30/league-of-libyan-ulema-draws-links-between-salafists-saadi-qaddafi-and-ssc/"><span style="color: #cd1713; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">League of Libyan Ulema draws
links between Salafists, Saadi Qaddafi and SSC</span></a><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tripoli,
30 August: The League of Libyan Ulema has issued a statement condemning
the recent desecration of Sufi shrines, drawing clear links between those
responsible and officials within Li...</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/05/10/sebha-sufi-shrine-attacked/"><span style="color: #cd1713; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Sebha Sufi shrine attacked</span></a><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tripoli,
10 May 2103: The Hamid Hudairi Sufi shrine in Sebha has been extensively
damaged as a result of a rocket during the early morning on Thursday. The building
was reportedly hit by ...</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/08/29/salafists-target-historic-madrassa-in-central-tripoli/"><span style="color: #cd1713; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Salafists target historic
madrassa in central Tripoli</span></a><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tripoli,
29 August: Salafists have destroyed almost 30 graves at an historic
madrassa in central Tripoli, in the latest spate of religiously-motivated
violence to hit Libya. The Othman Pa...</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: #F8F8F8; color: #555555; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><b>In a wide-ranging statement condemning the
recent desecration of Sufi shrines, the League also accused the government of
Saudi Arabia of supporting Salafist clerics in Libya.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #555555; line-height: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/08/30/league-of-libyan-ulema-draws-links-between-salafists-saadi-qaddafi-and-ssc/#axzz2ffFuFuEZ"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/08/30/league-of-libyan-ulema-draws-links-between-salafists-saadi-qaddafi-and-ssc/
- axzz2ffFuFuEZ</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The League of Libyan Ulema has issued a statement condemning the
recent desecration of Sufi shrines, drawing clear links between those
responsible and officials within Libya’s security services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Several reports have emerged in recent days accusing members of
the Supreme Security Committee of complicity in the attacks, a charge repeated
by National Congress Speaker Mohammed Magarieff on Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the statement, the Ulema also accuse those responsible of
having links with Saadi Qaddafi, one of Muammar Qaddafi’s seven sons, who is
currently in exile in Niger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saadi has previously allied himself with the Salafists, who
represent a small minority of Muslims in Libya. During a television address in
February, during which he threatened to return to Libya to lead a
counter-revolution, Saadi declated: “I am not a politician. I am a Salafist”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Ulema have also criticised Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadiq
Al-Ghariani for issuing a fatwa “legitimisising the destruction of mosques
built around a tomb”. The Mufti has condemned the recent desecrations, which
have nevertheless focused on shrines enclosing tombs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saudi Arabia is also singled out for criticism in the statement,
with the Ulema calling on the government and the National Congress “to pressure
the government of Saudi Arabia to restrain its clerics who meddle in our
affairs”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The league accuses Saud clerics of “promoting millions of free
books and tapes in Libya which attack our moderate religious traditions”, and
calls on the government to submit a formal complaint to both the League of Arab
States and the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation regarding what it describes
as unacceptable interference in Libya’s domestic affairs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Ulema call on both the National Congress and the government
to take active measures both to deter future attacks and to hold those
responsible to account; “to rebuild what they destroy and retrieve what they
steal; as well as to hold to account those elements in the security apparatus
who have betrayed their office to aid these criminals.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The statement is reproduced in full below:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Statement by the League of Libyan Ulema Regarding the Assault on
Libya’s Mosques and Mausoleums</span></b><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and
blessings on the Prophet Muhammad, his Family, and his Companions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Libyan revolution, which was launched on 17 February of last
year, initially sought to achieve legitimate goals through peaceful means.
Despite the fact that the government was flagrantly killing innocent Libyan men
while carrying out sexual assaults on Libyan women, many young men remained in
their homes, under the influence of scholars who argued that the government was
legitimate, and accordingly, rising up against it was an act of sedition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only after the Lord granted the revolutionaries victory did
these youth join the fray, trying to present themselves as leaders of the
movement – this despite the fact that up until that moment (and even
afterwards) they had allied themselves with Saadi Gaddafi who financed the
establishment of a puritanical Salafi school for them in one of the mosques of
Tripoli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This group has repeatedly attempted to undermine the stability
of our country to achieve their fiendish goals. To this end, they have set off
bombs at the tombs of saints, destroyed places of worship, burned down
religious schools, pillaged libraries with rare and priceless manuscripts, and
abducted and tortured dozens of those whose only crime was to refute their
errors or stop their destruction, as in Zliten. In this, the more radical
elements of the security apparatus have been complicit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These renegades are inspired by a school of thought foreign to
our venerable and indigenous traditions, a school of thought comprised of the
most errant positions at odds with the teachings of the vast majority of Muslim
scholars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Assaulting a tomb and exhuming its inhabitant is a grave sin in
Islam. The classical jurist Malik narrated in his Muwatta that the Prophet
(peace be upon him) cursed those who dig up the graves of others. Similarly,
the Prophet (pbuh) declared, “Breaking the bone of a dead Muslim is as grave as
breaking their bone when they are alive.” And at the funeral of the Prophet’s
wife Maymouna, Ibn Abbas firmly instructed the pall-</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Cambria Math","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‐</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">bearers: “When you raise up the bier, make
sure not to let it shake bac</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">k and forth, but carry it with the utmost
care.” It should go without saying that digging up someone’s body and blowing
up their grave is that much more blasphemous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These renegades claim that visiting the mausoleums of the saints
amounts to idolatry, a position which contradicts the Prophet (pbuh)’s saying
that “While I used to forbid you from visiting people’s graves, feel free to do
so now, since visiting them is a good remembrance of one’s own mortality” not
to mention that it contradicts the well-</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Cambria Math","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‐</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">est</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ablished practice of
Muslim society from its very beginnings. To the extent that there are some
people who pray to these saints to the exclusion of God, this is due to their
own ignorance and does not in any way call for the destruction of these sites or
the murder of its attendants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Grand Mufti of Libya recently published a fatwa legitimising
the destruction of mosques built around a tomb; this fatwa is inappropriate for
several reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First of all, the mufti should well know that all tombs in Libya,
without exception, which are attached to a mosque are separated from the actual
prayer area by a wall. Secondly, the mufti bases his fatwa on the isolated
position of the medieval jurist Ibn Taymiyya, whom he describes as “the great
sage of Islam (shaykh al-</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Cambria Math","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‐</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Islam)”
– as if there have not been scores of scholars who have shared this encomium.
The fact is that the vast majority of Muslim scholars have found no problem
with having a tomb adjoin a mosque in the manner found in our society.</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And in any case, the Great Mosque of Medina contains not only
the tomb of our Prophet (pbuh), but those of his close Companions Abu Bakr and
Umar – and not a single Muslim from the Prophet’s generation ever suggested
that their bodies be moved out of the mosque precinct or that the mosque should
be relocated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Furthermore, the fact that the Companions debated whether to
bury the Prophet (pbuh) beneath his pulpit only underlines the acceptability of
this. And the Prophet himself (pbuh) commanded that “A prophet should be buried
wherever he breathes his last.” And Lady Ayesha, who was well-</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Cambria Math","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‐</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">versed in Islamic law, would perform her
prayers next to his grave. Thirdly, the mufti has contravened the position of
the dominant school of law here in Libya – namely, the Maliki school – even
though he formally committed him</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">self to its rulings
through the Fatwa Law which he himself drafted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Accordingly, those who murder civilians and destroy our very
heritage are renegades who defy God’s law. Islam enjoins on us to restrain them
by force and hold them accountable for all their crimes, for as the Lord says
in scripture:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It is but a just recompense for those who make war on God and
His apostle, and endeavour to spread corruption on earth, that they are slain
in great numbers, or crucified in great numbers, or have, in result of their
perverseness, their hands and feet cut off in great numbers, or are [entirely]
banished from [the face of] the earth: such is their ignominy in this world.
But in the life to come [yet more] terrible suffering awaits them” and “Hence,
who could be more wicked than those who bar the mention of God’s name from [any
of] His houses of worship and strive for their ruin, [although] they have no
right to enter them save in fear [of God]? For them, in this world, there is
ignominy in store; and for them, in the life to come, a terrible suffering.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In conclusion, it is the responsibility of the National Congress
and the Interim Government to take measures to deter these renegades and hold
them to account; to rebuild what they destroy and retrieve what they steal; as
well as to hold to account those elements in the security apparatus who have
betrayed their office to aid these criminals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Similarly, the League of Libyan Ulema calls on the venerable
National Congress and Interim Government to pressure the government of Saudi
Arabia to restrain its clerics who meddle in our affairs in the following ways:
providing intensive courses for Libyan youth where they are brainwashed with
extremist ideas and taught to give their allegiance to the Saudi clerics to the
exclusion of the just Lord Himself; promoting millions of free books and tapes
in Libya which attack our moderate religious traditions; and pounding the
simple masses with the propaganda that Libyan scholars are worthless and should
not be heeded. Accordingly, a formal complaint should be submitted to the
League of Arab States and the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation regarding
this flagrant intervention in our domestic affairs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Neglecting the grave responsibility of the security and
stability of our country is a dereliction of duty; as the Prophet himself
(pbuh) stated, “Those who do not actively care for the well-</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Cambria Math","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‐</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">being of the Muslim community are not part of
it.”</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sedition
ever lies below the surface; May God curse those who would stir it up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peace
be upon you and the blessings of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
League of Libyan Ulema<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-61202134198132865182013-08-13T22:44:00.001-04:002013-08-13T22:44:10.783-04:00New Jersey Links to MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYYQ0hHeipAkKHagZk7XXheb0jDox3uaY_wzJV2sydYaco3JhtXIxx-PwrTGvoQhkR4UCi7oAC3GeewWh_Cz1YtnemL5uP46J_PYBQEJVEgZPseTjecvYTZp7ZLhl42xMEVpJaGta5ds/s1600/art.mlk.clarence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYYQ0hHeipAkKHagZk7XXheb0jDox3uaY_wzJV2sydYaco3JhtXIxx-PwrTGvoQhkR4UCi7oAC3GeewWh_Cz1YtnemL5uP46J_PYBQEJVEgZPseTjecvYTZp7ZLhl42xMEVpJaGta5ds/s1600/art.mlk.clarence.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Clarence Jones standing behind Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<br />
<br />
Local New Jersey Links to MLK's “I Have a Dream” Speech
<br />
<br />
<br />
By William Kelly (<a href="mailto:billkelly3@gmail.com">billkelly3@gmail.com</a>
609-425-6297)
<br />
<br />
<br />
Maple Shade, Cape May and Longport, New Jersey don't have the same
connotations to the American Civil Rights movement as Memphis, Selma
and Birmingham, but events took place there that had a major impact
on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the moving speech he gave at the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington fifty years ago.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The first incident occurred in sleep Maple Shade, a primarily
residential Camden County community intersected by a number of major
highways.
<br />
<br />
<br />
On June 10, 1950, a quiet Sunday afternoon, Martin Luther King,
Jr., a student at Crozier Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, was
driving around with his fellow student Walter R. McCall, and their
dates, Pearl Smith and Doris Wilson after attending religious
services. They pulled into Mary's Cafe on Main Street, just off the
jug handle on Rt. 73, parked, went inside and sat down at a table.
<br />
<br />
<br />
There were a few local customers sitting at the bar, including a
black man, but after reviewing the menu for quite some time, no one
waited on them. After awhile, King got up and approached the
bartender, Ernest Nichols - a big, German, who insulted King. After
King and his companions complained about not being served, Nichols
took out a gun from behind the bar, opened the door and shot the gun
into the air.
<br />
<br />
<br />
King and his friends got the message and left, but before they
left town they filed a formal complaint with the local police, and
Nichols was later arrested and there was an official court hearing in
which Nichols was fined $50 on a weapons charge.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Although not a well known incident in the life of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., it is listed in the chronology of his life, and it
is cited as the one event that radicalized him to make civil rights a
political issue.
<br />
<br />
<br />
After King became recognized as a leader in the civil rights
movement, in June 1958 he was asked to address a convention of
Philadelphia area Quakers meeting in Cape May, New Jersey, where King
gave a not well known but important speech in which he articulated
the idea that the civil rights movement was not just for blacks but
for all people, and that to be successful, violence would be
counter-productive and non-violent civil disobedience must be
practiced.
<br />
<br />
<br />
At Cape May King said the civil rights movement was part of a
“worldwide revolt against slavery and the oppression of colonialism
and imperialism.”
<br />
<br />
<br />
The third significant incident that contributed to the inspiration
of the “I Have A Dream” speech too place in the early 1950s in
Longport, New Jersey, an upscale beach resort on the south end of
Absecon Island, which includes Atlantic City. Among the rich
residents was the Lippincott family, original Quakers who owned the
Chalfonte-Haddon Hall (Now Resorts) on the boardwalk in Atlantic City
and other Philadelphia and South Jersey area businesses.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Lippincotts employed some domestic servants, whose young son
Clarence Jones, had looked forward to spending a summer at the Jersey
Shore, and as soon as he got there he began exploring the
neighborhood on his bicycle.
<br />
<br />
<br />
When he encountered some other local youths however, they
harrassed him, and he was shocked at what they called him “nigger,”
“honkey,” “monkey” and “boogaloo,” things he had never
heard before.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Having been educated in a private school by Catholic nuns and
raised in the home of the upper crust Lippincott family, young Jones
had never heard such language and was understandably repulsed.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Jones later recounted that, when his mother found him crying, and
he told her what happened, she made him look in the mirror asked what
he saw – telling him “you are the most beautiful thining Go;s
creation,” and from then on such taunting no longer affected him as
much as it did that day in Longport.
<br />
<br />
<br />
The nuns, Jones said, taught him well, and after graduating from
Columbia and obtaining his law degree and license, Jones moved to
California, where he intended to become a prominent and prosperous
attorney for the rich and famous.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Then one day in 1960 a visitor arrived at his front door – Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., who was scheduled to give a sermon at Jones'
church that evening. King asked Jones to go back east with him and
work on the civil rights movement, as a young lawyer was needed.
Jones declined, saying his wife was pregnant and he had to take care
of his new family. King understood, but later that night King devoted
part of his sermon on the responsibility of black professionals to
stand up and take the lead in the movement that was then primarily
young black radicals, liberal white college kids and old black ladies
like Rosa Parks.<br />
<br />
<br />
Also berated by his wife, Jones reconsidered and joined King's
legal team, eventually becoming one of his most trusted aides. Jones
helped compose parts of the “I Had a Dream” speech, ensured it
was copyrighted and tells the story in his book, <i>“Behind the
Dream – the Making of the Speech that Transformed a Nation.</i>”
<br />
<br />
<br />
Jones can also be heard interviewed on NPR radio program - .
<br />
<a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132905796.dream-speech-writer-jones-reflects-on-king-jr">http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132905796.dream-speech-writer-jones-reflects-on-king-jr</a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So MLK at Mary's Cafe in Maple Shade, his Cape May speech and
Clarence Jones' bike ride in Longport, New Jersey may not rank with
such major civil rights events as those that happened in Selma,
Birmingham and Memphis, but what transpired in New Jersey at those
times and places changed the minds of men and effectively brought
about major changes in the civil rights of all people.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KvGqDUZjiwZiTJ66UIWMDwcGlMYIvf6N3SpAg_xx3Pl_0X69DWAZreV0JZC_K03y6rbMIkVmcBWmypUZEwthKFP1K5QK-Vt5kqmESMY0kjhS9UU_FJedhkKtNtopZRv-tq_ynSw2oPY/s1600/110213_book_dream-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KvGqDUZjiwZiTJ66UIWMDwcGlMYIvf6N3SpAg_xx3Pl_0X69DWAZreV0JZC_K03y6rbMIkVmcBWmypUZEwthKFP1K5QK-Vt5kqmESMY0kjhS9UU_FJedhkKtNtopZRv-tq_ynSw2oPY/s1600/110213_book_dream-1.jpg" /></a></div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-35109678313024856282013-08-12T15:18:00.003-04:002013-08-12T15:18:33.442-04:00Al-Sharia Militia Is Back and Bigger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Al-Sharia Militia Responsible for Assassinating Chris Stevens Is Back. </span></span></span>
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<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">They
have expanded beyond Benghazi and are bringing Social Services with
them – including an Emergency Room</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">While
the security situation continues to worsen in Libya, over the past
few months, Ansar al-Sharia in Libya (ASL) has been taking advantage
of the lack of state control by building local communal ties, which
is strengthening its ability to operate in more locations than
Benghazi. Although Benghazans protested against ASL in response to
the consulate attack, which led many in the media, commentariat, and
government to believe it had been outright discredited, contrary to
this narrative that formed that ASL was marginalized and kicked out
of the city, in fact, it is thriving and expanding.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Following
the September 11 attack, many Libyans, especially in Benghazi, were
embarrassed that the operation on the consulate that killed
Ambassador Christopher Stevens and other Americans occurred. Many
believed Stevens was doing a great job and helping out the local
community. As such, citizens went into the streets to repudiate these
actions and called for stripping weapons from militias. They
also </span></span></span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/libyans-march-against-militias-after-attack" target="_blank"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">stormed</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> ASL's
base. While this might have been a short-term set back, ASL has since
been able to alter perceptions of its intentions even if it has not
fundamentally changed its ideology. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Unlike </span></span></span><a href="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/03/08/meeting_tunisias_ansar_al_sharia"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Ansar
al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST)</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">,
which has been a national movement from its inception, ASL originally
only organized and operated in Benghazi. ASL first announced itself
in February 2012. The group is led by Muhammad al-Zahawi, who had
previously been an </span></span></span><a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/18/it_wasn_t_us"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">inmate</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> of
former President Muammar al-Qaddafi's infamous Abu Salim prison. In
recent months, though, ASL has been able to expand its scope beyond
Benghazi through its </span></span></span><a href="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/14/maqdisi_s_disciples_in_libya_and_tunisia"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">dawa
(missionary work)</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">,
coordination with local leaders and businesses, and programs that are
beneficial locally.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">In
the aftermath of the consulate attack, a major rebranding began by
changing the group's name from Katibat Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi to
Ansar al-Sharia in Libya. Though at the time ASL was only active in
Benghazi, the group changed its name to try and signify it was a
national movement as well as no longer primarily a fighting force
since <i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">katibat</span></i> means
brigade. ASL also began a rigorous rehabilitation process through
focusing on dawa activities to garner more support and alter local
perceptions.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
use of dawa has been a key evolution in jihadi organizations over the
past few years. In light of the excesses in Iraq, global jihadi
theorists like Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi and later al Qaeda
ideologues began calling for a more comprehensive </span></span></span><a href="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/14/maqdisi_s_disciples_in_libya_and_tunisia"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">program</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> to
gain power and then instituting their interpretation of sharia. By
focusing on dawa groups would be able to consolidate gains instead of
only attacking all types of enemies, which would only lead to
short-term gain, but not long-term progress. Both ASL and AST have
exemplified this change over the past two and a half years.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Although
media reports originally suggested that ASL had left Benghazi
following the consulate attack, in actuality, it only left its base
within the city, but did not leave the city itself. Rather, members
melted back in with the population and bided their time. It did not
take long for good news to appear for ASL. Only 10 days after the
September 11 attack, doctors and nurses at al-Jala' hospital that ASL
was guarding (prior to the attack and had been relieved of duties in
light of it)</span></span></span><a href="http://ara.reuters.com/article/topNews/idARACAE88M02A20120923" target="_blank"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">highlighted</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> that
its services were missed.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Since
mid-October 2012, ASL has gradually done more and more outreach and
social service type of activities under the rubric of its dawa
campaign. These activities include religious lecture series for the
youth, fixing and cleaning roads, night patrols on the outskirts of
Benghazi, confiscating drugs and alcohol, providing slaughtered sheep
to needy families for Eid, sending aid to Syria and Gaza, Quranic
competitions for children, maintenance of houses of the poor,
cleaning schools, garbage collection, and fixing bridges, among other
things. Beyond this, ASL has been able to provide tangible services
to the community. It has opened a medical clinic for women and
children, an Islamic Center for Women, an Emergency Room, as well as
a religious school named Mirkaz al-Imam al-Bukhari Li-l-‘Ulum
al-Sharia.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">As
a result of these activities and services, it has been able to gain
goodwill within society. For instance, the Central Blood Center (CBC)
in Benghazi now partners with ASL for urgent blood drives. The CBC
even presented ASL with an award for its help on July 25. ASL has
also coordinated lectures with the Social Security Fund Benghazi
Branch and cleaned roads in cooperation with the group Tajama'
al-Qawarshah al-Khayri wa-l-Da'wai and the electrical company.
Additionally, in January, the schools administration at the Turkish
School called "July 23" asked for help with securing and
cleaning it. The administrators claimed that they asked the National
Security Directorate, the local council, and the competent
authorities to provide security, but they did not. The school had
allegedly been taken over and used by some youth who made it a place
to sleep, eat, drink, use drugs and liquor, and breed animals.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
most successful project that ASL has undertaken is a vigorous
anti-drug campaign in cooperation with the Rehab Clinic at the
Psychiatric Hospital of Benghazi, the Ahli Club (soccer), Libya
Company (Telecom and Technology), and the Technical Company. This
suggests that there is buy-in at a town level. It also highlights the
goodwill and positive force some see in ASL for society. Throughout
May, ASL put on a lecture series nine times with the slogan "Together
For Benghazi Without Drugs." One of the lectures was in Tripoli
in cooperation with the Qaduti Foundation, highlighting that ASL's
message was gaining positive resonance outside of Benghazi.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Two
months earlier, signs of its growth and outreach beyond Benghazi
started becoming evident. A delegation of unidentified tribesman from
the southern town of Ubari came up to Benghazi. The purpose of this
trip according to ASL was for the tribesman to get to know its
organization. This potentially hints at more nefarious aims of ASL
that it does not publicize. It is </span></span></span><a href="http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/JA2721p044-047.xml0/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">believed</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> by
French intelligence that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has had
people stay in Ubari. There are also</span></span></span><a href="http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20130609-le-sud-libye-nouveau-sanctuaire-le-terrorisme-islamique" target="_blank"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">reports</span></b></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> that
Mukhtar Bilmukhtar, who was responsible for the In Amenas attack in
Algeria earlier this year, was working with actors in Ubari as well.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Comparing
ASL's two annual conferences can also show the scope of its growth.
There was an increase from the first iteration in early June 2012 and
the one at the end of June this year. An estimated few hundred
members attended ASL's first conference. Whereas, around two thousand
people were present this year, though ASL claims 12,000 people came.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Other
signs of ASL's progress were its establishment of a second branch in
Sirte on June 28 and a third branch in Ajdabiya on August 6. Based on
the events ASL has put on in Sirte over the past couple of weeks, it
shows that it had been preparing for its establishment ahead of time.
For instance, ASL put on a Quranic competition for Ramadan between
July 14 and 24 in association with the Office of Awqaf of Sirte,
Radio Tawhid of Sirte, the Cleaning Services Company, and the
University of Sirte. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">During
Ramadan, ASL has also been assisting needy families with food for
Iftar in Benghazi. It has been able to garner sponsorship of this
drive from the Libya Company, Primera Gallery, al-Iman Foundation,
Tajama' al-Qawarshah al-Khayri wa-l-Da'wai, and the Faruq Center. As
such, it has allowed ASL to provide clothing and gifts to children on
the occasion of Eid al-Fitr at the end of the month of Ramadan.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">All
of this points to ASL expanding in capacity contradicting some
analysis that it was wholly discredited and destroyed in the
demonstrations in Benghazi in the aftermath of the U.S. Consulate
attack. ASL's overall influence should not be exaggerated or
overblown, though. It is still a fringe movement, but similar to the
group in Tunisia it is able to punch above its weight through public
events and posting them onto its official Facebook pages. But unlike
AST, which has only independently put on campaigns and events, ASL
has been able to integrate within the local milieu beyond just its
membership. This is in part precisely because of the total failure of
the central government to deliver security or basic services. With
the social service provisions and local cooperation, ASL will
continue to expand and be an actor that cannot be ignored.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Aaron
Y. Zelin is the Richard Borow Fellow at the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy and maintains the website </span></i></span></span></span><a href="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/jihadology.net"><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Jihadology.net</span></b></i></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">.</span></i></span></span></span></div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-69998730933804620382013-08-11T19:16:00.001-04:002013-08-11T19:26:29.004-04:00Militias Meet in Tripoli to Support Army <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99Uyq8OIhCkMyuYSWNcQbMGC2GEdOaQB86twVx4Olgh2lSNPkmCNeU0g5pzG_lN0ZMorXb1nBBxCmFx-4tSV-CJRbamuIHP6Vd0CvRC_pObaJt9nw-LZk6wstwhYfkr709cfnYM1xsvY/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99Uyq8OIhCkMyuYSWNcQbMGC2GEdOaQB86twVx4Olgh2lSNPkmCNeU0g5pzG_lN0ZMorXb1nBBxCmFx-4tSV-CJRbamuIHP6Vd0CvRC_pObaJt9nw-LZk6wstwhYfkr709cfnYM1xsvY/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Forces
from around the country head into Tripoli to defend it.</span></span></span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Tripoli,
11 August 2013</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/08/11/thousand-militia-vehicles-in-tripoli-as-revolutionaries-announce-support-for-new-chief-of-staff/</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">More
than a thousand vehicles belonging to the Libya Shield forces for
Central and Western Regions are reported to have arrived in Tripoli
over the past four days. The troops have been deployed to various
military locations in and around the capital. The move is to defend
it from forces causing instability or planning a move to impose their
will on Congress and the government by force.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">It
is the largest mobilisation since the liberation and follows the
decision by president of General National Congress (GNC) Nuri Abu
Sahmain to order the Libya Shield to secure strategic locations in
the capital and provide overall security there. The decision was
authorised by the President of Congress as well as the
newly-appointed Minister of Defence, Abdullah Al-Thinni, and the new
Army Chief of Staff, Abdulsalam Al-Obaidi.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
Libya Shield forces for Central Region are under the command of
Colonel Muhammed Musa and are usually stationed in Misrata. They have
been deployed on numerous occasions in different towns including
Kufra, Bani Walid and Sebha. However, the command structures of these
umbrella brigades remain weak as they are formed of smaller brigades
and units from many different locations and with individual
commanders. The forces for Libya Shield for Western Region are
already making their way into Tripoli and have also taken control of
the much attacked military </span></span></span><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/08/04/interim-chief-of-staff-reported-to-have-been-attacked/)"><span style="color: #cd1713;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">base</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> named
after General Abdul Fatah Younus, 27 kilometers west of Tripoli,
after receiving orders from the Chief of Staff office.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Colonel
Musa has mobilized roughly 1,200 vehicles from different towns
including Zliten, Bani Walid, Khoms, Zawiya, Gharian, Tarhouna and
Sabratha. But most of its firepower comes from Misrata
–Colonel Musa’s hometown.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
new Chief of Staff and Musa have been in touch with the Supreme
Revolutionaries’ Council (SRC) about the current mobilisation of
forces and the general plan to dissolve all brigades, including the
Libya Shield. The Executive officer of SRC, Muhammed Shaaban told
the </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Libya
Herald</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> that
there is consensus among all members of SRC to support the new Chief
of Staff. He said, “We met Colonel Musa last night and assured him
of all the support he needs. We agreed that the army should be the
first priority now and that brigades would dissolve as soon as new
Chief of Staff takes concrete steps towards forming a strong national
army.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cd1713;"><a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/08/11/thousand-militia-vehicles-in-tripoli-as-revolutionaries-announce-support-for-new-chief-of-staff/defend-tripoli/"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="723" hspace="5" name="graphics1" src="http://www.libyaherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Defend-Tripoli.jpg" vspace="2" width="468" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Cable
sent by the Chief of Staff ordering Libya Shield forces of the
Central and Western regions to protect Tripoli</span></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">When
asked why the SRC didn’t support the former Chief of Staff ,Yusef
Mangoush, and resisted calls to join the army, Shaaban said that no
concrete steps had been taken to build the trust in the
revolutionaries.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;">“<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">He
(Mangoush) was a nice man but was surrounded by people not sincere to
the formation of army. The revolutionaries want to see trustable army
commanders and not the people they were fighting against in the
revolution,” he said.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">However,
Shabaan noted that situation was now different and his members would
support any initiative by the Chief of Staff to build a strong army.
He added: “The new Chief of Staff is a very respectable man. He is
very committed to making a strong army and revolutionaries trust him
as he is a real fighter.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Shabaan
defended the decision to bring Libya Shield forces into Tripoli and
said it had stabilised power in the capital. He spoke of the threat
of a coup.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;">“<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">It
was timely to authorise the Libya Shield movement. The threat of a
coup was very real and those informed know about its repercussions.
It is not a move against Zintan or any other town. Colonel Musa
confirmed that he received calls and assurances of support from
Zintan. Many units that are part of the (Libya Shield) western forces
are on their way to Tripoli now. We all know that Zintan has many
real revolutionaries. It’s the political armed gangs based in
Tripoli that are the problem.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">A
senior security source who was present at the meeting between Abu
Sahmain and the leaders of the revolutionaries also confirmed that,
despite planning the mobilisation for some time, they had had to rush
as there was a threat to Congress.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;">“<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">We
knew about plans to undermine the GNC ,” the source said, “and we
were coming up with a plan. But it all had to be rushed when we saw
bolder moves in the Western Region including theft of military
equipment.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
source continued: “The initial idea was to authorise the
‘Revolutionaries Operation Room for Tripoli’ but it included some
figures who are controversial and we feared it might be hijacked by
people with certain ideas. So the head of the GNC rightly asked the
Chief of Staff to mobilise the Libya Shield forces.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
source also confirmed that the forces are made up from different
parts of the country including units from Zintan.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<span style="color: #555555;">“<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">All
brigades and units from towns that fall under the Central and Western
region are on duty. It is not a random move that all brigades would
be coming to Tripoli. Only the ones ordered by the Commander are
coming and they includes some units from Zintan,” he said. He also
said that there are other proposals on the table on supporting the
Chief of Staff on the formation of national army.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<span style="color: #555555;">“<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">There
is genuine desire to form the national army and support the Chief of
Staff to make it happen. One suggestion is to appoint army commanders
who were loyal to the 17 February revolution from the beginning as
well as the defectors that parted ways with the (Qaddafi) regime
after seeing the bloody crackdown – but not the ones that jumped
from the sinking ship. These points would be accepted by all the
revolutionaries as this has been their demand from October 2011. They
can serve under such officers. The brigades would then be dissolved –
because the main factor stopping them from joining the army would be
taken care of.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Basit Zwai told the </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Libya
Herald</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> that
the government would support Congress’ decision and this would
improve the security situation. “The authorisation comes from the
head of the GNC and the Libya Shield forces would reverse the
deteriorating level of security,” he said, adding: “It would also
help provide security to the diplomatic missions after recent attacks
on the diplomats.”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino linotype, palatino, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The
new Defence Minister, Al-Thinni, earlier announced that he as working
on a security plan and by taking concrete steps, all brigades would
be dissolved within six months.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-74824600006863213572013-08-11T17:20:00.004-04:002013-08-11T17:20:47.366-04:00Wave of Political Assassinations in Libya <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Libya: Wave of Political Assassinations<br />
Lack of Accountability Risks Escalating Violence<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/08/libya-wave-political-assassinations">http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/08/libya-wave-political-assassinations</a><br />
<br />
<br />
AUGUST 8, 2013<br />
(Beirut) – At least 51 people have died in a broadening wave of
apparent political assassinations in the cities of Benghazi and Derna
in volatile eastern Libya. Authorities have not prosecuted
anyone for these crimes, and have no suspects in custody, as far as
Human Rights Watch has been able to determine.<br /><br />The July
26, 2013, killing of Abdulasalam Elmessmary, was the first of a
political activist since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted. The
assassination appeared to signal a new turn in the violence with
potentially serious implications for Libya’s stability. The other
victims include two judges and at least 44 serving members of the
security forces, most of whom had held positions in Gaddafi’s
government. At least six were high-ranking officers under
Gaddafi.<br /><br />“What started as assassinations of members of the
police, internal security apparatus, and military intelligence has
been further aggravated by the killing of judges and a political
activist,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa
director. “The failure to hold anyone accountable highlights the
government’s failure to build a functioning justice
system.”<br /><br />According to cases documented by Human Rights
Watch, political assassinations in Benghazi and Derna peaked in the
second half of 2012, and again in January and July 2013. While there
have been reports of assassinations in other parts of the country,
they have mostly been centered in the east.<br /><br />Human Rights Watch
interviewed relatives, friends or witnesses of eight of the victims.
Relatives told Human Rights Watch that as far as they could
determine, Libyan law enforcement officials had not conducted
comprehensive investigations. They said law enforcement agents did
not investigate at the crime scene, summon any potential witnesses,
or provide information to the families about their
investigations.<br /><br />Law enforcement officials acknowledged to
Human Rights Watch that they had not concluded any of the
investigations despite trying to conduct investigations into the
assassinations. They said they lacked sophisticated means to
investigate, faced many obstacles due to the prevailing security
situation, and lacked the means to summon witnesses without the use
of force.<br /><br />No groups or individuals have claimed responsibility
for the assassinations. The only person known to have been arrested
escaped.<br /><br />On July 23, Interior Minister Mohammad Khalifa
al-Sheikh said at a news conference that “people with a
past criminal record,” were behind the killings. He said that some
of their identities were known but could not be revealed since the
information was classified, and that the government was investigating
and collecting information.<br /><br />On July 28, Justice Minister Salah
al-Marghani said the government was determined to bring to
justice “those responsible for the assassinations” in Benghazi
and Derna. He said the government would consider accepting the
support of an international forensics team.<br /><br />“Myriad armed
groups and criminals with various agendas are benefiting from a weak
and dysfunctional law enforcement system where they can kill even
police and judges with impunity,” Stork said. “Unless the
government takes urgent steps to actually turn its own pledges into
action and make building its police and criminal investigation units
a priority, there is a real risk of a further surge in
violence.”<br /><br />The Death Toll<br />In the absence of comprehensive
official figures, Human Rights Watch has investigated and documented
killings of 51 victims of apparent political assassinations, though
the actual number is probably higher. The documented cases do not
include assassinations of officers and members of the security forces
committed during the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi. As far as Human
Rights Watch has been able to determine, it is the only compilation
of apparent political assassinations in Eastern Libya since the
toppling of Gaddafi.<br /><br />Human Rights Watch interviewed families,
friends or witnesses of eight victims and reviewed information
provided by activists, judges, members of the prosecution, and media
reports. A local nongovernmental organization provided a list of 12
assassinations and 2 kidnappings of members of the Benghazi police
force. Human Rights Watch could not verify ranks and affiliation to
the state security forces of at least seven of the victims, or the
dates of their deaths.<br /><br />According to the information obtained
by Human Rights Watch, 12 victims were apparently killed by explosive
devices targeting their cars. The rest were shot, most in drive-by
shootings, in front of their homes or workplaces, or in their
cars.<br /><br />The following are some of the most recent killings, in
June and July. None of the assailants have been identified:<br />
<ul>
<li>On July 30, Ahmed Farraj al-Barnawi, commander of the
Benghazi Protection Force, was killed by an explosive device that
targeted his home in Benghazi.<br />
</li>
<li>On July 26, Colonel Khatab Younis al-Zway and retired Colonel
Salam al-Sarrah were shot to death in two separate incidents in
Benghazi.<br />
</li>
<li>On July 8, in Benghazi, an explosive device targeted the car
of Col. Fawzi Mohamed Ali al-Burki, a former internal security
apparatus officer under Gaddafi, killing him.<br />
</li>
<li>On July 4, a drive-by shooting in Benghazi, an apparent
assassination attempt on Col. Hamed al-Hassi, killed two men.
Al-Hassi survived. He was an air force officer under Gaddafi,
and commands the military wing of the Cyrenaica Transitional
Council, a movement that seeks greater autonomy for eastern Libya.<br />
</li>
<li>On June 26, an explosive device attached to his car killed
Jomaa al-Misrati, a commander of an infantry brigade in the Libyan
army who served as a military intelligence officer under Gaddafi.
Al-Misrati’s car exploded 150 meters from his house in Benghazi.<br />
</li>
</ul>
In January, Abdelsalam al-Mahdawi, director of the Benghazi police
Criminal Investigation Department, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen in
Benghazi. His family told Human Rights Watch on June 3 that they have
had no news of his fate. Al-Mahdawi was abducted one month after the
department made its only arrest in relation to the political
assassinations in Benghazi.<br /><br />Police Failure to Act<br />The
Criminal Investigation Department is tasked with conducting criminal
investigations, collecting forensics evidence, identifying and
questioning witnesses and referring case files to the General
Prosecutor’s Office or the Military Attorney’s office for
prosecution. But it has not concluded its investigations into any of
these assassinations. Nor has it concluded investigations into the
dozens of kidnappings, attempted assassinations, and attacks on
police and military structures in Benghazi in 2012 and 2013 that
appear to follow the same pattern as the political assassinations
targeting mainly members of the security forces.<br /><br />Human Rights
Watch interviewed witnesses to the crimes and relatives and friends
of eight of the men assassinated in Benghazi who had served in
various security agencies under Gaddafi before joining the armed
opposition in the 2011 revolt to oust him. Six of the families said
that the police, the General Prosecutor’s Office, and the Military
Prosecutor had failed to investigate, to conclude an investigation,
or to let the families know what was happening.<br /><br />The eight
victims included Faraj Mohamed Idriss Drissi, Suleiman Bouzreidah and
Mohamed Haddiya al-Fitouri. They were gunned down in separate
incidents by masked assailants riding in cars, either while the
victims were in front of their houses or walking on the streets,
their relatives told Human Rights Watch. Two of the more recent
victims, Jomaa al-Misrati and Fawzi al-Burki, were killed by
explosive devices planted in their cars.<br /><br />Izzeddin Abdelhafith
al-Ghweili, acting head of Benghazi Police Criminal Investigation
Department, told Human Rights Watch during an interview in June:<br />
In the absence of functioning state institutions, amid a
proliferation of arms and of various active armed groups, we cannot
work according to our usual procedures. The main issue we face with
witnesses is that they are scared and often do not show up if they’ve
been summoned. All of these assassination cases remain unresolved. We
do not know who our enemies are anymore – there are too many of
them.<br />
He said that Ali al-Fezzani, the only person arrested and detained
in relation to the assassinations in Benghazi, managed to flee from
prison in Tripoli.<br /><br />Al-Fezzani was arrested on December 16,
2012, and initially confessed to killings including Drissi, chief of
the Benghazi Security Directorate, and Jomaa al-Kadiki, an air force
officer under Gaddafi. After al-Fezzani was detained at the Benghazi
Criminal Investigation Department, armed protesters, angry over
reports that al-Fezzani had been tortured by the police, attacked the
department headquarters on December 20.<br /><br />Al-Ghweili said that
the attackers burned parts of the building and stole furniture and
surveillance cameras. Four people were killed, including a police
officer. The police hurriedly transferred al-Fezzani to al-Hadhba, a
detention facility in Tripoli under the authority of the Justice
Ministry and within the premises of the National Guard headquarters.
Al-Fezzani escaped from al-Hadhba in May and remains at large.<br /><br />On
December 21, al-Marghani, the justice minister, announced at
a news conference that the General Prosecutor’s Office would
investigate al-Fezzani’s detention and torture claims. At the news
conference, Khalid al-Sharif, head of the al-Hadhba corrections
facility, said that he had seen no marks from torture on
al-Fezzani.<br /><br />A video posted online shows al-Fezzani
being interrogated, apparently confessing to being an assassin
responsible for killing several people, including Drissi, and knowing
about the killings of several other officers. In the video,
al-Fezzani says that commanders of Islamist militias operating in
Eastern Libya gave orders for the killing of former officers and that
they considered it acceptable as it was “halal” [permitted] to
kill army officers and people affiliated with the current
government.<br /><br />A second video taken by unidentified people and
posted online after he arrived in Tripoli shows
al-Fezzani retracting his confession, saying he had not
assassinated anyone and had confessed under torture.<br /><br />Al-Ghweili
denied al-Fezzani’s accusations that he had been tortured while in
the custody of the Benghazi CID.<br /><br />No group or individual has
claimed responsibility for the attacks. The fact that most of the
attacks targeted Gaddafi-era officers in the Benghazi and Derna area
and the planned and efficient manner of the killings suggest that
they are related and part of a pattern or campaign against
individuals with a particular political profile, Human Rights Watch
said.<br /><br />Mohamed al-Hizaji, official spokesman of the Benghazi
Joint Security Operations, a security apparatus coordinating
activities of the Army, Police and intelligence services, highlighted
the problems the authorities face in investigating crimes since
Qaddafi’s ouster. He told Human Rights Watch in July that the
authorities “face many obstacles” when they “try to conduct
investigations,” and had not been given the means to do so. He said
the “types of criminals and methods used” had changed in recent
months, and had become even “more dangerous.” The forces only
recently began to receive means and equipment needed to conduct
investigations, he said.<br /><br />A prosecutor in Benghazi who did not
wish to be named told Human Rights Watch the unresolved cases of
unlawful killings were currently “stuck at the level of police
investigations” and that prosecutors could only investigate if they
had access to “evidence, and witnesses to question.” He confirmed
the lack of an official “census” of these assassination cases and
said they dated back to the beginning of the 2011 uprising against
Muammar Gaddafi, as the first such killing was committed in March
2011.<br /><br />He said the prosecutor’s office dealt with cases on an
individual basis and did not link the crimes unless they were carried
out by the same person. “I cannot conduct my work according to
trends – I need hard facts,” he said. The prosecutor’s office
had very limited investigative resources and faced difficulties in
expanding investigations and including forensic evidence, due to the
lack of more sophisticated tools such as “DNA testing, which is
only available in Tripoli,” he said.<br /><br />On the prosecutors’
powers to summon and question witnesses, he said: “The reality is
that while we can issue arrest orders, there is no one to implement
them and to go and fetch someone for questioning. Who will do that?
Our work depends very much on collaboration with the police,
intelligence services.”<br /><br />Broader Security Issues<br />The
assassinations should be seen in the context of a general lack of
security in Benghazi and the rest of the eastern region, particularly
Derna.<br /><br />Since the end of the 2011, conflict, Benghazi has
experienced large-scale attacks by various militias on state security
forces facilities and army positions, as well as armed clashes
between militia factions and attacks on foreign diplomatic missions.
On June 8, the most recent large-scale clashes in Benghazi resulted
in the deaths of 32 people, most of them protesters, members of the
Army Special Forces unit, and members of militias in what became
known as “Black Saturday.”<br /><br />Foreign diplomatic
missions and international organizations have been the targets of
violence since 2012. Most recently, in January, gunmen opened fire on
the Italian consul’s car in Benghazi. In April 2012, unidentified
assailants attacked a convoy in Benghazi carrying the United Nations
Special envoy to Libya, Ian Martin, and in June 2012, assailants
attacked a British embassy convoy.<br /><br />In May 2012, the offices of
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were attacked. A
militia, the “Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman Brigade,” claimed
responsibility, accusing the ICRC of proselytizing for Christianity,
including distributing Bibles. No one was prosecuted for the
attacks.<br /><br />And on September 11, 2012, armed groups attacked the
US consulate in Benghazi, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens and
three of his aides. As a result, diplomatic missions and
international organizations withdrew their permanent presence from
Benghazi. In May, the FBI released photos of six people
present during the attacks on the US compound. No one is known to
have been charged with the killings in Libya, though, and the General
Prosecutor’s Office has yet to conclude its investigations into
these cases. US news media reported on August 7 that the US
Justice Department had filed murder charges in the case, but no
arrests apparently have been made in Libya.<br /><br />Some of the
assassinations of officers between 2012 and 2013 appear related to
the killing on July 28, 2011, of General Abdelfatah Younis, chief of
staff of the anti-Gaddafi brigades, operating under the National
Transitional Council.<br /><br />A Benghazi Military Court judge who
summoned Younis in July 2011 for questioning from the front lines
over his alleged continued ties to the former regime was found dead
on July 28, 2012, along with two of his aides. Jomaa Obaidi
al-Jazawi, one of three judges investigating Younis’s death, was
assassinated in June 2012 by unidentified assailants in front of a
mosque in Benghazi.<br /><br />Relatives of Bouzreidah, chief of military
intelligence, and al-Fitouri, in charge of weapons and ammunition of
the national army, said both men had been appointed directly by
Younis shortly after the outbreak of the 2011 uprising. Bouzreidah
was killed near his home in Benghazi in July 2012, and al-Fitouri was
killed in Benghazi in August 2012.<br /><br />The Military Court in
Benghazi summoned the former chairman of the National Transitional
Council, Mustafa Abdeljalil, to question him over his alleged role in
approving the “arrest” of Younis. After widespread controversy,
the court dropped the case against Abdeljalil and referred
it to the Military Supreme Court. No further progress in identifying
Younis’s assassins has been announced.<br /><br />Accounts by Families
and Friends<br />Lt. Col. Abdelsalam al-Mahdawi, 45, headed the
Benghazi Police Criminal Investigation Department. Unidentified
masked armed men kidnapped him on January 2, 2013, while he was
driving with acquaintances down a busy street in Benghazi after work.
Al-Mahdawi was the only member of the group pulled from the car and
taken away to an unknown location. A father of three, al-Mahdawi, had
worked in the investigations department for 10 years, and was
appointed its head just four days before his kidnapping. No one has
claimed responsibility for the abduction and no one has been
arrested.<br /><br />His brother, Osama al-Mahdawi, told Human Rights
Watch:<br />
<br />
<i>For six months, we haven’t heard anything. No one has called us.
No one has made any demands… We went to the CID and filed a
complaint and they formed an investigation committee, yet, to date,
no one was arrested in my brother’s case. The armed groups are
stronger than the courts.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Abdullah Dibus, a friend of al-Mahdawi who was in the car with him
when he was seized, said:</i><br />
<i>After the incident, we [the two witnesses] went straight to the
CID to report it. We were asked questions and the next day we were
called back to the CID for more questioning. We were never approached
by the prosecutor’s office. Although the family requested that the
Ministry of Interior set up a committee to investigate the incident,
nothing has happened so far.</i><br />
<br />
Faraj Mohamed Idriss Drissi, 57, was the chief of the Benghazi
Security Directorate and father of 11. On November 20, 2012,
unidentified assailants gunned him down in front of his house in
Sabri district in Benghazi. His family, hearing gunshots late at
night as Drissi was coming home from work, rushed to the front gate,
where they found his bullet-ridden body. He died on the spot, in
front of some of his children. Under Gaddafi, Drissi was a colonel in
the Security Directorate [police department] of Benghazi. After the
uprising he became chief of the Security Directorate in Benghazi, a
post he held until his assassination.<br /><br />Drissi’s widow, Zainab
Abdelkarim Mohamed, told Human Rights Watch that her husband had
spoken several times with the media about his intent to empty
Benghazi of illegal arms and crime. “This is when the threats
started,” she said. “I begged him to retire but he refused.”
Although neighbors called the police and other relevant authorities
to report the killing, Drissi’s widow said she does not remember
seeing any police or other security forces in in the area to conduct
investigations or question witnesses.<br /><br />Brig. Gen. Mohamed
Hadiyya al-Fitouri, 63, was in charge of weapons and ammunition for
the Libyan Army in eastern Libya under Gaddafi. Al-Fitouri retained
his position after the 2011 conflict, according to his family, at the
explicit wish of General Younis. Al-Fitouri was killed on August 10,
2012, during Ramadan, as he walked home with an elderly neighbor from
a nearby mosque.<br /><br />Al-Fitouri’s family told Human Rights Watch
that a witness told them the attackers had first tried to push
al-Fitouri into a waiting car, as they shouted “traitor” and
“infidel.” When they failed, they shot him in the head, the
heart, hand, and leg. He died instantly. His family said that no one
has been arrested and the only witness to the incident – the
neighbor – has not been questioned due to his fragility and
advanced age.<br /><br />“No authorities came here to ask us
about the incident concerning my husband’s death,” Amal
al-Barghatial, Fitouri’s widow, told Human Rights Watch in the
family home in Benghazi in June 2013. “No one from the prosecution
contacted us. We know of no investigation.”<br /><br />Col. Suleiman
Bouzreidah, 60, a father of 10, was killed on July 28, 2012, as he
headed to a mosque near his home. He was the head of investigations
in the military intelligence unit under Gaddafi, and later head of
military intelligence for the rebels in Benghazi during the 2011
conflict, a role in which he continued until he resigned a month
before his death. His family told Human Rights Watch during a visit
in June 2013 that a car carrying several armed men, some of them
masked, shot Bouzreidah in his cheek and forehead as it drove past,
and he died immediately.<br /><br />Bouzreidah effectively took over the
position under the transitional council that had been held by
Abdullah Senussi, Gaddafi’s chief of intelligence, who is in
custody in Libya and is sought by the International Criminal Court on
war crimes charges during the 2011 conflict. Bouzreidah assumed the
position of chief of military intelligence on February 23, 2011, just
days after the uprising broke out and rebels took control of
Benghazi. His family said that three witnesses to Bouzreidah’s
murder gave statements to the police about the incident but that they
knew of no arrests in the case.<br /><br />Bouzreidah’s widow, said she
had been afraid for her husband’s life after he accepted the
position as head of military intelligence in February 2011, and was
disappointed with the government, which “did not do anything” for
the family, who still do not know the killers’
identities.<br /><br />Bouzreidah’s son, Yazeed, said the deputy
prosecutor in charge of the case had told the family he was capable
only of “collecting files [of the cases] at this stage” and did
not have sufficient manpower to conduct any “proper
investigations.” He said that a witness to the killing who had
given a statement to the police was threatened in the street a short
time later by unidentified men, who told him, “if you say anything
at all [about the incident] then we will kill you”:<br />
<br />
<i>No one from the authorities came to the street where my father
died to ask any questions, but instead we [the family] brought some
of the witnesses to the CID to give their statements. On the third
day of condolences after the funeral, one of the witnesses was
threatened and told if he dared say anything about the incident he
would be killed. Of course we suspect certain people affiliated with
terrorist Islamist networks here in Benghazi to be behind this crime,
but we have no evidence.</i><br />
<br />
Anis Ali al-Gehani, 22, was a student and brother-in-Law of Naji
Hammad, a police officer who started “Save Benghazi Friday,” a
demonstration against militias in Benghazi soon after the attack on
the US consulate. Al-Gehani was killed on December 3, 2012. He
had been staying with his sister, in Benghazi while Hammad was in
Tripoli.<br /><br />Hammad told Human Rights Watch in June that on the
morning of December 3, 2012, al-Gehani was warming the car up to drop
his sister off at work when he was shot by unknown armed men and died
of multiple gunshot wounds in his extremities, chest and head.
One witness told the family he saw four masked, bearded men in the
car, family members said. They said the police were investigating but
that no one has been arrested.<br /><br />Hammad said he believed his
brother-in-law was killed by mistake, and that killers were trying to
kill Hammad for his activism and outspoken stance toward the militias
and Islamists.<br /><br />Recommendations<br />To the government of Libya:<br />
<ul>
<li>Establish impartial, transparent, and independent
investigations into all assassinations committed in Libya after the
end of the 2011 conflict to oust Muammar Gaddafi leading to the
identification and prosecution of those responsible;<br />
</li>
<li>Ensure that anyone detained in relation to these
assassinations has access to legal representation and is treated in
accordance with international due process standards including prompt
judicial review and prompt charging. Make public the list of those
detained in relation to the killings;<br />
</li>
<li>Ensure protection of law enforcement agents during evidence
gathering and the entire investigative procedures;<br />
</li>
<li>Provide adequate protection to witnesses, lawyers, judges,
court officials and prosecutors. Provide judicial police and
military police with adequate training and equipment to ensure
security of all those involved in the judicial procedures both at
civil and military courts;<br />
</li>
<li>Provide criminal investigation departments with sufficient
means to carry out sophisticated investigations, including necessary
equipment and adequate training;<br />
</li>
<li> Provide criminal investigation agents with proper
training to bring their performance into line with international
standards; and<br />
</li>
<li>Seek financial and technical support from the UN and donor
governments to strengthen criminal investigations for these and
other crimes.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
To the United Nations Mission in Libya (UNSMIL):<br />
<ul>
<li>Publicly press the Libyan government to investigate and
prosecute those responsible for these assassinations.<br />
</li>
</ul>
To the international community – in particular governments of
the US, UK, France, and Italy:<br />
<ul>
<li>Provide technical support to criminal investigation
departments to investigate the assassinations since the end of the
2011 uprising against Gaddafi, to ensure a credible and transparent
process; and<br />
</li>
<li>Ensure financial support for rule of law and justice programs
to ensure that courts are able to operate fairly and according to
international legal standards.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br /></div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-38817556198787306662013-08-03T09:43:00.003-04:002013-08-03T09:43:56.736-04:00CIA in Benghazi <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Exclusive: Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attack</div>
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<a href="http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/"><span style="color: purple;">http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/</span></a></div>
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CNN has uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA, in the wake of the deadly <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> terror attack.</div>
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Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the assault by armed militants last September 11 in eastern <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
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Programming note: Was there a political cover up surrounding the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attack that killed four Americans? Watch a CNN special investigation — The Truth About Benghazi, Tuesday at <st1:time hour="22" minute="0">10 p.m. ET</st1:time>.</div>
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Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.</div>
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CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency's <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> secrets from ever leaking out.</div>
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Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings.</div>
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The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.</div>
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It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.</div>
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In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "You don't jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well."</div>
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Another says, "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation."</div>
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"Agency employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more than that," said former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.</div>
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In other words, the rate of the kind of polygraphs alleged by sources is rare.</div>
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"If somebody is being polygraphed every month, or every two months it's called an issue polygraph, and that means that the polygraph division suspects something, or they're looking for something, or they're on a fishing expedition. But it's absolutely not routine at all to be polygraphed monthly, or bi-monthly," said Baer.</div>
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CIA spokesman Dean Boyd asserted in a statement that the agency has been open with Congress.</div>
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"The CIA has worked closely with its oversight committees to provide them with an extraordinary amount of information related to the attack on <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> facilities in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>," the statement said.</div>
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"CIA employees are always free to speak to Congress if they want," the statement continued. "The CIA enabled all officers involved in Benghazi the opportunity to meet with Congress. We are not aware of any CIA employee who has experienced retaliation, including any non-routine security procedures, or who has been prevented from sharing a concern with Congress about the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> incident."</div>
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Among the many secrets still yet to be told about the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> mission, is just how many Americans were there the night of the attack.</div>
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A source now tells CNN that number was 35, with as many as seven wounded, some seriously.</div>
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While it is still not known how many of them were CIA, a source tells CNN that 21 Americans were working in the building known as the annex, believed to be run by the agency.</div>
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The lack of information and pressure to silence CIA operatives is disturbing to U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, whose district includes CIA headquarters in <st1:place><st1:city>Langley</st1:city>, <st1:state>Virginia</st1:state></st1:place>.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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"I think it is a form of a cover-up, and I think it's an attempt to push it under the rug, and I think the American people are feeling the same way," said the Republican.</div>
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"We should have the people who were on the scene come in, testify under oath, do it publicly, and lay it out. And there really isn't any national security issue involved with regards to that," he said.</div>
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Wolf has repeatedly gone to the House floor, asking for a select committee to be set-up, a Watergate-style probe involving several intelligence committee investigators assigned to get to the bottom of the failures that took place in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, and find out just what the State Department and CIA were doing there.</div>
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More than 150 fellow Republican members of Congress have signed his request, and just this week eight Republicans sent a letter to the new head of the FBI, James Comey, asking that he brief Congress within 30 days.</div>
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<a href="http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/15/white-house-releases-100-pages-of-benghazi-e-mails/">Read: White House releases 100 pages of Benghazi e-mails</a></div>
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In the aftermath of the attack, Wolf said he was contacted by people closely tied with CIA operatives and contractors who wanted to talk.</div>
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Then suddenly, there was silence.</div>
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"Initially they were not afraid to come forward. They wanted the opportunity, and they wanted to be subpoenaed, because if you're subpoenaed, it sort of protects you, you're forced to come before Congress. Now that's all changed," said Wolf.</div>
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Lawmakers also want to know about the weapons in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and what happened to them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speculation on Capitol Hill has included the possibility the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> agencies operating in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> were secretly helping to move surface-to-air missiles out of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>, through <st1:country-region><st1:place>Turkey</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and into the hands of Syrian rebels.</div>
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It is clear that two <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> agencies were operating in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, one was the State Department, and the other was the CIA.</div>
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The State Department told CNN in an e-mail that it was only helping the new Libyan government destroy weapons deemed "damaged, aged or too unsafe retain," and that it was not involved in any transfer of weapons to other countries.</div>
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But the State Department also clearly told CNN, they "can't speak for any other agencies."</div>
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The CIA would not comment on whether it was involved in the transfer of any weapons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Have a tip? Go to cnn.com/investigate<o:p></o:p></div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-28518156576397765762013-07-29T17:33:00.000-04:002013-07-29T17:33:01.900-04:00Iran - Al Qaeda and Benghazi <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Was <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Behind the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> Attack?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:date day="29" month="7" year="2013">July 29, 2013</st1:date>
• From theTrumpet.com</div>
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There is clear evidence that al Qaeda and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are working together, despite the war in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.thetrumpet.com/article/10825.18.0.0/world/military/was-iran-behind-the-benghazi-attack">http://www.thetrumpet.com/article/10825.18.0.0/world/military/was-iran-behind-the-benghazi-attack</a></div>
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BY RICHARD PALMER</div>
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Was <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
involved in the attack on the American Consulate in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
on <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">Sept. 11, 2012</st1:date>? Too many
would dismiss that question with a simple “no.” <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was al Qaeda. It’s Sunni. They hate the Shiites in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
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The war in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>
seems to confirm this view. Al Qaeda sends its men and resources to support the
rebels while <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and Hezbollah prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad.</div>
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But the truth is that the al Qaeda-Iranian relationship is
much more complicated.</div>
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The Sunni-Shia divide is real and significant. But <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and al Qaeda’s hatred for the West is even more powerful. <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and al Qaeda have fallen out in the past. But they also have a proven record of
working together.</div>
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Furthermore, al Qaeda is not a unified bloc, but rather a
lose coalition of militants fighting under the same brand name. A local
commander in <st1:place>North Africa</st1:place> doesn’t care who <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
fighting in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
providing he gets the weapons he wants.</div>
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Not only is it possible for <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and al Qaeda to work together, but there is solid proof that it is happening
right now, and even <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> is
drawn into that relationship.</div>
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Reports from the U.S. Treasury Department expose a
partnership between the two. In the summer of 2011, it announced that the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> had uncovered an al Qaeda
network operating in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
under an agreement between al Qaeda and the Iranian government. “<st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is a critical transit point for funding to support al Qaeda’s
activities in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,”
it wrote.</div>
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“Al Qaeda’s core financial pipeline—which runs from Kuwait
and Qatar, through Iran, to Pakistan—depends upon an agreement between al Qaeda
and the Iranian government to allow this network to operate within its
borders,” wrote Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence
David S. Cohen, in written testimony in October 2011 (emphasis added
throughout).</div>
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The next February, the Treasury reported that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
Ministry of Intelligence and Security “has facilitated the movement of al Qaeda
operatives in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and provided them with documents, identification cards, and passports.” It
said it had “also provided money and weapons to al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) … and
negotiated prisoner releases of AQI operatives.”</div>
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Then again in October 2012, Cohen unveiled new material
that, he said, highlighted “<st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s ongoing
complicity in this network’s operation.” At this point, the Syrian
conflict was well under way. Yet <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and al Qaeda were still working together.</div>
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“Under the terms of the agreement between al Qaeda and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
al Qaeda must refrain from conducting any operations within Iranian territory
and recruiting operatives inside <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
while keeping Iranian authorities informed of their activities,” wrote the
Treasury Department. “In return, the government of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
gave the Iran-based al Qaeda network freedom of operation and uninhibited
ability to travel for extremists and their families.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>?
These kind of links can often take years to fully uncover. Last November, a
Washington District Court heard that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
trained the al Qaeda operatives responsible for the 1998 embassy bombings in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Dr.
Matthew Levit, an expert witness for the case on the state sponsorship of
terrorism, said that “it would not have been possible for al Qaeda to a
reasonable degree of certainty to have executed this type of a bombing attack,
which it had never previously executed, without this type of training it
received from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and Hezbollah.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took 13 years for <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
involvement in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
bombings to become public. It may take time before all the facts are known, but
already there’s some good evidence that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
had a hand in the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In May, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> arrested
three militants armed with 22 pounds of explosives and bomb-making
equipment. <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told journalists that the group had received
instructions from an al Qaeda leader called Dawoud al-Asadi. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to Rewards for Justice, a website set up by
the U.S. State Department, Dawoud al-Asadi is an alias for Muhsin al-Fadhli—the
leader of al Qaeda in Iran. To cement the connection even further, Ibrahim said
that one of the three terrorists had received military training in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ibrahim said that Al-Asadi (aka al Fadhi) told the
terrorists to get in touch with a group known as “the Nasr City Cell”—an
Egyptian-based group that has since been rounded up, but has strong connections
to al Qaeda and has been linked to the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack. The cell’s leader, Muhammad Jamal al Kashef (aka Abu
Ahmed) set up training camps in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
founding the Jamal terrorist group. <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
intelligence officials identified members of his network on the scene of the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In short, al Qaeda in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
trained a terrorist agent, sent him to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>
with two other operatives, and told him to get in contact with some of the key
instigators of the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Al Qaeda in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
was working with some of the planners of the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Under its agreement with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
al Qaeda also had to keep the Iranian government up to date with its
activities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is rapidly moving into the Iranian camp,” wrote Trumpet editor in
chief Gerald Flurry in August 2011. “That means <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
which borders <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
will now help bring that nation into <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
terror network.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now we see evidence that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is spreading its terror network in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
via Egyptian terrorists—men who were locked up by former President Hosni
Mubarak, but were freed in the revolution.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
merely know about the attack, or was it a key part in it? Just like the attack
on the embassies in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
the proof might not come out for another decade.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But in another part of <st1:place>Africa</st1:place>, there
is, almost literally, a smoking gun. In September 2011, the Nigerien military captured
weapons and ammunition from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It included
ammunition that Conflict Arms Research identified as originating in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Then in May 2012, it also intercepted a shipment of weapons containing
Iranian-manufactured ammunition.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
Al Shabaab has strong links to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and is also affiliated with al Qaeda.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
patronage of Al Shabaab’s predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), is
clear. The United Nations monitoring group in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
discovered that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
had flown it an aircraft full of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles,
machine guns and grenade launchers, in July 2006. It also reported on arms from
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region> sent by
sea.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Around the same time, the ICU sent 720 of its best
fighters to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
to fight alongside Hezbollah. Some of the fighters stayed in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>
after the fighting for advanced training. “In exchange for the contribution of
the Somali military force, Hezbollah arranged for additional support to be
given to ICU from the governments of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
which was subsequently provided,” said the report.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since then, the ICU has changed its name to Al
Shabaab, and become the official <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
wing of al Qaeda. But <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
support has continued. In July, the UN monitors mention hundreds of illegal
fishing vessels—mainly Iranian and Yemeni owned—that visited the waters around <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
They say that they “had received several unconfirmed reports that some of the
illegal fishing vessels are also being used as cover for weapons smuggling.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“While the Monitoring Group has been unable to verify any
particular vessel that has been used for both illegal fishing and weapons
smuggling, it has nonetheless established other connections between the illegal
fishing networks and networks involved in the arms trade and connected to
Al-Shabaab in northeastern <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,”
they write.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They also reported that they have captured several “nearly
new” Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers that “closely resemble
Iranian-manufactured” launchers. The monitors are also investigating a ship
seized in January in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
It was packed with weapons and fuel, and the UN believes that some
that could have been bound for <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On their own, each of these incidents of cooperation between
al Qaeda and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
would be interesting, though not conclusive. Together they paint a pattern of
broad cooperation across <st1:place>Africa</st1:place> and the <st1:place>Middle
East</st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The two sides also share the same goals in the region.
A recent study by <st1:place><st1:stockticker>RAND</st1:stockticker></st1:place>
corporation by analyst Seth Jones concluded that al Qaeda groups “want to
establish Islamic emirates in specific countries or regions, though they may be
agnostic about a broader violent jihad.” That suits <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
who wants to push against <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> across north Africa.
Jones notes that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Algeria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
for example, is one of the main targets of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
too would be keen to see an Islamic regime take over one of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>’s
key resource hubs. “<st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
rather than the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
is the most significant foreign enemy,” notes Jones.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hezbollah and al Qaeda are undoubtedly the two most powerful
terrorist groups in the world. By working together with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
support, they have nation-destroying potential.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Trumpet has long forecast that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region> would
become a major power in northern <st1:place>Africa</st1:place>—specifically
that it would get control of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Its links with terrorist groups in the area are a major step in that direction.
These terrorist groups may be Sunni, but they are still influenced by <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and supported by <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Flurry identified <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
as the “king of the south,” or the leader of Islamic terrorism, in the early
’90s. Since then it’s retained that top spot. For more information on the
significance of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
terror network, read our free booklet <a href="http://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/30/the-king-of-the-south" target="_blank"></a>The King of the South. ▪<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-29149530189943120792013-07-29T17:32:00.000-04:002013-07-29T17:32:14.180-04:00Libya In Turmoil <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Courthouses Attacked: Explosions Rock <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/libya-courthouses-attacked_n_3667738.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/libya-courthouses-attacked_n_3667738.html</a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/libya-courthouses-attacked_n_3667738.html?view=print&comm_ref=false"></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By ESAM MOHAMED <st1:date day="28" month="7" year="2013">07/28/13</st1:date>
<st1:time hour="16" minute="59">04:59 PM ET <st1:stockticker>EDT</st1:stockticker></st1:time>
AP </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place><st1:city>TRIPOLI</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>
— Two large explosions hit courthouses in the city of <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
late Sunday, leaving part of one of the buildings a pile of rubble, two
security officials said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An official in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
said 10 people were wounded, two seriously, in the explosion outside one
courthouse. Video posted by residents online showed several vehicles destroyed
by that explosion. The video also showed residents standing in a crater in the
ground outside the building.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another courthouse in the eastern part of the city was also
hit, said a security official in the capital, <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The courthouse in the north of <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was the site of the first protests against dictator Moammar Gadhafi in early
2011 that led to his ouster. It continues to be a hub for protests.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The explosion erupted just before a planned protest outside
one of the buildings to mark the second anniversary of the death of Gen. Abdul
Fattah Younis, a former Gadhafi security minister who defected from the regime
to join the rebels fighting him. He was killed in July 2011 by his comrades
while in custody after he was arrested on suspicion of treason.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Security officials said <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/libya-courthouses-attacked_n_3667738.html" title="Click to Continue > by Text-Enhance">police</a> are
investigating if the explosions were the result of bombs. They spoke
anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to media.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The city of <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was the birthplace of the country's uprising against Gadhafi's rule and is also
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s second
largest city.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>'s
security is among the most precarious in post-revolution <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Last year, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed
in an attack on a <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic mission in the city.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Police there have also been involved in attacks and clashes
last month between protesters and a government-aligned militia that left 31
people dead in the eastern city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Saturday, a prison break there set more than 1,000
inmates free. Inmates started a riot and set fires after security forces opened
fire on three detainees who tried to escape on Saturday, a security official at
al-Kweifiya prison said. Gunmen quickly arrived to the prison after news of the
riot spread, opening fire with rifles outside in a bid to free their imprisoned
relatives, a Benghazi-based security official said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those who escaped either faced or were convicted of serious
charges, the prison official said. High-risk detainees charged or imprisoned
for extremist ties had already been transferred to a more secure prison in the
capital, <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>, before the prison
break, the official said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Special forces said they arrested 18 of the escapees, while
some returned on their own, said Mohammed Hejazi, a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/libya-courthouses-attacked_n_3667738.html" title="Click to Continue > by Text-Enhance">government security</a> official
in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-46376712893327069702013-07-29T17:31:00.002-04:002013-07-29T17:31:28.415-04:00Shariah Law 101 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/sharia-law-usa-states-ban_n_3660813.html?utm_hp_ref=religion">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/sharia-law-usa-states-ban_n_3660813.html?utm_hp_ref=religion</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(RNS) <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/sharia-law-usa-states-ban_n_3660813.html?utm_hp_ref=religion" title="Click to Continue > by Text-Enhance">North Carolina</a> lawmakers
on Wednesday (July 24) approved a bill to prohibit judges from considering
“foreign laws” in their decisions, but nearly everyone agrees that “foreign
laws” really means Shariah, or Islamic law.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:state><st1:place>North Carolina</st1:place></st1:state>
now joins six other states — <st1:state><st1:place>Oklahoma</st1:place></st1:state>,
<st1:state><st1:place>Arizona</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state><st1:place>Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>,
<st1:state><st1:place>Louisiana</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state><st1:place>South
Dakota</st1:place></st1:state>, and <st1:state><st1:place>Tennessee</st1:place></st1:state>
— to pass a “foreign laws” bill. A similar bill passed in <st1:state><st1:place>Missouri</st1:place></st1:state>,
but Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed it, citing threats to international adoptions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bills all cite “foreign laws” because two federal courts
have ruled that singling out Shariah — as <st1:state><st1:place>Oklahoma</st1:place></st1:state>
voters originally did in 2010 — is unconstitutional.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what’s the big deal with Shariah?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many Americans think of Shariah as an Islamic legal system
characterized by misogyny, intolerance, and harsh punishments. Some
anti-Islamic activists warn that Muslims are trying to sneak Shariah into the
American legal system in ways that do not reflect <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
legal principles or beliefs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many Muslim Americans counter that Shariah is essential to
belief, and that any harsh punishments or unconstitutional aspects associated
with Islamic law have either been exaggerated, abrogated or are superseded by
American law.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Muslims around the world have varying views about
what Shariah entails, and its role in personal and public life. So what exactly
is Shariah? Here are five facts that might help make sense of this complex and
often misunderstood term.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. What is Shariah?<br />
<br />
Shariah is an Arabic word that literally means a path to be followed, and also
commonly refers to a path to water. The term is broad, encompassing both a
personal moral code and religious law.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are two sources of Shariah: The Quran, which many
Muslims consider to be the literal word of God; and the “Sunnah,” the divinely
guided tradition of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The interpretation of Shariah is called “fiqh,” or Islamic
jurisprudence. Because fiqh is man-made, it can be changed; Shariah, for many
Muslims, is divine and cannot be changed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some Muslims use the term Shariah to apply to both
the injunctions in the Quran and Sunnah, and the interpretation of the Quran
and Sunnah. Islamic law consists of Shariah and fiqh.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. What does Shariah cover?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While often thought of as a legal system, Shariah covers
personal and collective spheres of daily life, and has three components –
belief, character, and actions. Only a small portion of the “action” component
relates to law. In fact, only about 80 of the Quran’s 6,236 verses are about
specific legal injunctions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “belief” component of Shariah commands Muslims to
believe in God, the angels, prophets, revelation, and other metaphysical and
physical aspects of the faith.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In terms of “character,” Shariah commands Muslims to strive
for traits like humility and kindness, and to avoid traits such as lying and
pride.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Actions” include those relating to God, such as prayer,
fasting, and pilgrimage, as well as actions relating to other humans, such as
marriage, crime, and business.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some actions relating to other humans can be regulated by
the state, while actions relating to God (as well as belief and character) are
between an individual and God. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nevertheless, some Muslim-majority countries have
criminalized violations of the belief, character, and action components of
Shariah.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Who is qualified to issue rulings on Shariah?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shariah was systematized between the eighth and 10th
centuries, some 200 to 300 years after Muhammad received his first revelation.
Many people believe that, by the end of the 10th century, the core components
of Shariah had been exhaustively debated. That said, changes in Islamic society
force scholars to look at Shariah anew, with new interpretations expressed in
fatwas (religious edicts) and legal opinions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Interpreting Shariah is done by jurists known as “fuqahaa”
who look at the practicality of both time and place regarding how a ruling can
be applied. In places where Shariah has official status, it is interpreted by
judges known as “qadis.” Fiqh interpretations divide human behavior into five
categories: obligatory, recommended, neutral, discouraged, and forbidden.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the centuries, Islamic legal analyses and opinions were
compiled in books that judges used in deciding cases. Secular courts and
Shariah courts coexisted in Islamic lands, with the Shariah courts often taking
responsibility for family law matters. With the arrival of European
colonization, many of these legal opinions were codified into civil law.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Where is Shariah the law of the land?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Professor Jan Michiel Otto of the <st1:place><st1:placename>Leiden</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype> <st1:placename>Law</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>School</st1:placetype></st1:place>
in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Netherlands</st1:place></st1:country-region>
divides legal systems of Muslim countries into three categories: classical
Shariah systems, secular systems, and mixed systems.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In countries with classical Shariah systems, Shariah has
official status or a high degree of influence on the legal system, and covers
family law, criminal law, and in some places, personal beliefs, including
penalties for apostasy, blasphemy, and not praying. These countries include <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Mauritania</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Sudan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the <st1:country-region><st1:place>Maldives</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Qatar</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and certain regions in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Indonesia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Malaysia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Nigeria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United Arab Emirates</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mixed systems are the most common in Muslim-majority
countries. Generally speaking, Shariah covers family law, while secular courts
will cover everything else. Countries include: <st1:country-region><st1:place>Algeria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Comoros</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Djibouti</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Gambia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Morocco</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Bahrain</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Brunei</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Gaza
Strip, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Kuwait</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Malaysia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Oman</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In several Muslim-majority countries, Shariah plays no role:
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Burkina Faso</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Chad</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Guinea</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Guinea-Bissau</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Mali</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Niger</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Senegal</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Tunisia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Azerbaijan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Kazakhstan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Tajikistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Turkmenistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Uzbekistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Albania</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
Kosovo, and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Turkey</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some countries have Islamic family law courts available for
their Muslim minorities: <st1:country-region><st1:place>Eritrea</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ghana</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Tanzania</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Uganda</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Singapore</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Sri Lanka</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United Kingdom</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
there are no Islamic courts, but judges sometimes have to consider Islamic law
in their decisions. For example, a judge may have to recognize the validity of
an Islamic marriage contract from a Muslim country in order to grant a divorce
in <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some Islamic scholars argue that true Islamic belief cannot
be coerced by the state, and therefore belief in Shariah should only come from
the individual and not be codified by the state.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Does Shariah really prescribe harsh punishments like
stoning adulterers?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, but many of these punishments have been taken out of
context, abrogated, or require a near-impossible level of evidence to be
carried out. For someone to be convicted of adultery, for example, there must
be four witnesses to the act, which is rare. The Quran also prescribes
amputating the hands of thieves, but (and this is often forgotten or
unmentioned) not if the thief has repented.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Other Shariah scholars say such a punishment system can only
be instituted in a society of high moral standards and where everyone’s needs
are met (thereby obviating the urge to steal or commit other crimes). In such a
society, the thinking goes, corporal punishments would be rarely needed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
That said, corporal punishments have been used by Islamic
militant groups in places like <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and governments in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
the Aceh state in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Indonesia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-64888261215364519762013-07-22T20:36:00.002-04:002013-07-22T20:36:58.754-04:00Aftermath of Benghazi <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aftermath of <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>:
New details emerge of horrific attack that killed <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
ambassador as support for Al-Qaeda grows in war-ravaged <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eyewitnesses to aftermath of attack speak about death of
Chris Stevens</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was killed by extremists linked to Al-Qaeda in September</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Libyan Security forces struggle to cope with rise of
terrorist organization</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Sam+Webb">SAM
WEBB</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
PUBLISHED: <st1:time hour="22" minute="34">22:34 EST</st1:time>,
<st1:date day="21" month="7" year="2013">21 July 2013</st1:date> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2373113/Aftermath-Benghazi-New-details-emerge-horrific-attack-killed-U-S-ambassador-support-Al-Qaeda-grows-war-ravaged-Libya.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2373113/Aftermath-Benghazi-New-details-emerge-horrific-attack-killed-U-S-ambassador-support-Al-Qaeda-grows-war-ravaged-Libya.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More grim details about the terrorist attack that killed a <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
ambassador and three other Americans has emerged as <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
admits it is struggling to combat a growing tide of extremism in the country.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ten months after the deaths at the American diplomatic
mission at <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> in the north
African country, a frightening picture of the attack itself and
the desperate security situation in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has emerged.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans -
information management officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty
and Tyrone Woods - were killed in a six-hour, commando-style attack on the
US Mission in the Libyan city on September 11, for which Al Qaeda in North
Africa and Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia were implicated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr Stevens died from asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalation
after a fire raged out of control.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2013/07/16/damon-return-to-benghazi-1.cnn.html">CNN</a> camera
crew, visiting <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, has
uncovered disquieting new insights into the event.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Correspondent Arwa Damon spoke to a man who filmed the
unconscious ambassador being carried out of the compound by civilians, who took
him to hospital.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He said: 'I thought it was a driver or a security guy. He
had a pulse and his eyes were moving. His mouth was black from all the smoke.'</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Damon also spoke to Dr Ziad Abu Zei, who battled to save the
ambassador. He said: 'I began resuscitating him but after 45 minutes the
patient gave no signs of life.'</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The killings shocked the world and sparked a whirlwind of
accusations that the Obama administration had ignored repeated warnings about
security at the site, as well as raising concerns about the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
response response as the battle raged.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the
regional security officer in Libya, has since given testimony that he and the late
ambassador had repeatedly asked to increase security at the embassy in the
months leading up to the attack, but said that their pleas fell on deaf ears as
the situation in the country deteriorated. The ambassador himself detailed
'never-ending security concerns' in an e-mail.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Veteran reporter Damon said: 'It's still stunning to see how
little protection the compound had.'</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The report also chronicled how support for Islamic terrorist
group Al-Qaida is on the rise in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
as the country makes its first difficult steps after ousting the dictator
Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades under his heel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One officer, speaking after a successful raid on a black
market selling guns, drugs and alcohol, called on the government to give Libyan
security forces, comprised of various fighting groups from the uprising, more
support. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But one official said progress is slow as the country makes
its transition from authoritarian rule.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
'We started from below zero, we are not starting from
scratch,' he said. 'We're trying to build our own police and our own army, and
things will take time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
'We have had 42 years of dictatorship, where people cannot
raise their voice and they cannot express their opinions. You will find people
with extreme ideas.'<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-41569629360468354212013-07-21T13:49:00.001-04:002013-07-21T13:49:37.925-04:00State Dept on UN Talking Points <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attack:
US State Department pushed for changes in administration's talking points</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.courierislander.com/authors?author=Donna%20Cassata">DONNA
CASSATA</a> / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS<br />
<st1:date day="10" month="5" year="2013"><st1:stockticker>MAY</st1:stockticker>
10, 2013</st1:date><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.courierislander.com/news/benghazi-attack-us-state-department-pushed-for-changes-in-administration-s-talking-points-1.175355">http://www.courierislander.com/news/benghazi-attack-us-state-department-pushed-for-changes-in-administration-s-talking-points-1.175355</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
[PHOTO] </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:stockticker>FILE</st1:stockticker> - This <st1:date day="7" month="6" year="2012">June 7, 2012</st1:date> file photo shows U.S.
Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice listening during a news conference at the UN.
Senior State Department officials pressed for changes in the talking points
that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used after the deadly attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic mission in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
last September, expressing concerns that Congress might criticize the Obama
administration for ignoring <a href="http://www.courierislander.com/news/benghazi-attack-us-state-department-pushed-for-changes-in-administration-s-talking-points-1.175355">warnings</a> of
a growing threat in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. (AP
Photo/Bebeto Matthews)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:state><st1:place>WASHINGTON</st1:place></st1:state> -
Senior U.S. State Department officials pressed for changes in the talking
points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used after the deadly attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic mission in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
last September, with senior officials asking that references to terror groups
and prior warnings be deleted, according to department emails.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The latest developments are certain to add fuel to the
politically charged debate over the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens
and three other Americans when insurgents struck the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in two nighttime attacks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Republicans have complained that in the heat of the 2012
presidential campaign, the Obama administration was trying to conceal that the
attack was the work of terrorists and not a protest over an anti-Islamic film
that got out of hand. Such revelations just before the election perhaps could
have undercut President Barack Obama's record on fighting terrorism, including
the killing of Osama bin Laden, one of his re-election strengths.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Democrats have in turn accused Republicans of trying to
capitalize on the attack to score political points. The White House has
insisted that it made only a "stylistic" change to the intelligence
agency talking points from which Rice suggested on five television talk shows
that demonstrations over an anti-Islamic video devolved into the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"There's an ongoing effort to make something political
out of this," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday of the
disclosure of the emails, which the administration had provided to lawmakers.
"The problem with that effort is that it's never been clear what it is
they think they're accusing the administration of doing."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A scathing independent report in December found that
"systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior
levels" of the State Department meant that <a href="http://www.courierislander.com/news/benghazi-attack-us-state-department-pushed-for-changes-in-administration-s-talking-points-1.175355">security</a> was
"inadequate for <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> and
grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The report largely absolved then-Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton, seen by many as the early Democratic favourite for president in
2016.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The State Department emails and other internal
administration deliberations were summarized last month in an interim
investigative report by Republicans on five House committees. New details about
political concerns and the names of the administration officials who wrote the
emails concerning the talking points emerged on Friday.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before the presidential election, the administration said
Rice's talking points were based on the best intelligence assessments available
in the immediate aftermath of the attack. But the report and the new details
Friday suggest a greater degree of White House and State Department
involvement.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following congressional briefings in the days after the attack,
members of Congress asked the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> for
talking points to explain the assault, and the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
under the direction of David Petraeus put together an assessment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It said Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qaida took part
in the attack, cited reports linking the attack to the group Ansar al-Sharia,
mentioned the experience of Libyan fighters and referred to previous warnings
of threats in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Numerous agencies had engaged in an <a href="http://www.courierislander.com/news/benghazi-attack-us-state-department-pushed-for-changes-in-administration-s-talking-points-1.175355">email</a> discussion
about the talking points that would be provided to members of Congress and to
Rice for their public comments. In one email, then-State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland worried about the effect of openly discussing earlier warnings
about the dangers of Islamic extremists in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nuland's email said such revelations "could be abused
by members of Congress to beat the State Department for not paying attention to
(central intelligence) agency warnings," according to a congressional
official who reviewed the 100 pages of emails.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The final talking points that weekend reflected the work of
several government agencies — <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>, FBI,
State Department, the office of the Director of National Intelligence —
apparently determined to cast themselves in the best light as the investigation
was just getting underway.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The reference to al-Sharia was deleted, but Nuland wrote
later that night, "these don't resolve all my issues and those of my
building leadership, they are consulting with <st1:stockticker>NSS</st1:stockticker>,"
a reference to the National Security staff within the White House.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Senior administration officials met that Saturday morning to
finalize the talking points. Deputy <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
Director Mike Morell worked with the officials to produce a final set of
talking points that deleted mentions of al-Qaida, the experience of fighters in
Libya and Islamic extremists, according to the congressional official, who
spoke only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to
speak publicly about the emails that still have not been released.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day, Sunday, Sept. 16, Rice appeared on the talk
shows and said evidence gathered so far showed no indication of a premeditated
or co-ordinated strike. She said the attack in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
powered by mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, appeared to be a copycat of
demonstrations that had erupted hours earlier outside the U.S. Embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>,
spurred by accounts of a YouTube film attributed to a <st1:state><st1:place>California</st1:place></st1:state>
man mocking the Prophet Muhammad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"In fact this was not a preplanned, premeditated
attack. That what happened initially was that it was a spontaneous reaction to
what had just transpired in <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>
as a consequence of the video," she said. "People gathered outside
the embassy, and then it grew very violent. Those with extremist ties joined
the fray and came with heavy weapons, which unfortunately are quite common in
post-revolutionary <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and that then spun out of control."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Administration officials said Friday they deleted the
references to terror groups because it was then unclear — and still is — who
was responsible for the attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rice's depiction of the chain of events contrasted with one
offered by Libya's Interim President Mohammed el-Megarif, who said at the time
there was no doubt the perpetrators had predetermined the date of the attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It was planned, definitely. It was planned by
foreigners, by people who entered the country a few months ago,"
el-Megarif said. "And they were planning this criminal act since their
arrival."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
___<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Associated Press writer Donna Cassata and AP White House
Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
© Copyright 2013<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-87520880659093329352013-07-20T22:41:00.002-04:002013-07-20T22:41:40.142-04:00Gen. Carter Ham and Col. George Bristol on Benghazi <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Former general: Knew early that <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was terrorist attack</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/20/former-general-knew-early-that-benghazi-was-terrorist-attack/">http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/20/former-general-knew-early-that-benghazi-was-terrorist-attack/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:date day="20" month="7" year="2013">July 20th, 2013</st1:date>
<st1:time hour="7" minute="6">07:06 AM ET</st1:time><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Elise Labott</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Editor's note: This is one in a series of stories and
opinion pieces surrounding the Aspen Security Forum currently taking
place in <st1:place><st1:city>Aspen</st1:city>, <st1:state>Colorado</st1:state></st1:place>.
Security Clearance is a media sponsor of the event, which is taking place from
July 17 to 20 in <st1:place><st1:city>Aspen</st1:city>, <st1:state>Colorado</st1:state></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The former head of <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
forces in <st1:place>Africa</st1:place> said the <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September 11, 2012</st1:date>, attack on the American mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
quickly appeared to be a terrorist attack and not a spontaneous protest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was clear "pretty quickly that this was not a
demonstration. This was a violent attack," former Gen. Carter Ham told the
Aspen Security Forum on Friday. Ham is the former chief of U.S. Africa Command,
commonly known as AFRICOM.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Five days after the attack, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice went
on the Sunday news shows to say it was the result of a spontaneous
demonstration, not a terrorist strike.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the State Department has maintained that Rice's
erroneous talking points were the result of getting and reacting to information
in real time, critics accuse the Obama administration of orchestrating a
politically motivated cover-up over a botched response, and continue to press
for answers as to when the administration knew they were dealing with a
terrorist attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When asked whether he specifically thought it was a
terrorist attack, Ham said, "I don't know that that was my first reaction.
But pretty quickly as we started to gain understanding within the hours after
the initiation of the attack, yes. And at the command I don't think anyone
thought differently."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ham was in <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
for a meeting of all combat commanders when the attack was under way. Although
a decision was made to send a drone from eastern <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
toward <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, by the time it arrived
above the facility, the attack on the mission was winding down.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ham knew Ambassador Chris Stevens was missing and believed
he could have possibly been kidnapped. Stevens and three other Americans died
in the attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"In my mind, at that point we were no longer in a
response to an attack. We were in a recovery and frankly, I thought, we were in
a potential a hostage rescue situation," Ham said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ham said although he had authority to scramble a jet to the
scene, he decided there was "not necessity and there was not a clear
purpose in doing so."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"To do what?" he asked. "It was a very, very
uncertain situation."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ham said although <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
officials were looking for indicators about a possible attack on US interests
during the 9/11 anniversary, there was no information that an attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
facility in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> was imminent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It was on it everyone's mind....we really were looking
very hard," he said. "Did we miss something? Was there something in
the intelligence that indicated that an attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
special mission facility in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was being planned or was likely? If that intelligence exists, I don't
know."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ham said that he didn't think Stevens, who lived in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
would have traveled to <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> if
he had information about a possible attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"If he felt there was a risk in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
I don't think only for himself, but he would not have put others at risk by
going to <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> he felt was an
increased likelihood of violence occurring in that place," Ham said.
"I'm convinced that he didn't have any indications."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ham said the fact there is not a stable government in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
makes the country "a very significant threat," noting that al Qaeda
has established itself in eastern and southwestern <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
he said, is trying to strengthen the capacity of the Libyan authorities to deal
with the threat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" class="MsoNormalTable">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;" valign="top">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;" valign="top">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Post by: <a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/tag/cnn-foreign-affairs-reporter-elise-labott/">CNN
Foreign Affairs Reporter Elise Labott</a> <br />
Filed under: <a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/category/aspen-security-forum/" title="View all posts in Aspen Security Forum">Aspen Security Forum</a> • <a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/category/africa/libya-africa/benghazi/" title="View all posts in Benghazi">Benghazi</a> • <a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/category/military/us-africa-command/carter-ham/" title="View all posts in Carter Ham">Carter Ham</a> • <a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/category/africa/libya-africa/" title="View all posts in Libya">Libya</a> • <a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/category/military/us-africa-command/" title="View all posts in US Africa Command">US Africa Command</a><o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Congress will hear from <st1:place>Africa</st1:place>
special forces commander on <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/19/congress-will-hear-africa-special-forces-commander/">http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/19/congress-will-hear-africa-special-forces-commander/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/shaun-waterman/">Shaun Waterman</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
Times<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:date day="19" month="7" year="2013">Friday, July 19,
2013</st1:date><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
House Republicans will hear behind closed doors from a
senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was responsible for special
forces in <st1:place>Africa</st1:place> on the night of last year’s deadly
terror attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic post in <st1:place><st1:city>Benghazi</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
despite what some GOP members are saying was an effort by
the Pentagon to hide him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Defense Department officials have previously told
congressional investigators and the news media that Col. George
Bristol cannot be compelled to testify because he is retired,
but Marine Corps Times this week reported that he remains on active
duty until the end of the month.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“There is every reason to expect that a briefing
[with Col. Bristol] will take place in the near future,” Claude
Chafin, the spokesman for the Republican majority on the House Armed
Services Committee, told The Washington Times Friday. “We are working out the
details with the Department of Defense.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He said the briefing would likely be in a classified
setting. “Questioning our witnesses in a closed briefing allows members to
receive information without worrying about the disclosure of classified
material.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Col. Bristol will be available to meet with House
and Senate members and their staffs very soon,” Air Force Maj.
Robert A. Firman a Pentagon spokesman confirmed to The Times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The report in Marine Corps Times earlier this week
brought an angry reaction from several Republicans who have accused
the Obama administration of seeking to whitewash their own
culpability in underestimating the threat beforehand and misrepresenting the
attack afterwards.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If these reports are accurate, this would be a stunning
revelation to any member of Congress … and also more importantly to
the American people,” Virginia GOP Rep. Frank Wolf told the House chamber
Thursday.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He said it was another example of what he called
“the administration’s efforts to silence those with knowledge of the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack and [their] response.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
insisted that the Pentagon “has fully cooperated with congressional
requests to understand the attack on the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
compound in response.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="" name="pagebreak"></a>The official blamed inaccurate
information given to Congress and the press on a bureaucratic snafu.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The initial confusion on Col. Bristol’s retirement
status was due to a military personnel administrative error, but that has now
been rectified,” the official said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Republican chairmen of several congressional committees
have run a number of highly aggressive investigations into the events of Sept.
11 last year, when dozens of heavily armed extremists overran the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic post in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
setting the building ablaze and killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens
and State Department officer Sean Smith.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several hours later, many of the same individuals,
reinforced with mortars, also attacked a nearby <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
annex, killing security contractors and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and
Tyrone Woods.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One reason that officials might be willing to see Col.
Bristol testify to the armed service committee is to debunk more of
the accusations that have been leveled at the administration.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last month, Army Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson told
the committee in a classified setting that no “stand-down” order was
given that night, contrary to persistent allegations, according to a committee
statement at the time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead, after a rescue team had been dispatched from <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
to <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, the remaining three <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
special forces personnel in the Libyan capital were ordered to remain there to
secure embassy staff and protect or evacuate them in case of coordinated or
copy cat attacks there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of those personnel, a trained medic, used his skills to
“save the leg and probably the life” of a <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack survivor who had been evacuated to <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>,
according to congressional testimony.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lack of a <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
military response to the assault has been a key point of contention for
Republican lawmakers, and Col. Gibson’s revelations have helped blunt
Republican efforts to paint the attack as an avoidable failure by
the Obama administration and, in particular, by then-Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton, tipped as a likely Democratic presidential
candidate for 2016.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-83339370117484769332013-06-11T19:41:00.001-04:002013-06-11T19:48:31.049-04:00Ben Franklin - First Wikileaker <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3322943179825627878" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
Letters Affair<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While in England Ben Franklin obtained private letters of <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
governor <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hutchinson_(governor)" title="Thomas Hutchinson (governor)">Thomas Hutchinson</a> </span>and lieutenant
governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Oliver" title="Andrew Oliver"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Andrew Oliver</span></a> that proved they were
encouraging the Crown to crack down on the rights of Bostonians.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city> sent
them to <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
where they escalated the tensions. The British began to regard him as the
fomenter of serious trouble. Hopes for a peaceful solution ended as he was
systematically ridiculed and humiliated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solicitor_General_for_England_and_Wales" title="Solicitor General for England and Wales"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Solicitor-General</span></a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Wedderburn,_1st_Earl_of_Rosslyn" title="Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alexander Wedderburn</span></a>,
before the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Majesty%27s_Most_Honourable_Privy_Council" title="Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Privy Council</span></a> on
January 29, 1774. He returned to <st1:city><st1:place>Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>
in March 1775, and abandoned his accommodationist stance, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
Letters Affair<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Political cartoon from 1774 by Paul Revere, depicting
Death attacking Governor Thomas Hutchinson</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Hutchinson Letters Affair was an incident that
increased tensions between the colonists of the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Province</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename>Massachusetts Bay</st1:placename></st1:place> and the
British government prior to the American Revolution. In June 1773 letters
written several years earlier by Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew
Oliver, governor and lieutenant governor of the province at the time of their
publication, were published in a <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city> newspaper.
The content of the letters was propagandistically claimed by <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
radical politicians to call for the abridgement of colonial rights, and a duel
was fought in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>
over the matter.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The affair served to inflame tensions in <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>,
where implementation of the 1773 Tea Act was met with resistance that
culminated in the Boston Tea Party in December 1773. The response of
the British government to the publication of the letters served to
turn Benjamin Franklin, one of the principal figures in the affair, into a
committed Patriot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Governor of the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Province</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename>Massachusetts Bay Thomas Hutchinson</st1:placename></st1:place>,
author of some of the inflammatory letters</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
During the 1760s, relations between Great Britain and some
of its North American colonies became strained by a series of
Parliamentary laws (including the 1765 Stamp Act and the 1767 Townshend
Acts), intended to raise revenue for the crown, and to assert Parliament's
authority to pass such legislation despite a lack of colonial
representation. These laws had sparked strong protests in the Thirteen
Colonies; the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Province</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>Massachusetts
Bay</st1:placename></st1:place> in particular saw significant unrest
and direct action against crown officials. The introduction
of British Army troops into <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city> in
1768 further raised tensions that escalated to the Boston Massacre in
1770.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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In the years after the enactment of the Townshend Acts,
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson and his colonial
secretary (and brother-in-law) Andrew Oliver wrote a series of
letters concerning the acts, the protests against them, and containing
suggestions on how to respond, to Thomas Whately, an assistant to Prime
Minister George Grenville. Whateley died in 1772, and his papers were
turned over to his brother William. Whateley at one point gave access to his
brother's papers to John Temple, another colonial official who sought to recover
letters of his own from those papers.</div>
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<st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city> was
appointed governor of <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
in 1770, following the critical publication by opposition politicians of
letters written by his predecessor, Francis Bernard. Over the next
two years Hutchinson engaged in an extended and rancorous written debate with
the provincial assembly and the governor's council, both of which were
dominated by radical leadership hostile to Parliamentary authority. The debate
centered on the arbitrariness of executive prerogative and the role of
Parliament in colonial governance, and greatly deepened divisions in the
province.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Benjamin Franklin, portrait by David Martin, 1767</div>
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The <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
debate reached a pitch in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>
when the colonial secretary, Lord Dartmouth, insisted that Benjamin
Franklin, then acting as agent for <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
in <st1:city><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:city>, demand that the <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
assembly retract its response to a speech the governor gave early in 1772 as
part of this ongoing debate. <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
had acquired a packet of about twenty letters that had been written to Whately.
Upon reading them, <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
concluded that Hutchinson and Oliver had mischaracterized the situation in the
colonies, and thus misled Parliament. He felt that wider knowledge of these
letters would then focus colonial anger away from Parliament and at those who
had written the misleading letters. <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
sent the letters to Thomas Cushing, the speaker of the <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
assembly, in December 1772. He insisted to Cushing that they not be
published or widely circulated. He specifically wrote that they should be seen
only by a few people, and that he was not "at liberty to make the letters
public."</div>
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The letters arrived in <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
in March 1773, and came into the hands of Samuel Adams, then serving as
the clerk of the <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
assembly. By <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>'s
instructions, only a select few people, including the
Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence, were to see the
letters. Alarmed at what they read, Cushing wrote Franklin, asking if the
restrictions on their circulation could be eased. In a response received by
Cushing in early June, <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
reiterated that they were not to be copied or published, but could be shown to
anyone.</div>
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Publication </div>
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A longtime opponent of Hutchinson's, Samuel Adams narrowly
followed <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>'s request, but
managed to orchestrate a propaganda campaign against <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
without immediately disclosing the letters. He informed the assembly of the
existence of the letters, after which it designated a committee to analyze
them. Strategic leaks suggestive of their content made their way into the press
and political discussions, causing <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
much discomfort. The assembly eventually concluded, according to John
Hancock, that in the letters <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
sought to "overthrow the Constitution of this Government, and to introduce
arbitrary Power into the Province", and called for the removal of
Hutchinson and Oliver. <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
complained that Adams and the opposition were misrepresenting what he had
written, and that nothing he had written in them on the subject of
Parliamentary supremacy went beyond other statements he had made. The
letters were finally published in the Boston Gazette in mid-June
1773, causing a political firestorm in <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
and raising significant questions in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Content of the letters </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Andrew Oliver, portrait by John Singleton Copley, c. 1758</div>
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The letters were written primarily in 1768 and 1769,
principally by Hutchinson and Oliver, although the published letters also
included some written by Charles Paxton, a customs official and <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
supporter, and <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>'s nephew
Nathaniel Rogers. The letters written by Oliver (who became lieutenant
governor when Hutchinson became governor) proposed a significant revamping of
the Massachusetts government to strengthen the executive, while those of
Hutchinson were ruminations on the difficult state of affairs in the province.
Historian Bernard Bailyn confirms <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>'s
own assertion that much of the content of his letters expressed relatively
little that had not already been publicly stated.</div>
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According to Bailyn, <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>'s
ruminations included the observation that it was impossible for colonists have
the full rights they would have in the home country, essentially requiring an
"abridgement of what are called English liberties". <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>,
unlike Oliver, made no specific proposals on how the colonial
government should be reformed, writing in a letter that was not among those
published, "I can think of nothing but what will produce as great an evil
as that which it may remove or will be of a very uncertain event." Oliver's
letters, in contrast, specifically proposed that the governor's council, whose
members where then elected by the assembly with the governor's consent, be
changed to one whose members were appointed by the crown.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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19th century engraving depicting Benjamin Franklin's
appearance before the Privy Council </div>
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In <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
speculation ran rampant over the source of the leak. William Whately accused
John Temple of taking the letters, which <st1:city><st1:place>Temple</st1:place></st1:city>
denied, challenging Whately to a duel. Whately was wounded in the encounter in
early December 1773, but neither participant was satisfied, and a second duel
was planned. In order to forestall that event, <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
on Christmas Day published a letter admitting that he was responsible for
the acquisition and transmission of the letters, to prevent "further
mischief". <b>He justified his
actions by pointing out that the letters had been written between public
officials for the purpose of influencing public policy.</b></div>
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When <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>'s
opponents in <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state> read
the letters, they seized on key phrases (including the "abridgement"
phrase) to argue that <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
was in fact lobbying the <st1:city><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:city>
government to make changes that would effect such an abridgement. Combined with
Oliver's explicit recommendations for reform,<b> they presented this as a clear indication that the provincial leaders
were working against the interests of the people and not for them.</b></div>
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<b>Bostonians were
outraged at the content of the published letters, burning Hutchinson and Oliver
in effigy on </b><st1:city><st1:place><b>Boston</b></st1:place></st1:city><b> Common.</b> <u>The letters were widely
reprinted throughout the British North American colonies, and acts of protest
took place as far away as </u><st1:city><st1:place><u>Philadelphia</u></st1:place></st1:city><u>.</u>
The <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state> assembly and governor's
council petitioned the Board of Trade for <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>'s
removal. In the Privy Council hearing concerning Hutchinson's
fate, in which the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party was also
discussed, Franklin stood silently while he was lambasted by Solicitor
General Alexander Wedderburn for his role in the affair. He was
accused of thievery and dishonor, and called the prime mover in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>
on behalf of <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city>'s
radical Committee of Correspondence. The Board of Trade dismissed <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
from his post as colonial Postmaster General, and dismissed the petition
for <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>'s removal as
"groundless" and "vexatious". Parliament then passed
the so-called "Coercive Acts", a package of measures designed to
punish <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state> for the tea
party. <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city> was recalled, and
the <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state> governorship
was given to the commander of British forces in <st1:place>North America</st1:place>, Lieutenant
General Thomas Gage. <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>
left <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state> in May 1774,
never to return. Andrew Oliver suffered a stroke and died in March 1774.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thomas Pownall, who may have given <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
the letters</div>
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Gage's implementation of the Coercive Acts further raised
tensions that led to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary
War in April 1775. <b>Franklin, who
had been politically neutral with respect to the colonial radicals prior to his
appearance before the Board of Trade, returned to America in early 1775,
committed to independence. He went on to serve in the Second
Continental Congress and became a leading figure in the American
Revolution.</b></div>
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Who gave <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
the letters? </div>
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A number of candidates have been proposed as the means by
which Benjamin Franklin acquired the letters. John Temple, despite his
political differences with <st1:city><st1:place>Hutchinson</st1:place></st1:city>,
was apparently able to convince the latter in 1774 that he was not involved in
their acquisition. He did, however, claim to know who was involved,
but refused to name him, because that would "prove the ruin of the guilty
party." </div>
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<br /></div>
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Several historians (including Bernard Bailyn and Bernard
Knollenberg) have concluded that Thomas Pownall was the probable
source of the letters. Pownall was <st1:state><st1:place>Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>
governor before Francis Bernard, had similar views to <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
on colonial matters, and had access to centers of colonial administration
through his brother John, the colonial secretary. Other individuals have
also been suggested, but all appear to have an only tenuous connection to
Franklin or the situation. Historian Kenneth Penegar believes the question will
remain unanswerable unless new documents emerge to shed light on the episode.</div>
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<br /></div>
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References <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alexander, John (2011). Samuel Adams: The Life of an
American Revolutionary. <st1:place><st1:city>Lanham</st1:city>, <st1:state>MD</st1:state></st1:place>:
Rowan and Littlefield. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bailyn, Bernard (1974). The Ordeal of Thomas
Hutchinson. <st1:place><st1:city>Cambridge</st1:city>, <st1:state>MA</st1:state></st1:place>:
<st1:place><st1:placename>Harvard</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype></st1:place>
Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:city><st1:place>Bell</st1:place></st1:city>, Whitfield
(1997). Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the
American Philosophical Society. <st1:city><st1:place>Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>:
American Philosophical Society. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Danver, Steven (2010). Revolts, Protests,
Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History. <st1:place><st1:city>Santa
Barbara</st1:city>, <st1:state>CA</st1:state></st1:place>: ABC-CLIO.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fischer, David Hackett (1994). Paul Revere's Ride.
<st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>: <st1:place><st1:placename>Oxford</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Galvin, John (1976). Three Men of <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city>.
<st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>: Thomas Y.
Crowell. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hosmer, John Kendall (1896). The Life of Thomas
Hutchinson. <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city>: Houghton,
Mifflin. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Isaacson, Walter (2004). Benjamin Franklin: An American
Life. <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>: Simon &
Schuster. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Knollenberg, Bernhard (1975). Growth of the American
Revolution, 1766–1775. <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>:
Free Press. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Morgan, Edmund (2003) [2002]. Benjamin Franklin. <st1:place><st1:city>New
Haven</st1:city>, <st1:state>CT</st1:state></st1:place>: <st1:place><st1:placename>Yale</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Penegar, Kenneth (2011). The Political Trial of
Benjamin Franklin. <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>:
Algora Publishing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Walmsley, Andrew Stephen (2000). Thomas Hutchinson and
the Origins of the American Revolution. <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>:
<st1:place><st1:placename>New York</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype></st1:place>
Press. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wright, Esmond (1988). <st1:city><st1:place>Franklin</st1:place></st1:city>
of <st1:city><st1:place>Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>. <st1:place><st1:city>Cambridge</st1:city>,
<st1:state>MA</st1:state></st1:place>: <st1:place><st1:placename>Harvard</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Further reading <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Letters of Governor Hutchinson and Lieut. Governor
Oliver, etc. London: J. Wilkie. 1774. OCLC 8991384. 1774 London
printing of documents of the affair, including the letters of Hutchinson and
Oliver, the Massachusetts petitions, Franklin's admission he sent the letters,
and Alexander Wedderburn's speech against Franklin.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-36610693121686353982013-06-10T21:10:00.001-04:002013-06-10T21:10:22.933-04:00DTN Report on BENGHAZI<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<st1:city><st1:place>BENGHAZI</st1:place></st1:city>:
THE TERRORIST ATTACK OF <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">SEPTEMBER 11,
2012</st1:date></div>
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Published on <st1:date day="23" month="1" year="2013">Wednesday,
23 January 2013</st1:date> <st1:time hour="15" minute="46">15:46</st1:time><o:p></o:p></div>
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Written by DTN</div>
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<a href="http://www.rightsidenews.com/2013012331829/us/homeland-security/the-disgrace-of-benghazi.html">The
Disgrace of Benghazi</a></div>
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This report examines the most significant events that
occurred before, during, and after the <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September
11, 2012</st1:date> Islamic terrorist attacks against an American diplomatic
mission (and a nearby <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> annex) in <st1:place><st1:city>Benghazi</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region>Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>. </div>
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The compound that housed the diplomatic mission possessed
none of the security features usually found in such a facility: e.g.,
bulletproof glass, reinforced ballistic doors, a “safe room,” and high concrete
barriers surrounding the buildings. It also lacked an adequate supply of
trained security personnel. According to Congressman Darrell Issa, the Obama
administration intentionally withdrew security personnel and equipment from the
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> for political
reasons, so as to “conve[y] the impression that the situation in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
was getting better [i.e., safer], not worse.”</div>
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<a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1755&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-truth-about-benghazi-obama" target="_blank">More Resources on DTN</a></div>
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In March 2011, American diplomat Christopher Stevens was
stationed in Benghazi as the American liaison to Libya's “opposition” rebels — among
whom were many al Qaeda-affiliated jihadists — who were fighting to topple the
longstanding regime of President Muammar Qaddafi. Ambassador Stevens' task was
to help coordinate covert <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
assistance to these rebels. In short, the Obama administration elected to aid
and abet individuals and groups that were allied ideologically and tactically
with al Qaeda.</div>
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Following Qaddafi's fall from power in the summer of 2011,
Ambassador Stevens was tasked with finding and securing the vast caches of
powerful armaments which the Libyan dictator had amassed during his long reign.
In turn, Stevens facilitated the transfer of these arms to the “opposition” rebels
in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region> who
were trying to topple yet another Arab dictator—Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. </div>
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As in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
the rebels in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>
were likewise known to include al Qaeda and other Shariah-supremacist groups.
So once again, the Obama administration was willfully helping the cause of al
Qaeda and its affiliates. In addition to facilitating arms transfers, Stevens'
duties also included the recruitment of Islamic jihadists from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and elsewhere in <st1:place>North Africa</st1:place> who were willing to
personally go into combat against the Assad regime in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
served as a headquarters from which all the aforementioned activities could be
coordinated with officials and diplomats from such countries as <st1:country-region><st1:place>Turkey</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Qatar</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
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As 2012 progressed, violent jihadist activity became
increasingly commonplace in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
and elsewhere throughout <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:place>North Africa</st1:place>. At or near the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, for instance,
there were many acts of terrorism featuring the use of guns, improvised
explosive devices, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, and car-bombs, to
say nothing of the explicit threats against Americans issued by known
terrorists like al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. As a result of such
developments, Ambassador Stevens and others at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> repeatedly
asked the Obama administration for increased security provisions during 2012,
but these requests were invariably denied or ignored.</div>
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Then, on the night of <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September 11, 2012</st1:date>, the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> was attacked by
a large group of heavily armed terrorists. Over the ensuing 7 hours, Americans
stationed at the diplomatic mission and at the nearby <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
annex issued 3 urgent requests for military back-up, all of which were denied
by the Obama administration. By the time the violence was over, 4 Americans
were dead: Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service Information
Management Officer Sean Smith, and two former Navy SEALS, Glen Doherty and
Tyrone Woods, who fought valiantly (but unsuccessfully) to drive away the
attackers.</div>
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In the wake of the violence, the Obama administration
immediately and persistently characterized what had occurred in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
not as an act of terrorism, but as a spontaneous, unplanned uprising that just
happened, coincidentally, to take place on the anniversary of 9/11. Moreover,
the administration portrayed the attack as an event that had evolved from what
began as a low-level protest against an obscure YouTube video that disparaged
Muslims and their faith. In reality, however, by this time <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
intelligence agencies had already gained more than enough evidence to conclude
unequivocally that the attack on the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was a planned terrorist incident, not a spontaneous act carried out in reaction
to a video. Indeed, the video had nothing whatsoever to do with the attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given these realities, it is likely that the Obama
administration's post-September 11 actions were aimed at drawing public
attention away from a number of highly important facts:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> had never
adopted adequate security measures;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- the administration had ignored dozens of warning signs
about growing Islamic extremism and jihadism in the region over a period of
more than 6 months;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- the administration, for political reasons, had ignored or
denied repeated requests for extra security by American diplomats stationed in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- the administration had failed to beef up security even for
the anniversary of 9/11, a date of obvious significance to terrorists;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- the administration, fully cognizant of what was happening
on the ground during the September 11 attacks in Benghazi, nonetheless denied
multiple calls for help by Americans who were stationed there;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- the administration had been lying when, throughout the
presidential election season, it relentlessly advanced the notion that "al
Qaeda is on the run" and Islamic terrorism was in decline thanks to
President Obama's policies; and perhaps most significantly,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
throughout 2011 and 2012 the administration had been lending
its assistance to jihadists affiliated with al Qaeda, supposedly the
organization that represented the prime focus of Obama's anti-terrorism
efforts; moreover, some of those same jihadists had personally fought against <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
troops in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This section of Discover The Networks explores the
significance of the events in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
and of the Obama administration's response to those events</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.rightsidenews.com/2013012331829/us/homeland-security/the-disgrace-of-benghazi.html">http://www.rightsidenews.com/2013012331829/us/homeland-security/the-disgrace-of-benghazi.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:city><st1:place>BENGHAZI</st1:place></st1:city>:
THE TERRORIST ATTACK OF <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">SEPTEMBER 11,
2012</st1:date></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What Exactly Was the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
“Consulate” in <st1:place><st1:city>Benghazi</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though the media have generally referred to the
Benghazi-based <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
facility attacked by terrorists on <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September
11, 2012</st1:date> as a “consulate,” it should rightfully be called a
“diplomatic mission.” As investigative journalist Aaron Klein points
out:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A consulate typically refers to the building that
officially houses a consul, who is the official representativ[e] of the
government of one state in the territory of another.... Consulates at times
function as junior embassies, providing services related to visas, passports
and citizen information.... The main role of a consulate is to foster trade
with the host and care for its own citizens who are traveling or living in the
host nation. Diplomatic missions, on the other hand, maintain a more
generalized role. A diplomatic mission is simply a group of people from one
state or an international inter-governmental organization present in another
state to represent matters of the sending state or organization in the
receiving state.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Notably, the U.S. State Department website has no listing of
any consulate located in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
Still more evidence that the facility was a mission rather than a consulate
comes from the post-September 11 remarks of President Barack Obama and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, both of whom referred to the post as a
“mission.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lack of Security at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
<st1:city><st1:place>Mission</st1:place></st1:city> in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The U.S. Department of State website emphasizes the
great importance of implementing adequate security measures at all American
missions around the world: “With terrorist organizations and coalitions operating
across international borders, the threat of terrorism against <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
interests remains great. Therefore, any <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission overseas can be a target even if identified as being in a low-threat
environment. As a result, [Diplomatic Security] is more dedicated than ever to
its mission of … implementing security programs that shield <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
missions and residences overseas from physical and technical attack.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But security at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi
lacked the multiple layers of security that are typically present at
such posts—i.e., it was not protected by a contingent of U.S.
Marines, nor did it have bulletproof glass, reinforced ballistic doors, a “safe
room,” three-meter-high barriers surrounding the facility, or a 100-foot
setback from the building to those barriers. In order to operate a mission with
such low levels of security in place, a waiver from <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
would have been required.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was also an inadequate amount of security personnel at
the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. According
to Eric Nordstrom, former Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
security at the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> facility
was “inappropriately low.” Nordstrom reports that there were never, at any
time, more than three direct-hire <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
security agents assigned to the compound, and he has testified that
“in deference to sensitivity to Libyan practice, the guards at <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
were unarmed.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes only a single guard was stationed at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. On such
occasions, the lone agent depended upon support from members of the February 17
Martyrs Brigade (F17MB) who lived in the compound. F17MB is a Libyan militia led
by Fawzi Bukatef, who has known ties to both the Muslim Brotherhood (the
Islamic supremacist organization that gave rise to al Qaeda and Hamas)
and other Islamist fighters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For additional security in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
the State Department hired the little-known British company Blue
Mountain Group instead of one of the large firms it has traditionally used in
overseas danger zones; <st1:place><st1:placename>Blue</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Mountain</st1:placetype></st1:place>
employed local Libyans to serve as guards who patrolled the compound with only
flashlights and batons rather than firearms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-California), citing the
testimony of witnesses and the content of key documents, explains why
the security at the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
mission was so woefully inadequate: “[T]he [Obama] administration made a policy
decision to place <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
into a 'normalized' country status as quickly as possible. The normalization
process, which began in November 2011, appeared to have been aimed at conveying
the impression that the situation in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
was getting better, not worse. The administration's decision to normalize was
the basis for systematically withdrawing security personnel and
equipment—including a much-needed DC aircraft—without taking into account the
reality on the ground.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Noting also that “some have claimed that resources were not
provided [for security in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>]
because of budgetary contraints,” Issa emphasizes that “this was not the case.”
Indeed, the State Department was in possession of some $2.2 billion that
could have been spent on upgrading security at <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassies, consulates, and missions around the world, but the Obama
administration elected not to do so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
March 2011:<br />
Ambassador Christopher Stephens' Role in the Obama Administration's Support of
Libyan Jihadists Tied to Al Qaeda</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In March 2011 President Obama signs a secret
order, or presidential “finding,” that authorizes covert operations to aid the
“opposition” rebels in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
who are fighting to topple the 42-year dictatorial rule of President Muammar
Qaddafi. As The New York Times reports, “The Obama administration
secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments [originating in Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates] to Libyan rebels.” Moreover, President Obama says the
<st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> has not
ruled out providing military hardware directly to those rebels: “It's fair to
say that if we wanted to get weapons into <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we probably could. We're looking at all our options at this point.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among the Libyan rebels are many al Qaeda-affiliated
jihadists. Indeed, the rebels' top military commander, Abdelhakim
Belhadj, is the leader of an al Qaeda franchise known as the Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group. Another opposition leader, Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, confirms that
a substantial number of the Libyan rebels are al Qaeda fighters who previously
battled <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
troops in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
And former <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> officer Bruce Riedel tells
the Hindustan Times: “There is no question that al-Qaeda’s Libyan
franchise, [the] Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition. It
has always been [Qaddafi's] biggest enemy, and its stronghold is <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also in March 2011, 52-year-old American diplomat John
Christopher Stevens (a.k.a. Christopher Stevens)—formerly the number two
official at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>—is designated as
the American liaison to the Libyan rebels. Stevens' task is to help
coordinate <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
assistance to these rebels, who are now engaged against Qaddafi. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Abdelhakim Belhadj is almost certainly one of Stevens' most
important contacts for this initiative. Journalist Clare Lopez puts
these facts in perspective: “During the 2011 Libyan revolt against Muammar
Qaddafi, reckless <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
policy flung American forces and money into the conflict on the side of the
rebels, who were known at the time to include Al-Qaeda elements.… That means
that Stevens was authorized by the U.S. Department of State and the Obama
administration to aid and abet individuals and groups that were, at a minimum,
allied ideologically with Al-Qaeda, the jihadist terrorist organization that
attacked the homeland on the first 9/11, the one that’s not supposed to exist
anymore after the killing of its leader, Osama bin Laden, on May 2, 2011.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Summer 2011 to Early 2012:<br />
Christopher Stevens' Role in Post-Qaddafi <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>:
Funneling Libyan Weapons and Jihadists to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
to Help Al Qaeda-Affiliated Rebels Fight the Assad Regime<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for
Security Policy, writes that after Muammar Qaddafi's fall from power in the
summer of 2011, “[Christopher] Stevens [is] appointed ambassador to the new
Libya run by [Abdelhakim] Belhadj [leader of the al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group] and his friends.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At this point, Stevens is tasked with finding and securing
“the immense amount of armaments that had been cached by the dictator around
the country and systematically looted during and after the revolution.”
Stevens' mission is to help transfer “arms recovered from the former
regime’s stocks to the 'opposition' in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,”
where, “as in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
the insurgents are known to include al Qaeda and other Shariah-supremacist
groups, including none other than Abdelhakim Belhadj.” These Syrian insurgents,
organized under the banner of the “Free Syrian Army,” are fighting to topple
the rule of their nation's president, Bashar al-Assad. <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
is a logical place in which to station Stevens for this task, since, as Gaffney
notes, it is “one of the places in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
most awash with such weapons in the most dangerous of hands.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stevens' duties also include the recruitment of Islamic
jihadists willing to personally go into combat against the Assad regime in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Investigative journalist Aaron Klein writes that according to Middle
Eastern security officials: “The U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi ...
actually served as a meeting place to coordinate aid for the rebel-led
insurgencies in the Middle East … Among the tasks performed inside the building
was collaborating with Arab countries on the recruitment of fighters—including
jihadists—to target Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.” These recruits
generally hailed from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and elsewhere in <st1:place>North Africa</st1:place>, and were dispatched to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>
via <st1:country-region><st1:place>Turkey</st1:place></st1:country-region> with
the help of <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> operatives stationed
along the border shared by those two countries. One of the most noteworthy
jihadists making his way to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>
was Abdelhakim Belhadj, former leader of the al Qaeda-linked Libyan
Islamic Fighting Group that brought down Qaddafi in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
before subsequently disbanding.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Middle Eastern security officials describe the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> at this time as
essentially a diplomatic meeting place where Stevens and other American
officials could confer with the Turkish, Saudi and Qatari governments on how to
best support the <st1:place>Mideast</st1:place>'s various insurgencies,
especially the rebels opposing Assad in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
“[This] may help explain why there was no major public security presence at
what has been described as a 'consulate,'” says Aaron Klein. “Such a
presence would draw attention to the shabby, nondescript building that was allegedly
used for such sensitive purposes.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* November 2011: Abdelhakim Belhadj—former leader of
the al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group—meets with Free Syrian
Army leaders in Istanbul and on the Turkish-Syrian border. This is part of an
effort by the new, post-Qaddafi Libyan government to provide money and
weapons to the growing Islamist insurgency in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Early 2012: President Obama signs an intelligence
finding that formally authorizes <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
support for the Syrian rebels, among whom are many heavily-armed, al
Qaeda-affiliated jihadists.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
February 2012 to September 2012: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Growing Danger at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
<st1:city><st1:place>Mission</st1:place></st1:city> in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
and Elsewhere in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* February 2012: Eric Nordstrom, the Regional Security
Officer at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, urges that American security measures
in Libya be expanded, citing dozens of security incidents by
“Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb …”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="6" month="4" year="2012">April 6, 2012</st1:date>:
An IED [improvised explosive device] is thrown over the fence of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission compound fence in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
by two Libyans employed at the mission as contract guards. The suspects are
arrested but not prosecuted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="10" month="4" year="2012">April 10,
2012</st1:date>: An IED is thrown at a convoy carrying the United Nations
Special Envoy to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
No one is arrested.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="11" month="4" year="2012">April 11,
2012</st1:date>: A gun battle breaks out 4 kilometers from the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="25" month="4" year="2012">April 25,
2012</st1:date>: A U.S. embassy guard in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
is detained at a militia checkpoint.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="4" year="2012">April 26,
2012</st1:date>: A fistfight escalates into a gunfight at a <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
medical university, and a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in attendance is
evacuated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="27" month="4" year="2012">April 27,
2012</st1:date>: A courthouse in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
is hit by three IEDs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="27" month="4" year="2012">April 27,
2012</st1:date>: Two South African contractors in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
are kidnapped, questioned and released. After this incident, Eric Nordstrom,
former Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
states: “It is increasingly likely that our direct-hire employees will face the
same challenges in the future.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="1" month="5" year="2012">May 1, 2012</st1:date>:
The deputy commander of the local guard force in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
is carjacked and beaten.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="3" month="5" year="2012">May 3, 2012</st1:date>:
The State Department declines a request from personnel concerned
about security at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassy in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
for a DC-3 plane to transport them around the country.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="15" month="5" year="2012">May 15, 2012</st1:date>:
An unknown attacker throws a hand grenade at the Military Police headquarters
in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="22" month="5" year="2012">May 22, 2012</st1:date>:
Two RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] rounds are fired at the Red Cross outpost in
<st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, which is located 1
kilometer from the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission. A pro-al Qaeda group claims credit for the attack. In a Facebook
posting that same day, the group says, “now we are preparing a message for
the Americans for disturbing the skies over Derma” (a port city in eastern <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* June 2012: A pro-Qaddafi Facebook page posts photos
of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens making his morning run in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
and issues a threat against him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="6" month="6" year="2012">June 6, 2012</st1:date>:
An IED is left at the gate of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. Six minutes
later, it explodes. An al Qaeda-affiliated group claims credit for the
incident. After this bombing, <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
officials observe that local (unarmed) guard forces working for the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
compound are now “afraid to work.” Assistant Regional Security Officer David
Oliveira, who is stationed in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
at the time, says that these guard forces view the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
as “a target” and “[don't] want to work overnight.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="10" month="6" year="2012">June 10,
2012</st1:date>: On or about this date, al Qaeda holds a rally in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
The event features fighters from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Tunisia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Mali</st1:place></st1:country-region>
parading through the streets bearing weapons and black Salafist flags.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* June 11, 2012: An RPG is fired at a convoy carrying
the British Ambassador in broad daylight as he nears the British consulate in
Benghazi, which is located 2 kilometers from the U.S. mission in that city. No
one is killed, but the British close their consulate soon thereafter. No
suspects are identified.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="13" month="6" year="2012">June 13,
2012</st1:date>: An aide to a former internal security officer is killed in a
car-bomb assassination in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="21" month="6" year="2012">June 21,
2012</st1:date>: A former Libyan military prosecutor is assassinated by
gunfire in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="22" month="6" year="2012">June 22,
2012</st1:date>: Ambassador Christopher Stevens sends a cable to the State
Department, noting the continued presence in Libya of Islamist extremist groups
“which warrant ongoing monitoring.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Late June, 2012: Another attack targets the Red Cross
outpost in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, this one in
daylight. The Red Cross promptly pulls out, making the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission the last Western outpost in the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="25" month="6" year="2012">June 25,
2012</st1:date>: Ambassador Stevens issues a cable entitled, “<st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
Fragile Security Deteriorates as Tribal Rivalries, Power Plays and Extremism
Intensify.” In this cable, he indicates that the leaders of an al
Qaeda-affiliated group have explicitly stated that they are “target[ing] the
Christians supervising the management of the [<st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>]
consulate.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stevens adds that a “[Government of Libya] national security
official shared his private opinion that the [recent] attacks were the work of
extremists who are opposed to western influence in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”
Moreover, writes Stevens, “[A] number of local contacts [note] that Islamic
extremism appears to be on the rise in eastern Liya and that the Al-Qaeda flag
has been spotted several times flying over government buildings and training
facilities in Derna.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to Stevens, “the proliferation of militias and the
absence of effective security and intelligence services” has diminished the
Libyan government's ability to respond to the escalating violence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="1" month="7" year="2012">July 1, 2012</st1:date>:
Between 100 and 200 demonstrators storm and ransack the office of the High National
Electoral Commission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="4" month="7" year="2012">July 4, 2012</st1:date>:
A border-control department officer is assassinated in a drive-by shooting in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
No suspects are arrested.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="6" month="7" year="2012">July 6, 2012</st1:date>:
A Libyan Air Force helicopter is struck by gunfire from an anti-aircraft weapon
and is forced to land at <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>’s
<st1:place><st1:placename>Benina</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Airport</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
One staff member of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
High National Election Commission is killed in the attack, and one is wounded.
No suspects are arrested.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="21" month="7" year="2012">July 21,
2012</st1:date>: In a memorandum to the State Department, Eric Nordstrom,
former Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
warns: “[T]he risk of <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission personnel, private <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
citizens, and businesspersons encountering an isolating event as a result of
militia or political violence is HIGH. The Government of Libya does not yet
have the ability to effectively respond to and manage the rising criminal and
militia related violence, which could result in an isolating event.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* August 2012: Ambassador Stevens reports that the
security situation in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> is
deteriorating. He informs the State Department of a “security vacuum” that is
being exploited by independent extremists. Nonetheless, the 16-man Site
Security Team of Special Forces assigned to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is ordered out of the country, contrary to the stated wishes of Stevens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="6" month="8" year="2012">August 6,
2012</st1:date>: An attempted carjacking of a vehicle with <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic plates is carried out in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="15" month="8" year="2012">August 15,
2012</st1:date>: An emergency meeting is convened at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> to discuss the
threat posed by the area's 10 active Islamist militias, including al Qaeda and
Ansar al-Sharia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="16" month="8" year="2012">August 16,
2012</st1:date>: The U.S. Mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
sends a cable (marked “SECRET” and signed by Ambassador Stevens) to “The Office
of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.” The cable says that the State
Department’s senior security officer, also known as the RSO, does not believe
the mission can be protected against a “coordinated attack.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Early September 2012: Unarmed Libyan guards (employed
by British contractor Blue Mountain Group) at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> are warned by
their family members to quit their jobs because of rumors of an “impending
attack.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="6" month="9" year="2012">September 6,
2012</st1:date>: Al-Entisar, a Libyan-flagged ship, docks in the Turkish <st1:place><st1:placetype>port</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename>Iskenderun</st1:placename></st1:place>. Its 400 tons of
cargo includes Russian-designed, shoulder-launched missiles known as MANPADS,
rocket-propelled grenades, and surface-to-air missiles—precisely the types of
weapons that had previously made their way into Libya when Qaddafi acquired many
thousands of them from the former Eastern Bloc countries, and precisely the
types of weapons the Syrian rebels have been using in their military campaign
against Syrian President Assad. Al-Entisar's cargo ultimately ends
up in the possession of those same Syrian rebels. The main organizer of
this shipment of weapons is the al Qaeda-linked Abdelhakim Belhadj, who
previously worked directly with Ambassador Stevens during the Libyan
revolution against Qaddafi. As journalist Clare Lopez explains, these
facts confirm “the multilateral U.S.-Libya-Turkey agreement to get weapons into
the hands of Syrian rebels—which were known to be dominated by Al-Qaeda and
Muslim Brotherhood elements—by working with and through
Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist figures like [Abdelhakim] Belhadj.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="8" month="9" year="2012">September 8,
2012</st1:date>: A local security officer in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> warns American
officials that security in the area is rapidly deteriorating, and that violent
unrest is a distinct possibility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="9" month="9" year="2012">September 9,
2012</st1:date>: The U.S. State Department now has credible information that
American missions in the <st1:place>Middle East</st1:place> may be targeted by
terrorists, but diplomats are not instructed to go on high alert or “lockdown.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="10" month="9" year="2012">September
10, 2012</st1:date>: Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri—vowing to avenge
the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, a high-ranking al Qaeda official killed by an
American drone attack three months earlier—issues direct threats against
Americans in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Notwithstanding these threats, the Obama administration deploys no U.S. Marines
to guard the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Summation: As a result of the foregoing incidents,
the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> makes repeated
requests for increased security prior to September 11, but these requests
are denied by the Obama administration. One <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
security officer, Eric Nordstrom, twice asks his State Department superiors for
more security at the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
mission but receives no response. In making his requests, Nordstrom cites a
chronology of more than 200 security incidents that occurred in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
between June 2011 and July 2012. Forty-eight of those incidents were in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Timeline of the September 11, 2012 Terrorist Attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 9:43 a.m. <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: Ambassador Stevens sends cables to <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>,
including a <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> weekly report of
security incidents that reflect Libyans' “growing frustration with police and
security forces who were too weak to keep the country secure.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Morning of September 11: News outlets begin to report
that there is growing anger in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>
over a YouTube video, titled Innocence of Muslims, which was produced in
the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and is critical of the Prophet Muhammad. The video in question is just 14
minutes long and was first posted on the Internet fully two months
earlier—i.e., it is not anything new. Moreover, the video is extremely obscure
and, from an artistic standpoint, of very low quality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 1:17 p.m. <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>
time (<st1:time hour="6" minute="17">6:17 am</st1:time> U.S. Eastern Time): The
<st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> embassy in
<st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city> releases a statement condemning Innocence
of Muslims:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The Embassy of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> in <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>
condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious
feelings of Muslims—as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.
Today, the 11th anniversary of the <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2001">September
11, 2001</st1:date> terrorist attacks on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Americans are honoring our patriots
and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of
democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American
democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right
of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="16" minute="15">4:15
p.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city> time:
Crowds begin to form near the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassy compound in <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>. Then,
over a three-hour period, hundreds of Muslim protesters storm that
facility, where they destroy the American flag and replace it with a black
Salafist flag that reads, “There is one God, Allah, and Mohammad is his
prophet.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="20" minute="30">8:30 to 9:00
p.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: Ambassador Stevens concludes his meeting with Turkish Ambassador Ali
Kemal Aydin, his final meeting of the day, and retires to his room in Building
C of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission compound in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. At
this time, there are no signs of any unrest in the vicinity of the
compound. Five State Department Diplomatic Security agents (DS) are on
site—three of whom are based in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
and two of whom are travelng with Stevens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="21" minute="40">9:40
p.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: American personnel at the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
mission suddenly hear gunfire and an explosion. Via an electronic security
monitor in the compound's <st1:place><st1:placename>Tactical</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Operations</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>, an agent sees dozens of
armed people flooding through a pedestrian gate at the main entrance of the
compound. From this point onward, State Department Diplomatic Security agents
follow events in real time on a listen-only, audio-only feed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Shortly after 9:40 p.m. <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: The attackers are inside the compound and begin firing into the main
building, setting it ablaze. At this time, there are three people inside
the building: Ambassador Stevens, a regional security officer, and Foreign
Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* After 9:40 p.m <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: When the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
issues 3 urgent requests for military back-up, the requests are
denied. <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> Operators stationed at an annex
approximately a mile away are told to “stand down” (i.e., not
respond) rather than to try to defend the mission. Disobeying that order,
former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, along with at
least one other individual from the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
annex, make their way toward the mission in an attempt to defend the people
therein.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 10 p.m <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: The U.S. military redeploys two unmanned surveillance drones
that are already airborne in the region, positioning them above <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
in order to provide real-time intelligence to the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
team on the ground. The drones will take approximately an hour to arrive at
their destination.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 10:<st1:time hour="17" minute="0">05 p.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: The State Department Operations Center issues an alert to several
government and intelligence agencies, including the White House Situation Room,
the office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the FBI. The alert
reads: “US Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack—approximately 20 armed
people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well. Ambassador Stevens, who
is currently in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, and four
COM (Chief of Mission/embassy) personnel are in the compound safe haven.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 10:25 p.m <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: The small team of Americans (including Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty)
from the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> annex arrives at the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. Team members
begin to work on evacuating those who remain at the mission; they
also remove the body of Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean
Smith, who was killed early in initial attack. They also search, without
success, for Ambassador Stevens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="22" minute="30">10:30
p.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> time:
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his top military adviser learn of the attack
in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="23" minute="0">11 p.m.</st1:time>
<st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> time: President Obama,
Vice President Biden, and Secretary of Defense Panetta gather with their
national security team in the Oval Office for a pre-scheduled meeting.
With the unmanned drones now in place, live-feed video of the attack is available to
the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Between <st1:time hour="23" minute="0">11 p.m.</st1:time>
and <st1:time hour="0" minute="0">midnight</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: Members of the February 17 Martyrs Brigade realize that they cannot
possibly defend the compound, and they withdraw.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Between <st1:time hour="23" minute="0">11 p.m.</st1:time>
and <st1:time hour="0" minute="0">midnight</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time: DS agents are unable to find Ambassador Stevens anywhere in the
mission compound. Under heavy assault, they are forced to leave the compound
with the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> team (which includes Tyrone
Woods and Glen Doherty) in an armored vehicle that takes them to the annex
about a mile away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Between 11 p.m. and midnight Benghazi time: As
evidenced by State Department emails, within two hours after the attack on the
U.S. mission in Benghazi, the State Department is fully aware that
the Libyan militant group Ansar al-Sharia has already taken credit for the
attack and has called for additional terrorist acts. As former United Nations
Ambassador John Bolton would later explain, “What the emails show beyond any
doubt is that the State Department was fully possessed of the information
in real time.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="0" minute="0">midnight</st1:time>
<st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> time, <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>: Tyrone Woods and Glen
Doherty arrive back at the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> annex, which
then comes under heavy attack from Islamic terrorists for the next several
hours. The security team returns fire and tries to defend the annex.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 12:<st1:time hour="7" minute="0">07 a.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time, <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>:
The State Department Operations Center issues an alert relaying information
that the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city> has reported:
“Ansar al-Sharia [an Islamic extremist military group] Claims Responsibilty for
Benghazi Attack ... on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on
Embassy Tripoli.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Midnight to 2 a.m. Benghazi time, September 12, 2012:
Defense Secretary Panetta holds a series of meetings and issues three orders:
(a) He orders two Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team platoons stationed in Rota,
Spain, to prepare to deploy to the U.S. mission in Benghazi and the U.S.
embassy in Tripoli; (b) he orders a special operations team in Europe to move
to Sigonella, Sicily—less than one hour's flight (480 miles) from Benghazi; and
(c) he orders a U.S.-based special operations team to deploy to Sigonella as
well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="0" minute="30">12:30
a.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> time, <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>: A six-man
security team from the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>, including two
Defense Department personnel, head for for <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 1:30 a.m. <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time, <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>:
The U.S. security team from Embassy Tripoli lands in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
and learns that Ambassador Stevens is missing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Approximately <st1:time hour="4" minute="0">4 a.m. to
5:15 a.m.</st1:time> <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
time, <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>:
Former U.S. Navy SEALS Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods are killed by direct
mortar fire as they try to engage the attackers at the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
annex in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. Their deaths
come about 7 hours after the start of the violence. Soon thereafter,
the attacks against the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission wind down. All told, 4 Americans are dead: Doherty, Woods, Ambassador
Stevens, and Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Aftermath: Was It Terrorism or a "Spontaneous"
Attack?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Morning of <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September
12, 2012</st1:date>: The Obama administration immediately characterizes the
murderous violence in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> as a
spontaneous, unplanned uprising that not only evolved from a low-level protest
against Innocence of Muslims, but also just happened, coincidentally, to
take place on the anniversary of 9/11. In reality, however, by this time <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
intelligence agencies have already gained enough evidence to conclude
unequivocally that the attack on the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was a terrorist incident, not a spontaneous event growing out of a low-level
protest over the obscure YouTube video. In fact, there was never any low-level
protest against that video in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Morning of <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September
12, 2012</st1:date>: In a morning speech delivered in the White
House Rose Garden, President Obama says, “Make no mistake, we will work
with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our
people.” In his remarks, the president makes reference to the role
that the anti-Muslim YouTube video allegedly played in triggering the violence:
“Since our founding, the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate
the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to
this type of senseless violence. None.” He also makes a passing reference to
“acts of terror” generally, right after he has referred to “troops who made the
ultimate sacrifice in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,”
and to “our wounded warriors at Walter Reed [Hospital].” But he never actually
characterizes the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attack
as a terrorist act.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Morning of September 12, 2012: After his Rose Garden
speech, Obama tapes an interview for 60 Minutes, where he
explains that he refrained from using the word “terrorism” in the speech
because “it’s too early to know exactly how this came about.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Afternoon of September 12, 2012: Just a few hours
after having delivered his remarks in the Rose Garden, President Obama flies
to Las Vegas for a campaign fundraiser where he likens the
heroism of the dead Americans in Libya to that of his own campaign volunteers:
“The sacrifices that our troops and our diplomats make are obviously very
different from the challenges that we face here domestically, but like them,
you guys are Americans who sense that we can do better than we’re doing…. I’m
just really proud of you.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Afternoon of <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September
12, 2012</st1:date>: Senior administration officials hold a briefing with
reporters to answer questions about the attack. Twice the officials
characterize the perpetrators of the attack as “extremists.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Afternoon of <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September
12, 2012</st1:date>: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell asks an administration official to
comment on news reports indicating that the events in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
have been “linked to a terror attack, an organized terror attack,” possibly al
Qaeda. The official refers to it as a “complex attack” and says it is “too
early to say who they were” and with whom they were affiliated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 4:<st1:time hour="21" minute="0">09 p.m.</st1:time>, <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>: At a press
briefing en route to <st1:city><st1:place>Las Vegas</st1:place></st1:city>,
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is asked, “Does the White House believe
that the attack in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> was
planned and premeditated?” He replies, “It’s too early for us to make that
judgment. I think—I know that this is being investigated, and we’re working
with the Libyan government to investigate the incident. So I would not want to
speculate on that at this time.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* 10:<st1:time hour="20" minute="0">08 p.m.</st1:time>,
<st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton releases a public statement
linking the attack against the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> to
the YouTube video, which she describes as “inflammatory material posted on the
Internet.” “I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
today,” says Mrs. Clinton, adding: “The <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> deplores any intentional effort to
denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious
tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear —
there is no justification for this, none.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="13" month="9" year="2012">September
13, 2012</st1:date>: The Obama administration sends Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton to deliver a televised statement denouncing not only the
violence in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> but also the
“disgusting and reprehensible” video allegedly responsible for it, and stating
“very clearly” that “the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
government had absolutely nothing to do with this video.” “We absolutely reject
its content and message,” says Mrs. Clinton, emphasizing <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
great “respect for people of faith.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="13" month="9" year="2012">September
13, 2012</st1:date>: Hillary Clinton meets with Ali Suleiman Aujali—the Libyan
ambassador to the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>—at
a State Department event to mark the end of Ramadan. Ambassador Aujali
apologizes to Mrs. Clinton for what he describes as “this terrorist attack
which took place against the American consulate in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”
Mrs. Clinton, in her remarks, does not characterize it as terrorism. Rather,
she says there is “never any justification for violent acts of this kind.” She
also condemns the anti-Muslim video,.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="13" month="9" year="2012">September
13, 2012</st1:date>: White House press secretary Jay Carney condemns the
YouTube video at a news conference.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="13" month="9" year="2012">September
13, 2012</st1:date>: At a daily press briefing, State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland is asked whether the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack was “purely spontaneous or was premeditated by militants.” Declining to
answer, she says that the administration does not want to “jump to
conclusions.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="13" month="9" year="2012">September
13, 2012</st1:date>: In a meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad-Eddine
Al-Othmani, Hillary Clinto denounces the “disgusting and reprehensible”
anti-Muslim video and the violence that it purportedly sparked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">September
14, 2012</st1:date>: Press secretary Carney says: “We were not aware of
any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> was planned or
imminent.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">September
14, 2012</st1:date>: President Obama again blames the YouTube video
for having sparked the violence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">September
14, 2012</st1:date>: The White House asks YouTube to review Innocence of Muslims to
see if it complies with the website's terms of use.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">September
14, 2012</st1:date>: CNN journalists find Ambassador Christopher
Stevens’ diary amid the rubble of the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
where he was killed three days earlier. The diary reveals that Stevens had been
worried for some time about constant security threats, the rise in Islamic
extremism, and the fact that his name was on an al Qaeda hit list.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">September
14, 2012</st1:date>: At the receiving ceremony where the bodies of the 4
Americans who were killed in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
are returned to the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
Hillary Clinton addresses grieving family members. According to the
father of the slain Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, Mrs. Clinton “came over … she
talked with me. I gave her a hug and shook her hand and she did not appear to
be one bit sincere at all and she mentioned about, ‘We’re going to have that
person arrested and prosecuted that did the video.’ That was the first time I
even heard about anything like that.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">September
14, 2012</st1:date>: At a press briefing, State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland says her department will no longer answer any
questions about the attack in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>:
“It is now something that you need to talk to the FBI about, not to us about,
because it’s their investigation.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">September
14, 2012</st1:date>: Anti-American demonstrations continue near the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>, and the State
Department warns American embassies in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Kuwait</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Oman</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to be ready for possible unrest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="15" month="9" year="2012">September
15, 2012</st1:date>: In his weekly address, President Obama discusses the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack but makes no mention of terrorism or terrorists. He does mention,
however, the anti-Muslim video and “every angry mob” that it inspired
in the <st1:place>Middle East</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* September 16, 2012: President Obama's Ambassador to
the United Nations, Susan Rice, appears on five separate Sunday television
news programs where she claims, falsely, that according to the “best
information at present,” the deadly attack in Benghazi was not a premeditated
assault but rather a “spontaneous reaction” to “a hateful and offensive video
that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world.” For
example, she tells Bob Schieffer on CBS's Face the Nation:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We'll want to see the results of that investigation to draw
any definitive conclusions. But based on the best information we have to date,
what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what began spontaneously in
Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo
where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy
... sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest
began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like
extremist elements, individuals, joined in that—in that effort with heavy
weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya
post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more
violent.... We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude
that this was premeditated or preplanned.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="16" month="9" year="2012">September
16, 2012</st1:date>: Rice's assertion is quickly contradicted by
Libyan security officials who say that American diplomats were warned as early
as September 8th about potential violent unrest in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="16" month="9" year="2012">September
16, 2012</st1:date>: <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
interim president, Mohammed el-Magariaf, says the attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission was planned and coordinated by an Islamist group with ties to al
Qaeda. Says Magariaf: “The way these perpetrators acted and moved ...
this leaves us with no doubt that this has preplanned, determined—predetermined
... It was planned—definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who ...
entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this criminal act
… since their arrival."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="16" month="9" year="2012">September
16, 2012</st1:date>: In an interview with NPR, President Magariaf says: “The
idea that this criminal and cowardly act was a spontaneous protest that just
spun out of control is completely unfounded and preposterous. We firmly believe
that this was a precalculated, preplanned attack that was carried out
specifically to attack the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
consulate.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="17" month="9" year="2012">September
17, 2012</st1:date>: State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland refuses to
characterize the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attacks
as terrorism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="18" month="9" year="2012">September
18, 2012</st1:date>: White House press secretary Jay Carney is asked about
Libyan President Magariaf’s assertion that the YouTube video had nothing to do
with the attack in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
Replying that President Obama “would rather wait” for the investigation to be
completed before issuing an opinion on the matter, Carney says: “But at
this time, as Ambassador Rice said and as I said, our understanding and our
belief based on the information we have is it was the video that caused the
unrest in Cairo, and the video and the unrest in Cairo that helped—that
precipitated some of the unrest in Benghazi and elsewhere. What other factors
were involved is a matter of investigation.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="18" month="9" year="2012">September
18, 2012</st1:date>: Reporters ask Hillary Clinton if Libyan President
Magariaf is “wrong” in saying that “this attack was planned for months.” Mrs.
Clinton replies: “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has
said we had no actionable intelligence that an attack on our post in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was planned or imminent.” She does not say whether she thinks Magariaf is right
or wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="18" month="9" year="2012">September
18, 2012</st1:date>: President Obama appears on television with late-night
comedian David Letterman. He tells Letterman that “Extremists and
terrorists used this [anti-Muslim video] as an excuse to attack a variety of
our embassies, including the consulate in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="19" month="9" year="2012">September
19, 2012</st1:date>: President Obama appears at the 40/40 Club in <st1:city><st1:place>Manhattan</st1:place></st1:city>,
where entertainers Jay Z and Beyonce host a $40,000-per-person fundraiser for
him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="19" month="9" year="2012">September
19, 2012</st1:date>: Matt Olsen, director of the <st1:place><st1:placename>National</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Counterterrorism</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>, tells a
Congressional Committee that the Obama administration is continuing to view the
<st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> incident as an “opportunistic”
assault rather than a planned one, though he acknowledges that it could
rightfully be classified as terrorism. This marks the first time that anyone in
the Obama administration has used the term “terrorism” specifically in
connection with the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="19" month="9" year="2012">September
19, 2012</st1:date>: At a press briefing, White House press secretary Jay
Carney says: “Based on the information we had at the time—we have now, we
do not yet have indication that it was preplanned or premeditated. There’s an
active investigation. If that active investigation produces facts that lead to
a different conclusion, we will make clear that that’s where the investigation
has led.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* September 19, 2012: Former U.S. Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, Andrew McCarthy, who led the investigations into
both attacks on the World Trade Center (1993 and 2001), says the
Obama administration’s account of the Libyan attacks on the U.S. consulate is
“flat-out fantasy.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="19" month="9" year="2012">September
19, 2012</st1:date>: Jim Carafano, the Heritage Foundation's deputy director
and a leading expert on defense and homeland security, says the Obama
administration’s contention that the attack on Ambassador Stevens and his staff
in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region> was
not premeditated cannot be reconciled with reports from the State Department
and the Libyan government.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="20" month="9" year="2012">September
20, 2012</st1:date>: White House press secretary Jay Carney completely
reverses his earlier position, now calling it “self-evident that what
happened in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> was a terrorist
attack.” Carney continues to maintain, however, that the administration
received no early warnings about it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="20" month="9" year="2012">September
20, 2012</st1:date>: President Obama, citing insufficient information,
still refuses to characterize the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack as terrorism. He also makes reference, yet again, to the purported
role of the YouTube video:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Well, we’re still doing an investigation, and there
are going to be different circumstances in different countries. And so I don’t
want to speak to something until we have all the information. What we do know
is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the
video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also
directly harm <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
interests.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="20" month="9" year="2012">September
20, 2012</st1:date>: The State Department spends $70,000 in taxpayer
funds to purchase public-relations advertisements on seven different Pakistani
television stations. The ads, intended to underscore the fact that the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
government had nothing to do with the YouTube video's content or production,
show film clips of speeches where Secretary of State Clinton and President
Obama have previously disavowed the film Innocence of Muslims.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="21" month="9" year="2012">September
21, 2012</st1:date>: Secretary of State Clinton says, “What happened in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was a terrorist attack.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="22" month="9" year="2012">September
22, 2012</st1:date>: Fawzi Bukatef, leader of the February 17
Martyrs Brigades, says that the Obama administration took no action during the
attacks on the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
and that “We [the Brigade] had to coordinate everything.” Bukatef's account is
entirely consistent with Libyan Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif's earlier
assertion that Libyan security forces had essentially handed the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission personnel over to the attackers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="24" month="9" year="2012">September
24, 2012</st1:date>: Taping an appearance on ABC television's The
View (which would air the folowing day), Obama says it is still impossible
to determine whether the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack was an act of terrorism: “[W]e don’t have all of the
information yet, so we are still gathering.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="25" month="9" year="2012">September
25, 2012</st1:date>: In a speech to the UN Assembly, Obama, continuing to
emphasize the notion that the YouTube video triggered the violence in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, states that
“a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world.” He
goes on to say, “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet
of Islam. But to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn
the hate we see in the images of Jesus Christ that are desecrated, or churches
that are destroyed, or the Holocaust that is denied.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="9" year="2012">September
26, 2012</st1:date>: Libyan president Mohamed al-Magariaf reiterates that
the September 11 attack in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
“was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens.” He
states unequivocally that the YouTube video Innocence of
Muslims “had nothing to do with this attack.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="9" year="2012">September
26, 2012</st1:date>: At a UN Security Council meeting, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, completely reversing her original story, concedes that
there was an explicit link between al Qaeda's North African network and the
deadly attacks on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> 15 days
earlier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="27" month="9" year="2012">September
27, 2012</st1:date>, filmmaker Mark Basseley Youseff (a.k.a. Nakoula Basseley
Nakoula), who produced Innocence of Muslims, is arrested for
“probation violation” and is denied bail.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="2" month="10" year="2012">October 2,
2012</st1:date>: White House press secretary Jay Carney declines to
comment on reports claiming that <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomats in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
asked for additional security during the weeks preceding <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September 11, 2012</st1:date>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="3" month="10" year="2012">October 3,
2012</st1:date>: It is revealed that sensitive documents remain only
loosely secured in the wreckage of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission, meaning that vital information about American operations in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is accessible to looters and curiosity-seekers. Among the items scattered
throughout the looted compound are documents detailing <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
weapons-collection efforts and emergency-evacuation protocols, Ambassador
Stevens' travel itinerary, and the personnel records of Libyans who were
contracted to secure the mission.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="4" month="10" year="2012">October 4,
2012</st1:date>: Longtime U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering is appointed
chairman of a federal investigation into the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
massacre. <st1:city><st1:place>Pickering</st1:place></st1:city> has ties to
the pro-Iran Islamist front group known as the National Iranian American
Council, which has ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (<st1:stockticker>CAIR</st1:stockticker>).
He is also co-chairman of the board of the George Soros-funded International
Crisis Group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="4" month="10" year="2012">October 4,
2012</st1:date>: After weeks of waiting for security concerns to be
addressed, an FBI team finally gains access to the ransacked <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission compound in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. The
team leaves the site after just 12 hours. According to a New
York Times report: “Already looters, curiosity seekers and reporters have
been through the site, which is only protected by two private security guards
hired by the compound’s Libyan owner … It appears that the FBI spent little or
no time interviewing residents in Benghazi. Typically they would spend weeks,
rather than hours, at a crime scene as important to national security as this
site.” <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
officials say the hunt for those possibly connected to the September 11 attack
has narrowed to just one or two people in an extremist group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="9" month="10" year="2012">October 9,
2012</st1:date>: The State Department acknowledges that, contrary to
the Obama administration's initial reports, the attack on the mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
did not begin as a low-level protest that suddenly and unexpectedly spiraled
out of control. The State Department now concedes that there were no protests
at all in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> before the
deadly assault.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="10" month="10" year="2012">October 10,
2012</st1:date>: The State Department claims that it has never
believed, even for a moment, that the attack in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was carried out in reaction to a YouTube video. The Associated Press reports:
“Department officials were asked about the administration’s initial—and since
retracted—explanation linking the violence to protests over an American-made
anti-Muslim video circulating on the Internet. One official responded, ‘That
was not our conclusion.’ He called it a question for ‘others’ to answer,
without specifying.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="11" month="10" year="2012">October 11,
2012</st1:date>: When the subject of the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attacks is raised during his vice-presidential debate against Paul Ryan, Vice
President Joe Biden says, “We weren’t told they wanted more security
there.” In light of the obvious falsity of that statement, White House
spokesman Jay Carney subsequently explains that Biden's “We” referred only to Biden
himself, President Obama, and the White House.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="15" month="10" year="2012">October 15,
2012</st1:date>: In a CNN interview, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes
the blame for what happened in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
“I take responsibility. I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus
people all over the world, 275 posts. The president and the vice president
wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security
professionals.” “I want to avoid some kind of political gotcha,” she adds,
noting that “we're very close to an election.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="18" month="10" year="2012">October 18,
2012</st1:date>: On Comedy Central's The Daily Show, host Jon
Stewart asks Obama: “Is part of the investigation helping the
communication between these divisions? Not just what happened in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
but what happened within. Because I would say, even you would admit, it was not
the optimal response, at least to the American people, as far as all of us
being on the same page.” To this, Obama responds: “Here's what I’ll say. If
four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="19" month="10" year="2012">October 19,
2012</st1:date>: House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell
Issa writes a letter to President Obama, questioning why he has “not
been straightforward with the American people in the aftermath of the attack.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="25" month="10" year="2012">October 25,
2012</st1:date>: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
military did not intervene when the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> was under
assault because military leaders had no “real-time information” about what was
happening on the ground.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="10" year="2012">October 26,
2012</st1:date>: <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> director David
Petraeus emphatically denies that he or anyone else at the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
refused assistance to the former Navy SEALs who requested help while under
assault on the night of <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September 11,
2012</st1:date>. According to The Weekly Standard and ABC News,
Petraeus's denial strongly suggests that the refusal to assist was a
presidential decision made by Obama himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="10" year="2012">October 26,
2012</st1:date>: A <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> spokesman
issues this statement: “No one at any level in the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
told anybody not to help those in need [at the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
mission]; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="10" year="2012">October 26,
2012</st1:date>: At a press briefing in <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>,
the State Department shuts down down reporters' questions about <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The administration appears determined to say as little as possible about the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack until after the November 6 elections.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="10" year="2012">October 26,
2012</st1:date>: President Obama says: “What happened in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
is a tragedy.... [M]y biggest priority now is bringing those folks [the
perpetrators] to justice, and I think the American people have seen that’s a
commitment I'll always keep.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="30" month="10" year="2012">October 30,
2012</st1:date>: Senator John McCain characterizes the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
affair as either a “massive cover up” or “massive incompetence.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* October 31, 2012: Michael Scheuer, who headed the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>’s
Osama bin Laden tracking unit in the late 1990s and has worked for the Agency
for more than 20 years, says that what occurred in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was not incompetence but rather a “callous political decision to let Americans
die”:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It’s hard to claim incompetence when you have the
information in a real-time manner as the White House did. They were watching or
listening to the attack on our people there in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
for about seven hours. This, clearly, is a case of deciding not to help those
people and now trying, in the waning days of the election campaign, to prevent
Americans from learning what a cowardly and arrogant policy Obama picked in
order to protect his election chances. Had we sent people to try to help the
people who were being attacked, we may have been too late, it may have taken
too long to get there, we may have run into a bigger battle and lost more
people but the key element here is there is no evidence, from day one until
today, that the Obama administration did anything at all to help those people.
Nothing was put in train. Nothing was tried. At the end of the day, we
abandoned those four people on the orders of the president.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="4" month="11" year="2012">November 4,
2012</st1:date>: A car bomb explodes in front of a <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
police station and injures three officers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="8" month="11" year="2012">November 8,
2012</st1:date>: Mark Basseley Youseff, the filmmaker who
produced Innocence of Muslims, is sentenced to a year in jail for
an “unrelated” offense.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="9" month="11" year="2012">November 9,
2012</st1:date>: <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> director David
Petraeus admits to having had an extramarital affair and resigns from his
post at the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="16" month="11" year="2012">November
16, 2012</st1:date>: In testimony before the House and Senate
intelligence panels, General Petraeus states that the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
sought to make clear from the outset that an al Qaeda affiliate was involved in
the deadly attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
diplomatic mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
Petraeus also says that references to “Al Qaeda involvement” were
stripped from his agency's original talking points, but he does not know by
whom. Following Petraeus's testimony, Republican Representative Peter King confirms that
according to Petraeus, “the original [<st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>]
talking points were much more specific about Al Qaeda involvement. And yet the
final ones just said [there were] indications of extremists.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="16" month="11" year="2012">November
16, 2012</st1:date>: Twelve Democratic congresswomen accuse Republican
Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham of “clear sexism and racism” because,
in condemning Ambassador Susan Rice for her misleading narrative about the root
causes of the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attack, they
have described Rice as “unqualified” and “not very bright.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* November 17, 2012: Frank Gaffney, founder and
president of the Center for Security Policy, makes reference to the Obama
administration's alleged funneling of weapons, by way of Libya, to Syrian
rebels and jihadists seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad: “If
it is the case that the Obama administration, was in fact, in the person of
Christopher Stevens and the <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker> operation in
Benghazi, taking arms that had been bought from people who had liberated them
from Gaddafi’s weapons caches and sending some of those to people [in Syria]
who we know include Islamists of the most radical stripe, which include
al-Qaida, that is a scandal that will make Iran-Contra look like a day at the
beach…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="8" month="12" year="2012">December 8,
2012</st1:date>: Mohammed Abu Jamal Ahmed, a suspect in the September 11
attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, is arrested in
<st1:place><st1:city>Cairo</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="13" month="12" year="2012">December
13, 2012</st1:date>: After months of criticism over her blatant
misrepresentations of the September 11 events in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
Ambassador Susan Rice withdraws her name from consideration as a
candidate for Secretary of State (succeeding Hillary Clinton). President Obama
accepts Rice's decision, saying: “While I deeply regret the unfair and
misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the
strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the
politics of the moment to put our national interests first…. The American
people can be proud to have a public servant of her caliber and character
representing our country.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="15" month="12" year="2012">December
15, 2012</st1:date>: State Department officials notify the press
that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “while suffering from a stomach virus
... became dehydrated and fainted, sustaining a concussion.” <st1:city><st1:place>Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>’s
office states she will be unable to participate in the House Foreign
Affairs Committee's hearing on <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
scheduled for December 20 on Capitol Hill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* December 18, 2012: An independent report issued
by the Accountability Review Board (ARB) led by Thomas Pickering and former
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen, blames State Department leadership
for “systemic failures” leading up to the Benghazi attack, and asserts that
U.S. officials relied too heavily on Libyan guards at the mission, where
security was “grossly inadequate.” The report does not blame Secretary
Clinton personally, however. Rather, it singles out the Bureau of Diplomatic
Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs for a “lack of proactive
leadership and management ability in their responses to security concerns.” But
despite the failures of those two Bureaus, the ARB states that no individual
officials ignored or violated their duties, and thus it recommends no
disciplinary action.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="19" month="12" year="2012">December
19, 2012</st1:date>: In response to the ARB report, Bureau of Diplomatic
Security chief Eric Boswell and his deputy Charlene Lamb both resign,
along with an unidentified official in the Bureau of Near East Affairs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="20" month="12" year="2012">December
20, 2012</st1:date>: William J. Burns (deputy secretary of state) and Thomas
R. Nides (deputy secretary of state for management and resources) both testify in
place of Hillary Clinton in the House Foreign Affairs Committee's hearing on <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="20" month="12" year="2012">December
20, 2012</st1:date>: The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, headed by
Senator John Kerry, issues a report entitled, “<st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>:
The Attack and the Lessons Learned.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="22" month="12" year="2012">December
22, 2012</st1:date>: After months of trying to get access, FBI agents question the
only known suspect in the September 11 attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. He is Ali
al-Harzi, a 26-year-old Tunisian who was detained in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Turkey</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and extradited to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Tunisia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in October 2012.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="26" month="12" year="2012">December
26, 2012</st1:date>: It is revealed that the State Department
officials who supposedly resigned on December 19 are merely on administrative
leave; they remain on the State Department payroll and will all be back to work
soon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* December 30, 2012: Senators Joe Leiberman
(I/D-Connecticut) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) release a report entitled Flashing
Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi, which states that
on September 11, the terrorists essentially walked into the Benghazi mission
compound unimpeded and set it ablaze, while State Department personnel in
Washington ignored or responded inadequately to repeated pleas for more
security from those on the ground in Libya.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="30" month="12" year="2012">December
30, 2012</st1:date>: In an interview with NBC’s David Gregory, President
Obama says: “Some individuals have been held accountable inside of the
State Department and what I’ve said is that we are going to fix this to make
sure that this does not happen again, because these are folks that I send into
the field. We understand that there are dangers involved but, you know, when you
read the report and it confirms what we had already seen, you know, based on
some of our internal reviews; there was just some sloppiness, not intentional,
in terms of how we secure embassies in areas where you essentially don’t have
governments that have a lot of capacity to protect those embassies.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* Late December 2012 to early January 2013: Although Ahmed
Boukhtala, a member of an Islamic terrorist group, is the main suspect in the
September 11 terrorist attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>, he continues
to live freely in that city. Libyan authorities are reluctant to become
entangled in cases like his, which involve terror-group affiliations. In an
interview with a Libyan newspaper, Boukhtala neither admits nor denies his role
in the September 11 attack. In response to a direct question regarding the
incident, he says:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Let’s first ask about the reason for their presence in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
in this suspicious and secret way. The other thing is: what is the nature of
work they were doing in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>?
What was the role that the consulate was playing, and who gave it permission to
violate <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
sovereignty and intervene in Libyan politics?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="3" month="1" year="2013">January 3,
2013</st1:date>: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is released from
the hospital following a bout with the flu, a concussion, and a blood clot. It
is reported that she will soon testify in front of a Congressional
committee about the terrorist attack on the American mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.<br />
* <st1:date day="6" month="1" year="2013">January 6, 2013</st1:date>:
Reports say that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
investigation into the deadly September 11 attack on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> has been
hampered by widespread fear that Islamic extremists will retaliate with
violence against witnesses who testify.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* January 9, 2013: Tunisian authorities release Ali
al-Harzi, the only man held so far in connection with the September 11 attacks
in Benghazi—an indication that the Libyan-led investigation into those attacks
is foundering. According to the Benghazi-based analyst and political
science professor Khaled al-Marmimi: “Investigators are afraid to keep probing
the case because they are concerned extremists will kidnap them at any moment.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* January 10, 2013: Despite President Obama's September
12, 2012 vow to “work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the
killers who attacked our people,” Libyan authorities now say the
investigation is stalled, if not entirely dead, with witnesses too fearful to
talk and key police officers targeted for violent retribution. According
to Mohamed Buisier, a political activist in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>:
“There is no Libyan investigation. No, no, no. There is not even a will to
investigate anything. Even for us civilians, it is very dangerous if you talk
about this subject.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* <st1:date day="17" month="1" year="2013">January 17,
2013</st1:date>: FBI director Robert Mueller goes to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to meet with senior officials, including the prime minister, justice minister,
and intelligence chief, to discuss what occurred in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
on <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September 11, 2012</st1:date>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SOURCE: DTN<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-62661724343756391532013-06-10T20:56:00.003-04:002013-06-10T20:56:25.507-04:00Key Date Chronology <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Key Date Chronology - Repatriation of Richard Somers
and Men of the USS Intrepid<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1693 Somers Point founded by English Quaker John Somers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1693 3 June - Richard, Jr. born to John and Hannah Somers,
their fourth child.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1761 Edward Preble born in <st1:place><st1:city>Falmouth</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Maine</st1:state></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1764 23 February - William Eaton born in <st1:place><st1:city>Woodstock</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Connecticut</st1:state></st1:place>.<br />
1778 15 September - Richard Somers born in <st1:place><st1:city>Somers Point</st1:city>,
<st1:state>NJ</st1:state></st1:place>.<br />
1778 15 October - Battle of Chestnut Neck NJ includes Col. Richard Somers, son
of John the founder of Somers Point and father of Master Commandant Richard
Somers.<br />
1783 March. Algierian Barbary coast pirates seize two American merchant
ships. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1784 7 May The Maria and Dauphin captured by <st1:place>Barbary</st1:place>
pirates. <br />
1784 11 October <st1:country-region><st1:place>Morocco</st1:place></st1:country-region>
pirate corsair seize American brig <i>Betsey.</i><br />
1785 June Henry Wadsworth born in Falmouth, Mass., now Portland, Maine, next
door neighbor to Captain Edward Preble. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1785 5 October Thomas Barclay appointed to negotiate with
emperor of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Morocco</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
<br />
1785 Feb News of Algerian pirates seizure of more U.S. vessels and demands for
tribute reach USA; Pres. Jefferson deploys gunboats to the Mediterranean with
battle cry of “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.”<br />
1785 US opens diplomatic relations with Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1786 15 January. Thomas Baclay leaves for <st1:place><st1:city>Paris</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region>Spain</st1:country-region></st1:place> Marrakech. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1786 23 June Barclay’s treaty worked out. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1787 8 July Barclay’s treaty ratified by Congress. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1787 17 September US Constitution ratified. <br />
1789 30 April George Washington sworn in as President.<br />
1793 16 December President Washington notifies Congress that Barbary pirates
were again seizing ships, consults with John Barry and Philadelphia shipbuilder
Joshua Humphreys about building a fleet of warships.<br />
1793 15 year old Richard Somers, first mate on family schooner in <st1:place>West
Indies</st1:place>, takes command upon the death of the captain and returns
ship safely home.<br />
1794 Navy Act of 1794.<br />
1794 19 March John Barry requests command of the proposed fleet.<br />
1794 27 March an act of Congress orders building six new frigates.<br />
1794 14 June <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state> orders
John Barry “to form and train a class of midshipmen who would then be
commissioned as Ensigns, and form the nucleus of a new American navy.” Barry
commissioned first <st1:place><st1:city>Captain</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>United
States</st1:country-region></st1:place> Navy.<br />
1794 Richard Somers attends private <st1:place><st1:placename>Philadelphia</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Free</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place>
with schoolmates Charles Stewart, Steven Decatur, Jr., Richard Rush, and James
Caldwell.<br />
1794 September Captain John Barry supervises the construction of USS United
States.<br />
1794 22 October Richard Somers, Sr. dies.<br />
1795 21 December <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
treaty with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Morocco</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:city><st1:place>Algiers</st1:place></st1:city> “automatically under the
clause in the Navy bill,” halts work on the six frigates.<br />
1796 Jan. Sec of War McHenry reports that all six frigates could still be
completed.<br />
1796 April Congress approves the completion of three ships at <st1:city><st1:place>Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>,
<st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:city><st1:place>Baltimore</st1:place></st1:city>,
the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
the Constitution and the Constellation.<br />
1796 19 September Estimate for outfitting the frigate United States with 305
officers and men, fifty-four marines, for one month $7, 285.<br />
1796 Gheretti/Mastico, a French built Ketch launched (later to become USS
Intrepid).<br />
1797 3 February Richard’s mother Sophia dies.<br />
1797 22 February <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>, on
his birthday, issues Commission No. 1 in the American Navy to John Barry,
backdated to 1794. .<br />
1797 March 4 John Adams becomes president.<br />
1797 June 7 Treaty of <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
Approved by Senate.<br />
1797 June 10 Treaty of Tripoli Signed by President Adams<br />
1797 June 17 Notice of Treaty of <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
published in Pennsylvania Gazette.<br />
1797 June 23 President Adams message to Congress re: Algiers/Barbary
States. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1797 7 July President <st1:place>Adams</st1:place> appoints
William Eaton US counsul to <st1:state><st1:place>Tunis</st1:place></st1:state>
and James Leander Cathcart consul to <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.
<br />
1797 July 10 the USS United States is launched, John Barry Captain.<br />
1797 350 applications for 59 commissions in new U.S. Navy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1798 Merchant ship purchased and refitted as USS George
Washington (24 guns) <br />
1798 January 26 <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
counsel Richard O’Brian arrives in <st1:city><st1:place>Algiers</st1:place></st1:city>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1798 6 March Senate Rafifies Treaty of Amity and Commerce
with <st1:state><st1:place>Tunis</st1:place></st1:state>, despite objections
subject to revisions. <br />
1798 March 9 Charles Stewart commissioned Lieutenant.<br />
1798 April 30 Congress establishes Department of Navy, directed by secretary of
cabinet rank, <st1:state><st1:place>Maryland</st1:place></st1:state> merchant
Benjamin Stoddert.<br />
1798 30 April Midshipman warrants issued to Richard Somers and Steven
Decatur.<br />
1798 7 May President John Adams appears in <st1:city><st1:place>Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>
at rally.<br />
1798 8 May Richard Somers takes oath of allegiance.<br />
1798 May James R. Caldwell appointed Midshipman.<br />
1798 30 May Richard Somers returns to <st1:place><st1:placename>Egg</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Harbor</st1:placetype></st1:place> to get his affairs in order.<br />
1798 8 June Sloop <st1:state><st1:place>Delaware</st1:place></st1:state> (20
guns) under Commodore Stephen Decatur, Sr., takes a French prize, Le Croyable
off <st1:place><st1:placename>Egg</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Harbor</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<br />
1798 7 July USS Untied States gets underway under Capt. John Barry with
Decatur, Jr., Charles Stewart and Somers as Midshipmen, head for the <st1:place>West
Indies</st1:place>.<br />
1798 4 Nov Congress agreed to pay a yearly tribute to <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1798 18 December - Wm. Eaton, Richard O’Brien and James
Cathcart tasked with renegotiating <st1:date day="6" month="3" year="1778">March
6, 1778</st1:date> treaty. <br />
1799 20 January - Richard Somers commissioned Lieutenant. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1799 9 February - William Eaton arrives in <st1:city><st1:place>Algiers</st1:place></st1:city><br />
1799 2 June Richard Somers writes will.<br />
1799 22 June Richard’s brother Constant dies in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in boating accident.<br />
1799 Schooner Nautilus built as merchant vessel on <st1:state><st1:place>Maryland</st1:place></st1:state>’s
<st1:place><st1:placename>East</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Shore</st1:placetype></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1800 17 Sept. - USS George Washington arrives in <st1:city><st1:place>Algiers</st1:place></st1:city>,
Wm Bainbridge Captain. <br />
1800 Nov. James Caldwell promoted to lieutenant, serves on USS United
States.<br />
1801 Somers first lieutenant USS Boston (28 gun, 250 man) sloop sent to <st1:place>Mediterranean</st1:place>.<br />
1801 James Caldwell assigned to the USS Constellation.<br />
1801 Treaty of Tripoli violated by Yousuf Karamanli, pasha of <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.<br />
1801 21 January Boston off <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.
Somers gets first view of <st1:place><st1:placename>Tripoli</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Harbor</st1:placetype></st1:place>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1801 19 April USS George Washington puts in to <st1:city><st1:place>Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>.
<br />
1801 14 May, After learning that Pres. Jefferson refused to pay a renewed
tribute of $225,000 the Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
by cutting down the <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
flagstaff in front of the US Consulate.<br />
1801 22 May Captain Richard Dale takes command of Med. Squadron. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1801 2 June Dale’s squadron disembarks from Hampton Roads,
Va. <br />
1801 June – US Consul William Eaton contacts Hamad Karamanli, deposed pasha of
Tripoli, and older brother of Yousuf and encourages him to return to
Tripoli.<br />
1801 July USS <st1:city><st1:place>Enterprise</st1:place></st1:city> under Lt.
Andrew Sterrett defeats pirate ship <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1801 24 July USS President and USS Enterprise off <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1802 6 February - Congress passes “act for protection of
commerce,” giving Presient power to wage war against the <st1:place>Barbary</st1:place>
pirates. <br />
1802 Congress orders the construction of four schooners, the Siren, the Argus,
Nautilus and Vixen with Somers given command of the Nautilus.<br />
1802 6 February Congress recognizes <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
has declared war against <st1:country-region><st1:place>USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1802 9 March Commodore Richard Dale leaves <st1:place>Mediterranean</st1:place>
for Hampton Roads.<br />
1803 April 11 Richard Somers launches schooner Goard Blossom at Mays
Landing.<br />
1803 13 May Richard Somers ordered to oversee the refurbishing of schooner
Nautilus.<br />
1803 21 May Captain Edward Preble given command of the Mediterranean squadron,
with flagship frigate USS Constitution (44 guns).<br />
1803 24 June Somers’s schooner Nautilus ordered to join the Mediterranean
squadron under command of Captain Edward Preble.<br />
1803 13 September Commodore John Barry dies.<br />
1803 14 September Somers and Nautilus reach <st1:place>Gibraltar</st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1803 7 October USS Philadelphia and USS Vixen off <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1803 15 October Commodore Preble in <st1:place>Gibraltar</st1:place>.
<br />
1803 Preble obtains understanding in Tangier from the emperor of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Morocco</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<br />
1803 31 Oct. USS Philadelphia, Captain Bainbridge in command, runs aground off
Tripoli, surrenders with full compliment of crew, 300 men.<br />
1803 7 Nov the Argus, with Stephen Decatur, joins Nautilus and Constitution.<br />
1803 23 Dec, Lt. Stephen Decatur, commanding the schooner Enterprise, captures
a Barbary pirate ketch, which is entered into the US Navy logs as the USS
Intrepid.<br />
1804 16 February <st1:city><st1:place>Decatur</st1:place></st1:city> leads
mission aboard Intrepid into <st1:place><st1:placename>Tripoli</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Harbor</st1:placetype></st1:place>
and successfully scuttles the captured frigate USS Philadelphia.<br />
1804 2 June USS Constitution, <st1:city><st1:place>Enterprise</st1:place></st1:city>,
and Intrepid, a floating hospital, anchor off <st1:city><st1:place>Syracuse</st1:place></st1:city>.
Siren, Agrus, Vixen and Scourage (also a pirate prize) blockade <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.<br />
1804 July Mediterranean squadron heads for Tripoli, lead by Preble’s flagship, the
Constitution, four brigs, the Argus, Siran, Vixen and Scourge, two schooners,
Nautilus (Somers) and Enterprise (Decatur) and eight gunboats (156 guns in
all).<br />
1804 25 July <st1:city><st1:place>Battle</st1:place></st1:city> of <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
begins.<br />
1804 3 August Somers and Decatur lead flotillas of gunboats against Tripoli
fleet, win decisively, though Decatur’s younger brother James Decatur is
killed; Caldwell distinguishes himself in boat action; three enemy gunboats
captured.<br />
1804 7 August, Attack made against <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
fleet; <st1:city><st1:place>Caldwell</st1:place></st1:city> killed in Gunboat
#9.<br />
1804 3 Sept Attack made against <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
fleet.<br />
1804 4 Sept Intrepid explodes in Tripoli
harbor killing Somers, Wadsworth and ten volunteer sailors, whose remains wash
ashore and are recovered.<br />
1804 5 Sept Intrepid crew buried in two nearby graves, by Dr. Cowdery and other
American prisoners, “one cable’s length” (720 feet) from the walls of the old
castle fort.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1804 26 November - Wm. Eaton and Lt. Presley Neville
O’Bannon reach Alexandra. <br />
1805 Lt. David Porter takes up collection for <st1:place><st1:placename>Tripoli</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Monument</st1:placetype></st1:place>, which includes the names
of all the officers killed in the first Barbary War.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 5 March General Wm. Eagon and Hamad Karamanli begin
march to Derna. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 25 April Eaton’s army arrives outskirts of Derna. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 26 April USS Nautilus arrives off Derna. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 27 April USS Argus and USS Hornet arrive off Derna. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 28 April 2 pm Attack on Derna commences. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 28 April 4 pm City of <st1:city><st1:place>Derna</st1:place></st1:city>
in hands of Eaton’s army. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 21 April Yousef Karamanli offers peace terms rejected
by Tobias Lear and Commodore Samuel Barron. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 13 May Eaton’s army repulses counterattack by Karamanli
loyalists. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 18 May Tobias Lear leaves for <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
on USS Essex </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 22 May Commodore Barron resigns his command. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 3 June Treaty with Karamanli settled. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 11 June USS Constellation off Derna. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1805 12 June USS Constellation leaves Derna in dead of night
with Eaton, Presley, et al. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1806 17 May Treaty with <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
ratified by Congress. <br />
1807 Feb Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is born and named after Lt. Henry Wadsworth,
who was left buried on <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
beach with the men of the Intrepid. <br />
1812 British take Washington. The <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
monument is damaged, repaired and relocated to the grounds of the US
Capitol. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1816 Stephen Decatur returns to <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.
<br />
1830 Wife of British Counsel to <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
dies and is buried near existing graves, believed to be American sailors, and a
wall is built around the cemetery.<br />
1842 Alleged mutiny aboard USS Somers II, a training vessel, results in hanging
of Midshipmen, and the end of training officers at sea.<br />
1845 US Naval Academy established by Navy Secretary George Bancroft and the <st1:place><st1:placename>Tripoli</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Monument</st1:placetype></st1:place> is relocated there.<br />
1850 James F. Cooper writes biography of Richard Somers and suggests that
someday the captain of an American cruiser should return with his remains so
that he can be reburied in his native land among his friends and loved
ones.<br />
1905 President Theodore Roosevelt orders the repatriation of the remains of
Captain John Paul Jones from a <st1:city><st1:place>Paris</st1:place></st1:city>
crypt and reburied in the chapel at the <st1:place><st1:placename>Naval</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<br />
1911 Italians begin occupation of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Take over port and create the Plaza/Square.<br />
1930 Italian Army road work crew uncovers the remains of five men from the
original grave site and they are reburied at <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<br />
1938 President Franklin Roosevelt orders a search for the location of the
graves of the men of the Intrepid in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.
Mustafa Burchis, a Libyan working for the Italians at the <st1:place><st1:placetype>port</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename>Tripoli</st1:placename></st1:place> investigates and learns
some of the men of the Intrepid are buried at <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<br />
1940-45 World War II. Burgis’ report is lost at the American Embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Rome</st1:place></st1:city>.<br />
1948–49 Muastafa Burchis informs the new <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Consul Orray Taft, Jr. of his research and the members of the State Dept, US
Navy, British embassy and local Libyans hold memorial ceremony and place
historic markers at the <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place> in 1949.<br />
1950-1956 Two reports are published in the US Naval Proceedings journal.<br />
1955 USMC study determines that no Marines are among the Intrepid
victims.<br />
1950-1969 The Officer Wife’s Club of Wheelus Air Force base maintain the
cemetery.<br />
1977 Two women tourists from <st1:state><st1:place>New Jersey</st1:place></st1:state>
discover the displaced graves at the cemetery, overgrown with weeds, and write
about it in American Legion Magazine.<br />
1980 Rep. William Hughes (D. 2NJ) introduces legislation in Congress to reserve
graves for the 13 men of the Intrepid at <st1:city><st1:place>Arlington</st1:place></st1:city>
in anticipation of their repatriation.<br />
1988 Pres. Ronald Reagan orders the <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
military to bomb <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city> in
retaliation for terrorist attacks. Two US Navy pilots are shot down, and the
remains of one recovered.<br />
2002 Members of the Somers family and <st1:place><st1:city>Somers Point</st1:city>,
<st1:state>N.J.</st1:state></st1:place> civic leaders petition <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
government and the Gadhafi Charities Foundation for repatriation. <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
State Dept. says there is no diplomatic relations with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<br />
2004 Gadhafi renounces terrorism, gives up Weapons of Mass Destruction and the <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
reestablishes formal diplomatic relations with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2004 <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Dept. of State opens liaison office in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.<br />
2004 Report - Libyans excavate the original grave site and discover “bones and
buttons.”<br />
2004 Libyan guards tell US regional security officer Dan Mehan about American
graves at cemetery, overgrown with weeds and in disrepair.<br />
2006 March <st1:stockticker>LTC</st1:stockticker> Robert “Kyle” Carnahan
arrives in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city> as defense
attaché and meets with Dr. Giuma Anag, director of Antiquities.<br />
2006 May Memorial Day ceremonies held at cemetery graves.<br />
2007 May Memorial Day ceremonies held at cemetery graves.<br />
2008 “<i>Secrets of the </i><st1:place><st1:placename><i>Old</i></st1:placename><i> </i><st1:placename><i>Protestant</i></st1:placename><i> </i><st1:placetype><i>Cemetery</i></st1:placetype></st1:place><i>”</i> book is published in Arabic in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<br />
2009 Gadhaif celebrates the 40th anniversary of coup with a parade at <st1:street><st1:address>Green
Square</st1:address></st1:street>.<br />
2009 5 Sept Sec of State Condi Rice visits Gadhafi on the 105th anniversary of
the burial of the men of the Intrepid.<br />
2010 March Chief of Naval Operations Adml. Gary Roughead determines that the <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>
is to be the final resting place for those men of the USS Intrepid, but does
not mention the original unmarked mass grave site outside the old castle
walls. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2010 Libyans begin repairs and renovation of Old Protestant
Cemtery.<br />
2011- 17 February Revolution in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
begins, Gadhafi violent suppresses.<br />
2011 March UN & NATO prevents Gadhafi’s military from attacking <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2011 5 April Chris Stevens arrives in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
as American representative to rebels.<br />
2011 15 April Delegation from Somers Point meets with Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R.
NJ), Mike Rogers (R. Mich) and the American Legion in Washington DC.<br />
2011 April Rep. Rogers introduces House Resolution 1497 to repatriate the
remains of the men of the Intrepid from <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>,
co-sponsored by LoBiondo.<br />
2011 26 May Rep. <st1:city><st1:place>Rogers</st1:place></st1:city> attaches
the Rogers/LoBiondo repatriation resolution to the Defense Authorization Act
(DAA2012) as an amendment, which passes the House.<br />
2011 August Tripoli is liberated and <st1:street><st1:address>Green Square</st1:address></st1:street>
renamed <st1:street><st1:address>Martyrs Square</st1:address></st1:street>.<br />
2011 Nov. Sen. Dean Heller (R. Nev.) introduces complimentary Senate
bill.<br />
2011 Dec. Sen. John McCain (R. Arizona), ranking Republican on the Sen. Armed
Services Com. (SASC) removes Repatriation Amendment before DAA is
approved.<br />
2011 6 Dec. SASC and HASC Conference irons out differences in the DAA and ten
US Senators sign letter requesting the Repatriation Amendment be reinserted in
the DAA. 2011 17 Dec. Sec. Defense <st1:country-region><st1:place>Leon</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Panetta in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city> and visits
Intrepid graves at recently renovated cemetery.<br />
2011 31 Dec. President Signs Defense Authorization Act that includes a
provision requiring the Navy to evaluate the feasibility of repatriating the
remains of the men of the Intrepid from <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>
and report back with recommendations in September 2012. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 Christopher Stevens appointed <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Ambassador to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
<br />
2012 4 Feb. Intrepid Project meets at Somers Point Historical Society to
consider options.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 May Chris Stevens named US Ambasssador</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 May - Memorial Day Stevens leads Embassy delegation for
ceremony at Intrepid graves at <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 10 September <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Ambassador Stevens arrives in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 11 September US Ambassador Stevens and three other
Americans killed in attack on US mission at <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 12 Sept. Presient Obama makes Rose Garden speech on <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 16 Sept. <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
UN Ambassador Susan Rice appears on TV talk shows.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 19 Sept. Congressional hearing held on <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 10 October Congressional hearing held on <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 October Navy/DOD Report recommends remains of Intrepid
crew not be repatriated, but fails to mention the radical Islamic threat to
graves. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 9 Oct. State Dept. briefing outlines chronology of <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 Oct. - Nov. Benghazi becomes an election issue during
debates. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 Nov. The day after the election <st1:stockticker>CIA</st1:stockticker>
Director David Petraeus resigns. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 14 Nov. John McCain calls for Senate hearings to
investigate <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> attack. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 Chipp Reid’s book on the men of the Intrepid is published.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2013 January Secretary of State Hilary Clinton testifies
before Congress about <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2013 Dr. Anne Stevens starts J. Chris Stevens Fund.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2013 John Kerry named Secretary of State </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2013 13 March Deborah K. Jones appointed US Ambassador to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2013 May - Memorial Day. </div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-47666802789140790382013-06-10T20:55:00.003-04:002013-06-10T20:55:42.527-04:00PRESIDENT OBAMA: <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: </div>
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It’s an honor to return to the <st1:place><st1:placename>National</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Defense</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
Here, at <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype> <st1:placename>McNair</st1:placename></st1:place>,
Americans have served in uniform since 1791– standing guard in the early days
of the Republic, and contemplating the future of warfare here in the 21st century.</div>
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For over two centuries, the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> has been bound together by founding
documents that defined who we are as Americans, and served as our compass
through every type of change. Matters of war and peace are no different.
Americans are deeply ambivalent about war, but having fought for our
independence, we know that a price must be paid for freedom. From the Civil
War, to our struggle against fascism, and through the long, twilight struggle
of the Cold War, battlefields have changed, and technology has evolved. But our
commitment to Constitutional principles has weathered every war, and every war
has come to an end.</div>
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<b><i>With the collapse of the </i></b><st1:state><st1:place><b><i>Berlin</i></b></st1:place></st1:state><b><i>
Wall,</i></b><i> a new dawn of democracy
took hold abroad, and a decade of peace and prosperity arrived at home. For a
moment, it seemed the 21st century would be a tranquil time.</i> Then, on <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2001">September 11th 2001</st1:date>, we were shaken
out of complacency. Thousands were taken from us, as clouds of fire, metal and
ash descended upon a sun-filled morning. This was a different kind of war. No
armies came to our shores, and our military was not the principal target.
Instead, a group of terrorists came to kill as many civilians as they could.</div>
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And so our nation went to war. We have now been at war for
well over a decade. I won’t review the full history. What’s clear is that we
quickly drove al Qaeda out of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
but then shifted our focus and began a new war in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
This carried grave consequences for our fight against al Qaeda, our standing in
the world, and – to this day – our interests in a vital region.</div>
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Meanwhile, we strengthened our defenses – hardening targets,
tightening transportation security, and giving law enforcement new
tools to prevent terror. Most of these changes were sound. Some caused
inconvenience. But some, like expanded surveillance, raised difficult questions
about the balance we strike between our interests in security and our values of
privacy. And in some cases, I believe we compromised our basic values – by
using torture to interrogate our enemies, and detaining individuals in a way
that ran counter to the rule of law.</div>
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After I took office, we stepped up the war against al Qaeda,
but also sought to change its course. We relentlessly targeted al Qaeda’s
leadership. We ended the war in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and brought nearly 150,000 troops home. We pursued a new strategy in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and increased our training of Afghan forces. We unequivocally banned torture,
affirmed our commitment to civilian courts, worked to align our policies with
the rule of law, and expanded our consultations with Congress.</div>
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Today, Osama bin Laden is dead, and so are most of his top
lieutenants. There have been no large-scale attacks on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and our homeland is more secure.
Fewer of our troops are in harm’s way, and over the next 19 months
they will continue to come home. Our alliances are strong, and so is our
standing in the world. In sum, we are safer because of our efforts.</div>
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Now make no mistake: our nation is still threatened by
terrorists. From <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> to <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city>,
we have been tragically reminded of that truth. We must recognize, however,
that the threat has shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on
9/11. With a decade of experience to draw from, now is the time to ask
ourselves hard questions – about the nature of today’s threats, and how we
should confront them.</div>
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These questions matter to every American. For over the last
decade, our nation has spent well over a trillion dollars on war, exploding our
deficits and constraining our ability to nation build here at home. Our
service-members and their families have sacrificed far more on our behalf.
Nearly 7,000 Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice. Many more have left a
part of themselves on the battlefield, or brought the shadows of battle back
home. From our use of drones to the detention of terrorist suspects, the
decisions we are making will define the type of nation – and world – that we
leave to our children.</div>
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So <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is at a crossroads. We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or
else it will define us, mindful of James Madison’s warning that “No nation
could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” Neither I, nor
any President, can promise the total defeat of terror. We will never erase the
evil that lies in the hearts of some human beings, nor stamp out every danger
to our open society. What we can do – what we must do – is dismantle networks
that pose a direct danger, and make it less likely for new groups to gain a
foothold, all while maintaining the freedoms and ideals that we defend. To
define that strategy, we must make decisions based not on fear, but hard-earned
wisdom. And that begins with understanding the threat we face.</div>
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Today, the core of al Qaeda in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> is
on a path to defeat. Their remaining operatives spend more time thinking about
their own safety than plotting against us. They did not direct the attacks in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
or <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city>. They have not carried
out a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11. Instead, what we’ve seen is
the emergence of various al Qaeda affiliates. From <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>, from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to <st1:place>North Africa</st1:place>, the threat today is more diffuse, with
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in the <st1:place>Arabian Peninsula</st1:place> – AQAP
–the most active in plotting against our homeland. While none of AQAP’s efforts
approach the scale of 9/11 they have continued to plot acts of terror, like the
attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009.</div>
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Unrest in the Arab World has also allowed extremists to gain
a foothold in countries like <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Here, too, there are differences from 9/11. In some cases, we confront
state-sponsored networks like Hizbollah that engage in acts of terror to
achieve political goals. Others are simply collections of local militias or
extremists interested in seizing territory. While we are vigilant for signs
that these groups may pose a transnational threat, most are focused on
operating in the countries and regions where they are based. That means we will
face more localized threats like those we saw in Benghazi, or at the BP oil
facility in Algeria, in which local operatives – in loose affiliation with
regional networks – launch periodic attacks against Western diplomats,
companies, and other soft targets, or resort to kidnapping and other criminal
enterprises to fund their operations.</div>
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Finally, we face a real threat from radicalized individuals
here in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
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Whether it’s a shooter at a <st1:place><st1:placename>Sikh</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Temple</st1:placetype></st1:place> in <st1:state><st1:place>Wisconsin</st1:place></st1:state>;
a plane flying into a building in <st1:state><st1:place>Texas</st1:place></st1:state>;
or the extremists who killed 168 people at the <st1:place><st1:placename>Federal</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Building</st1:placetype></st1:place> in <st1:city><st1:place>Oklahoma
City</st1:place></st1:city> – <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has confronted many forms of violent extremism in our time. Deranged or
alienated individuals – often <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
citizens or legal residents – can do enormous damage, particularly when
inspired by larger notions of violent jihad. That pull towards extremism
appears to have led to the shooting at <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename>Hood</st1:placename></st1:place>, and the bombing of the Boston
Marathon.</div>
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Lethal yet less capable al Qaeda affiliates. Threats to
diplomatic facilities and businesses abroad. Homegrown extremists. This is the
future of terrorism. We must take these threats seriously, and do all that we
can to confront them. But as we shape our response, we have to recognize that
the scale of this threat closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before
9/11. In the 1980s, we lost Americans to terrorism at our Embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Beirut</st1:place></st1:city>;
at our Marine Barracks in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>;
on a cruise ship at sea; at a disco in <st1:state><st1:place>Berlin</st1:place></st1:state>;
and on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. In the 1990s, we lost Americans to
terrorism at the <st1:place><st1:placename>World</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Trade</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>; at our military facilities
in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>;
and at our Embassy in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
These attacks were all deadly, and we learned that left unchecked, these
threats can grow. But if dealt with smartly and proportionally, these threats
need not rise to the level that we saw on the eve of 9/11.</div>
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Moreover, we must recognize that these threats don’t arise
in a vacuum. Most, though not all, of the terrorism we face is fueled by a
common ideology – a belief by some extremists that Islam is in conflict with
the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and the West, and that violence against Western targets, including civilians,
is justified in pursuit of a larger cause. Of course, this ideology is based on
a lie, for the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is not at war with Islam; and this ideology is rejected by the vast majority of
Muslims, who are the most frequent victims of terrorist acts.</div>
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Nevertheless, this ideology persists, and in an age in which
ideas and images can travel the globe in an instant, our response to terrorism
cannot depend on military or law enforcement alone. We need all elements of
national power to win a battle of wills and ideas. So let me discuss the
components of such a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy.</div>
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First, we must finish the work of defeating al Qaeda and its
associated forces.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we will complete our transition to Afghan responsibility for security. Our
troops will come home. Our combat mission will come to an end. And we will work
with the Afghan government to train security forces, and sustain a
counter-terrorism force which ensures that al Qaeda can never again establish a
safe-haven to launch attacks against us or our allies.</div>
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Beyond <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’ – but
rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific
networks of violent extremists that threaten <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries. Thousands
of Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives fighting extremists. In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we are supporting security forces that have reclaimed territory from AQAP. In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we helped a coalition of African nations push al Shabaab out of its
strongholds. In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Mali</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we are providing military aid to a French-led intervention to push back al
Qaeda in the <st1:place>Maghreb</st1:place>, and help the people of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Mali</st1:place></st1:country-region>
reclaim their future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Much of our best counter-terrorism cooperation results in
the gathering and sharing of intelligence; the arrest and prosecution of
terrorists. That’s how a Somali terrorist apprehended off the coast of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is now in prison in <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>.
That’s how we worked with European allies to disrupt plots from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Denmark</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> to
the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United Kingdom</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
That’s how intelligence collected with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi
Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region> helped us stop a cargo plane from
being blown up over the <st1:place>Atlantic</st1:place>.</div>
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But despite our strong preference for the detention and
prosecution of terrorists, sometimes this approach is foreclosed. Al Qaeda and
its affiliates try to gain a foothold in some of the most distant and
unforgiving places on Earth. They take refuge in remote tribal regions. They
hide in caves and walled compounds. They train in empty deserts and rugged
mountains.</div>
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In some of these places – such as parts of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> – the
state has only the most tenuous reach into the territory. In other cases, the
state lacks the capacity or will to take action. It is also not possible for
America to simply deploy a team of Special Forces to capture every terrorist.
And even when such an approach may be possible, there are places where it would
pose profound risks to our troops and local civilians– where a terrorist
compound cannot be breached without triggering a firefight with surrounding
tribal communities that pose no threat to us, or when putting <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
boots on the ground may trigger a major international crisis.</div>
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To put it another way, our operation in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>
against Osama bin Laden cannot be the norm. The risks in that case were
immense; the likelihood of capture, although our preference, was remote given
the certainty of resistance; the fact that we did not find ourselves confronted
with civilian casualties, or embroiled in an extended firefight, was a
testament to the meticulous planning and professionalism of our Special Forces
– but also depended on some luck. And even then, the cost to our relationship
with <st1:country-region><st1:place>Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> –
and the backlash among the Pakistani public over encroachment on their
territory – was so severe that we are just now beginning to rebuild this
important partnership.</div>
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It is in this context that the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> has taken lethal, targeted action
against al Qaeda and its associated forces, including with remotely piloted
aircraft commonly referred to as drones. As was true in previous armed
conflicts, this new technology raises profound questions – about who is
targeted, and why; about civilian casualties, and the risk of creating new
enemies; about the legality of such strikes under U.S. and international law;
about accountability and morality.</div>
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Let me address these questions. To begin with, our actions
are effective. Don’t take my word for it. In the intelligence gathered at bin
Laden’s compound, we found that he wrote, “we could lose the reserves to the
enemy’s air strikes. We cannot fight air strikes with explosives.” Other
communications from al Qaeda operatives confirm this as well. Dozens of highly
skilled al Qaeda commanders, trainers, bomb makers, and operatives have been
taken off the battlefield. Plots have been disrupted that would have targeted
international aviation, U.S. transit systems, European cities and our troops in
Afghanistan. Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.</div>
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Moreover, <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
actions are legal. We were attacked on 9/11. Within a week, Congress
overwhelmingly authorized the use of force. Under domestic law, and
international law, the United States is at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and
their associated forces. We are at war with an organization that right now
would kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first. So
this is a just war – a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in
self-defense.</div>
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And yet as our fight enters a new phase, <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the discussion. To say a
military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral
in every instance. For the same human progress that gives us the technology to
strike half a world away also demands the discipline to constrain that power –
or risk abusing it. That’s why, over the last four years, my Administration has
worked vigorously to establish a framework that governs our use of force
against terrorists – insisting upon clear guidelines, oversight and
accountability that is now codified in Presidential Policy Guidance that I
signed yesterday.</div>
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In the Afghan war theater, we must support our troops until
the transition is complete at the end of 2014. That means we will continue to
take strikes against high value al Qaeda targets, but also against forces that
are massing to support attacks on coalition forces. However, by the end of
2014, we will no longer have the same need for force protection, and the
progress we have made against core al Qaeda will reduce the need for unmanned
strikes.</div>
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Beyond the Afghan theater, we only target al Qaeda and its
associated forces. Even then, the use of drones is heavily constrained. America
does not take strikes when we have the ability to capture individual terrorists
— our preference is always to detain, interrogate, and prosecute them. America
cannot take strikes wherever we choose – our actions are bound by consultations
with partners, and respect for state sovereignty. America does not take strikes
to punish individuals – we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and
imminent threat to the American people, and when there are no other governments
capable of effectively addressing the threat. And before any strike is taken,
there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured – the
highest standard we can set.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This last point is critical, because much of the criticism
about drone strikes – at home and abroad – understandably centers on reports of
civilian casualties. There is a wide gap between <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
assessments of such casualties, and non-governmental reports. </div>
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Nevertheless, it is a hard fact that <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, a risk that exists in all wars.
For the families of those civilians, no words or legal construct can justify
their loss. For me, and those in my chain of command, these deaths will haunt
us as long as we live, just as we are haunted by the civilian casualties that
have occurred through conventional fighting in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
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But as Commander-in-Chief, I must weigh these heartbreaking
tragedies against the alternatives. To do nothing in the face of terrorist
networks would invite far more civilian casualties – not just in our cities at
home and facilities abroad, but also in the very places –like Sana’a and Kabul
and Mogadishu – where terrorists seek a foothold. Let us remember that the
terrorists we are after target civilians, and the death toll from their acts of
terrorism against Muslims dwarfs any estimate of civilian casualties from drone
strikes.</div>
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Where foreign governments cannot or will not effectively
stop terrorism in their territory, the primary alternative to targeted, lethal
action is the use of conventional military options. As I’ve said, even small
Special Operations carry enormous risks. Conventional airpower or missiles are
far less precise than drones, and likely to cause more civilian casualties and
local outrage. And invasions of these territories lead us to be viewed as
occupying armies; unleash a torrent of unintended consequences; are difficult
to contain; and ultimately empower those who thrive on violent conflict. So it
is false to assert that putting boots on the ground is less likely to result in
civilian deaths, or to create enemies in the Muslim world. The result would be
more <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
deaths, more Blackhawks down, more confrontations with local populations, and
an inevitable mission creep in support of such raids that could easily escalate
into new wars.</div>
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So yes, the conflict with al Qaeda, like all armed conflict,
invites tragedy. But by narrowly targeting our action against those who want to
kill us, and not the people they hide among, we are choosing the course of
action least likely to result in the loss of innocent life. Indeed, our efforts
must also be measured against the history of putting American troops in distant
lands among hostile populations. In Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of civilians
died in a war where the boundaries of battle were blurred. In Iraq and
Afghanistan, despite the courage and discipline of our troops, thousands of
civilians have been killed. So neither conventional military action, nor
waiting for attacks to occur, offers moral safe-harbor. Neither does a sole
reliance on law enforcement in territories that have no functioning police or
security services – and indeed, have no functioning law.</div>
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This is not to say that the risks are not real. Any U.S.
military action in foreign lands risks creating more enemies, and impacts public
opinion overseas. Our laws constrain the power of the President, even during
wartime, and I have taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the United
States. The very precision of drones strikes, and the necessary secrecy
involved in such actions can end up shielding our government from the public
scrutiny that a troop deployment invites. It can also lead a President and his
team to view drone strikes as a cure-all for terrorism.</div>
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For this reason, I’ve insisted on strong oversight of all
lethal action. After I took office, my Administration began briefing all
strikes outside of Iraq and Afghanistan to the appropriate committees of
Congress. Let me repeat that – not only did Congress authorize the use of
force, it is briefed on every strike that America takes. That includes the one
instance when we targeted an American citizen: Anwar Awlaki, the chief of
external operations for AQAP.</div>
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This week, I authorized the declassification of this action,
and the deaths of three other Americans in drone strikes, to facilitate
transparency and debate on this issue, and to dismiss some of the more
outlandish claims. For the record, I do not believe it would be constitutional
for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen – with a drone, or a
shotgun – without due process. Nor should any President deploy armed drones
over <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> soil.</div>
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But when a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against
America – and is actively plotting to kill U.S. citizens; and when neither the
United States, nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he
carries out a plot – his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a
sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a swat team</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s who Anwar Awlaki was – he was continuously trying to
kill people. He helped oversee the 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices on
two U.S. bound cargo planes. He was involved in planning to blow up an airliner
in 2009. When Farouk Abdulmutallab – the Christmas Day bomber – went to Yemen
in 2009, Awlaki hosted him, approved his suicide operation, and helped him tape
a martyrdom video to be shown after the attack. His last instructions were to
blow up the airplane when it was over American soil. I would have detained and
prosecuted Awlaki if we captured him before he carried out a plot. But we
couldn’t. And as President, I would have been derelict in my duty had I not
authorized the strike that took out Awlaki.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, the targeting of any Americans raises
constitutional issues that are not present in other strikes – which is why my
Administration submitted information about Awlaki to the Department of Justice
months before Awlaki was killed, and briefed the Congress before this strike as
well. But the high threshold that we have set for taking lethal action applies to
all potential terrorist targets, regardless of whether or not they are American
citizens. This threshold respects the inherent dignity of every human life.
Alongside the decision to put our men and women in uniform in harm’s way, the
decision to use force against individuals or groups – even against a sworn
enemy of the United States – is the hardest thing I do as President. But these
decisions must be made, given my responsibility to protect the American people.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Going forward, I have asked my Administration to review
proposals to extend oversight of lethal actions outside of war zones that go
beyond our reporting to Congress. Each option has virtues in theory, but poses
difficulties in practice. For example, the establishment of a special court to
evaluate and authorize lethal action has the benefit of bringing a third branch
of government into the process, but raises serious constitutional issues about
presidential and judicial authority. Another idea that’s been suggested – the
establishment of an independent oversight board in the executive branch –
avoids those problems, but may introduce a layer of bureaucracy into
national-security decision-making, without inspiring additional public
confidence in the process. Despite these challenges, I look forward to actively
engaging Congress to explore these – and other – options for increased
oversight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe, however, that the use of force must be seen as
part of a larger discussion about a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy.
Because for all the focus on the use of force, force alone cannot make us safe.
We cannot use force everywhere that a radical ideology takes root; and in the
absence of a strategy that reduces the well-spring of extremism, a perpetual
war – through drones or Special Forces or troop deployments – will prove
self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the next element of our strategy involves addressing the
underlying grievances and conflicts that feed extremism, from <st1:place>North
Africa</st1:place> to <st1:place>South Asia</st1:place>. As we’ve learned this
past decade, this is a vast and complex undertaking. We must be humble in our
expectation that we can quickly resolve deep rooted problems like poverty and
sectarian hatred. Moreover, no two countries are alike, and some will undergo
chaotic change before things get better. But our security and values demand
that we make the effort.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This means patiently supporting transitions to democracy in
places like <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Tunisia</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
– because the peaceful realization of individual aspirations will serve as a
rebuke to violent extremists. We must strengthen the opposition in Syria, while
isolating extremist elements – because the end of a tyrant must not give way to
the tyranny of terrorism. We are working to promote peace between Israelis and
Palestinians – because it is right, and because such a peace could help reshape
attitudes in the region. And we must help countries modernize economies,
upgrade education, and encourage entrepreneurship – because American leadership
has always been elevated by our ability to connect with peoples’ hopes, and not
simply their fears.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Success on these fronts requires sustained engagement, but
it will also require resources. I know that foreign aid is one of the least
popular expenditures – even though it amounts to less than one percent of the
federal budget. But foreign assistance cannot be viewed as charity. It is
fundamental to our national security, and any sensible long-term strategy to
battle extremism. Moreover, foreign assistance is a tiny fraction of what we
spend fighting wars that our assistance might ultimately prevent. For what we
spent in a month in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
at the height of the war, we could be training security forces in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
maintaining peace agreements between <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and its neighbors, feeding the hungry in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
building schools in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
and creating reservoirs of goodwill that marginalize extremists.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
cannot carry out this work if we do not have diplomats serving in dangerous
places. Over the past decade, we have strengthened security at our Embassies,
and I am implementing every recommendation of the Accountability Review Board
which found unacceptable failures in Benghazi. I have called on Congress to
fully fund these efforts to bolster security, harden facilities, improve
intelligence, and facilitate a quicker response time from our military if a
crisis emerges.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even after we take these steps, some irreducible risks
to our diplomats will remain. This is the price of being the world’s most
powerful nation, particularly as a wave of change washes over the Arab World.
And in balancing the trade-offs between security and active diplomacy, I firmly
believe that any retreat from challenging regions will only increase the
dangers we face in the long run.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Targeted action against terrorists. Effective partnerships.
Diplomatic engagement and assistance. Through such a comprehensive strategy we
can significantly reduce the chances of large scale attacks on the homeland and
mitigate threats to Americans overseas. As we guard against dangers from
abroad, however, we cannot neglect the daunting challenge of terrorism from
within our borders.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I said earlier, this threat is not new. But technology
and the Internet increase its frequency and lethality. Today, a person can
consume hateful propaganda, commit themselves to a violent agenda, and learn
how to kill without leaving their home. To address this threat, two years ago
my Administration did a comprehensive review, and engaged with law enforcement.
The best way to prevent violent extremism is to work with the Muslim American
community – which has consistently rejected terrorism – to identify signs of
radicalization, and partner with law enforcement when an individual is drifting
towards violence. And these partnerships can only work when we recognize that
Muslims are a fundamental part of the American family. Indeed, the success of
American Muslims, and our determination to guard against any encroachments on
their civil liberties, is the ultimate rebuke to those who say we are at war
with Islam.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indeed, thwarting homegrown plots presents particular
challenges in part because of our proud commitment to civil liberties for all
who call <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
home. That’s why, in the years to come, we will have to keep working hard to
strike the appropriate balance between our need for security and preserving
those freedoms that make us who we are. That means reviewing the authorities of
law enforcement, so we can intercept new types of communication, and build in
privacy protections to prevent abuse. That means that – even after Boston – we
do not deport someone or throw someone in prison in the absence of evidence.
That means putting careful constraints on the tools the government uses to
protect sensitive information, such as the State Secrets doctrine. And that
means finally having a strong Privacy and Civil Liberties Board to review those
issues where our counter-terrorism efforts and our values may come into
tension.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Justice Department’s investigation of national security
leaks offers a recent example of the challenges involved in striking the right
balance between our security and our open society. As Commander-in Chief, I
believe we must keep information secret that protects our operations and our
people in the field. To do so, we must enforce consequences for those who break
the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information. But a
free press is also essential for our democracy. I am troubled by the
possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism
that holds government accountable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their
jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law. That is why I have called
on Congress to pass a media shield law to guard against government over-reach.
I have raised these issues with the Attorney General, who shares my concern. So
he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing
investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media
organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review. And I have
directed the Attorney General to report back to me by July 12th.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All these issues remind us that the choices we make about
war can impact – in sometimes unintended ways – the openness and freedom on
which our way of life depends. And that is why I intend to engage Congress
about the existing Authorization to Use Military Force, or AUMF, to determine
how we can continue to fight terrorists without keeping <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
on a perpetual war-time footing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The AUMF is now nearly twelve years old. The Afghan War is
coming to an end. Core al Qaeda is a shell of its former self. Groups like AQAP
must be dealt with, but in the years to come, not every collection of thugs
that labels themselves al Qaeda will pose a credible threat to the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Unless we discipline our thinking
and our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don’t need to fight, or
continue to grant Presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed
conflicts between nation states. So I look forward to engaging Congress and the
American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s
mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our
systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history
advises. That’s what our democracy demands.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that brings me to my final topic: the detention of
terrorist suspects.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To repeat, as a matter of policy, the preference of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> is to capture terrorist suspects.
When we do detain a suspect, we interrogate them. And if the suspect can be
prosecuted, we decide whether to try him in a civilian court or a Military
Commission. During the past decade, the vast majority of those detained by our
military were captured on the battlefield. In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we turned over thousands of prisoners as we ended the war. In <st1:country-region><st1:place>Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we have transitioned detention facilities to the Afghans, as part of the
process of restoring Afghan sovereignty. So we bring law of war detention to an
end, and we are committed to prosecuting terrorists whenever we can.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The glaring exception to this time-tested approach is the
detention center at <st1:place><st1:placename>Guantanamo</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Bay</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
The original premise for opening GTMO – that detainees would not be able to
challenge their detention – was found unconstitutional five years ago. In the
meantime, GTMO has become a symbol around the world for an <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
that flouts the rule of law. Our allies won’t cooperate with us if they think a
terrorist will end up at GTMO. During a time of budget cuts, we spend $150
million each year to imprison 166 people –almost $1 million per prisoner. And
the Department of Defense estimates that we must spend another $200 million to
keep GTMO open at a time when we are cutting investments in education and
research here at home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As President, I have tried to close GTMO. I transferred 67
detainees to other countries before Congress imposed restrictions to
effectively prevent us from either transferring detainees to other countries,
or imprisoning them in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
These restrictions make no sense. After all, under President Bush, some 530
detainees were transferred from GTMO with Congress’s support. When I ran for
President the first time, John McCain supported closing GTMO. No person has
ever escaped from one of our super-max or military prisons in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Our courts have convicted hundreds
of people for terrorism-related offenses, including some who are more dangerous
than most GTMO detainees. Given my Administration’s relentless pursuit of al
Qaeda’s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to
prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today, I once again call on Congress to lift the
restrictions on detainee transfers from GTMO. I have asked the Department of
Defense to designate a site in the United States where we can hold military
commissions. I am appointing a new, senior envoy at the State Department and
Defense Department whose sole responsibility will be to achieve the transfer of
detainees to third countries. I am lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers
to Yemen, so we can review them on a case by case basis. To the greatest extent
possible, we will transfer detainees who have been cleared to go to other
countries. Where appropriate, we will bring terrorists to justice in our courts
and military justice system. And we will insist that judicial review be
available for every detainee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even after we take these steps, one issue will remain: how
to deal with those GTMO detainees who we know have participated in dangerous
plots or attacks, but who cannot be prosecuted – for example because the
evidence against them has been compromised or is inadmissible in a court of
law. But once we commit to a process of closing GTMO, I am confident that this
legacy problem can be resolved, consistent with our commitment to the rule of
law.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know the politics are hard. But history will cast a harsh
judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism, and those of us who
fail to end it. Imagine a future – ten years from now, or twenty years from now
– when the United States of America is still holding people who have been
charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not a part of our country.
Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are
holding a hunger strike. Is that who we are? Is that something that our
Founders foresaw? Is that the <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
we want to leave to our children?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our sense of justice is stronger than that. We have
prosecuted scores of terrorists in our courts. That includes Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up an airplane over Detroit; and Faisal
Shahzad, who put a car bomb in Times Square. It is in a court of law that we
will try Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is accused of bombing the Boston Marathon. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, is as we speak serving a life
sentence in a maximum security prison here, in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. In sentencing Reid, Judge William
Young told him, “the way we treat you…is the measure of our own liberties.” He
went on to point to the American flag that flew in the courtroom – “That flag,”
he said, “will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag still
stands for freedom.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we have faced down dangers far greater than al Qaeda. By staying true to the
values of our founding, and by using our constitutional compass, we have
overcome slavery and Civil War; fascism and communism. In just these last few
years as President, I have watched the American people bounce back from painful
recession, mass shootings, and natural disasters like the recent tornados that
devastated Oklahoma. These events were heartbreaking; they shook our
communities to the core. But because of the resilience of the American people,
these events could not come close to breaking us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think of Lauren Manning, the 9/11 survivor who had severe
burns over 80 percent of her body, who said, “That’s my reality. I put a
Band-Aid on it, literally, and I move on.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think of the New Yorkers who filled <st1:place>Times
Square</st1:place> the day after an attempted car bomb as if nothing had
happened.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think of the proud Pakistani parents who, after their
daughter was invited to the White House, wrote to us, “we have raised an
American Muslim daughter to dream big and never give up because it does pay
off.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think of the wounded warriors rebuilding their lives, and
helping other vets to find jobs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think of the runner planning to do the 2014 Boston
Marathon, who said, “Next year, you are going to have more people than ever.
Determination is not something to be messed with.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s who the American people are. Determined, and not to
be messed with.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, we need a strategy – and a politics –that reflects this
resilient spirit. Our victory against terrorism won’t be measured in a
surrender ceremony on a battleship, or a statue being pulled to the ground.
Victory will be measured in parents taking their kids to school; immigrants
coming to our shores; fans taking in a ballgame; a veteran starting a business;
a bustling city street. The quiet determination; that strength of character and
bond of fellowship; that refutation of fear – that is both our sword and our
shield. And long after the current messengers of hate have faded from the
world’s memory, alongside the brutal despots, deranged madmen, and ruthless
demagogues who litter history – the flag of the United States will still wave
from small-town cemeteries, to national monuments, to distant outposts
abroad. And that flag will still stand for freedom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you. God Bless you. And may God bless the United States
of America.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-59531184268667517162013-06-10T20:54:00.002-04:002013-06-10T20:54:50.429-04:00NEWS From The Chinook Observer <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
NEWS FROM THE </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chinook Observer </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Posted: <st1:date day="13" month="9" year="2012">Thursday,
September 13, 2012</st1:date><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CHINOOK — Slain U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and
his family are members of the Chinook Indian Tribe, which has put out a call
asking for prayers on their behalf.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chinook Chairman Ray Gardner said Wednesday, “To all of the
Chinook members and all the friends of the Chinook Nation I am hopeful that you
will include the family of Chris Stevens the former Ambassador to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
that lost his life while working towards bringing lasting peace to the region,
in your prayers.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stevens’ mother Mary Commanday is the first cousin of
Chinook tribal elders Catherine Herrold Troeh and Charlotte Davis, both of whom
are well known in <st1:place><st1:placename>Pacific</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>County</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
the historic homeland of the tribe that met Lewis and Clark at the mouth of the
<st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place>. <st1:place><st1:placename>Willapa</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Bay</st1:placetype></st1:place> resident John Herrold is one of
Stevens' local first cousins.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“This will be a hard time for their family and they will
need our prayers,” <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city> wrote.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another family member, Joe Brown, posted this message on
Facebook late Wednesday:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“My cousin Mary (Chris Stevens’ mom) got two very
important phone calls today. One was from President Obama. The other
was from from Ray Gardner, Chief of the Chinook Indian Nation, who told me, ‘I
did call Mary Commanday and let her know that the prayers of the Chinook Nation
are with all of your family during this difficult time. I will pass this
information along to all of our members tomorrow and I will go down to the
banks of the Willapa and give a special prayer for all of you. No
better place to give prayers then on the banks of the rivers of our ancestors.’
We’re covered. Thank you, Ray Gardner, and klahowya.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chinook Tribe Mourns Ambassador Chris Stevens<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BY CHERYL CEDAR FACE · <st1:date day="14" month="9" year="2012">09/14/2012</st1:date></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chinook Tribal Chairman Ray Gardner issued a
statement mourning the loss of Chris Stevens. Stevens, the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
ambassador killed during a September 11 protest in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
was a member of the Chinook Tribe in <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ambassador was killed during a violent riot in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
the second largest city in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Protestors stormed the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
embassy in response to an anti-Islamic movie produced in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. A movie trailer depicting the
Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and child abuser went viral in the <st1:place>Middle
East</st1:place>, prompting numerous protests across the region.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A rising star in <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
foreign policy, Stevens had been in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
since April 2011. A statement released by President Obama praised Stevens’
diplomatic record in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It’s especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
because it is a city that he helped to save. At the height of the Libyan
revolution, Chris led our diplomatic post in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,”
the president said. “With characteristic skill, courage, and resolve, he
built partnerships with Libyan revolutionaries, and helped them as they planned
to build a new <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Obama also referred to Stevens as “a role model to
all who worked with him and to the young diplomats who aspire to walk in his
footsteps.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In an editorial published in Ilwaco’s local
newspaper, the Chinook Observer, it described the tribe’s federal
government wrangling as “unjust” and brought similar comparison to Stevens’
untimely death. “The innocent suffer while the guilty often go free,” the
editorial read. “Will it be any different this time?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite these correlations that have been drawn in the
aftermath of Stevens’ death, <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
says he’s been able to take the “good with the bad” in embracing the discovery
of the ambassador’s tribal heritage. One instance came in the outpouring of
support he received from tribal leaders across the Pacific Northwest and
as far north as <st1:country-region><st1:place>Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
First Nation’s in <st1:state><st1:place>British Columbia</st1:place></st1:state>.
A special message was even sent by Grand Chief Edward John who currently chairs
the UN Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Issues. <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said, “Everyone that has come into contact with [Stevens] throughout his life,
has had nothing but praise. Even in the fact that it’s bringing nations in the
north of the border with nations in the south of the border, shows how far he’s
reached out.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In an email, Commanday echoed similar sentiments. “Someone
said to me that Comcomly was bridging the space between two cultures in his
kind reception and aid to Lewis & Clark, just as my Chris was doing in his
work in the <st1:place>Middle East</st1:place>,” she wrote. “I thought that was
an interesting idea, but later remembered that the Chinook's reward for the
Chinooks' kindness, ultimately, was to be rounded up off their property.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.chinooktribe.org/">http://www.chinooktribe.org/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The Chinook Nation consists of the western most Chinookan people - Our history
and constitution define us as being Lower Chinook, Cathlamet, Clatsop,
Wahkaikum, Clatsop Willapa and Kathlamet. We have always resided in
the lower <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place> region and always will. We are
proud of our heritage and inheritance and ask you to join us in
celebrating our rich history and bright future.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Chinook Nation’s Culture Committee has put a significant
amount of work into the Center for Columbia River
History’s website highlighting the Chinook community’s history. It is
a one of a kind resource and will be available for pubic viewing in
mid-September of 2012. Another excellent source of history for our membership
and the general public is the Portland State University Chinookan Studies
volume, Chinookan Peoples of the <st1:place>Lower Columbia River</st1:place>
that has been in the works for approximately 10 years. It is nearing completion
and will be published sometime in late 2012 or early 2013.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Clark of Lewis and <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s
Descendants Make Up for Stolen Canoe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a long time coming, but the descendants of explorer
William Clark have tried to make amends for a 205-year-old theft.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A descendant of the explorer in the Corps of Discovery
expedition that opened a land route to the West presented the Chinook Indian
Nation with a replica of a canoe that the corps stole in 1806.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants and a few
donors stepped forward to pay for the canoe, which was custom built in <st1:place><st1:city>Veneta</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Ore.</st1:state></st1:place></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The five-hour ceremony on Saturday included songs, gift
exchanges and the maiden voyage of the replica canoe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ray Gardner, chairman of the Chinook Nation's tribal
council, said the return of the canoe is a "good place to begin
healing."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It's nice to see a circle completed," <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Major insult </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
After completing their journey west and spending a wet and wretched winter at
the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place> in 1806, <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>
and Meriwether Lewis found they were short a canoe, so they stole one from the
Clatsop Indians who had kept them alive all winter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See Photo: a.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Clark's 8th generation descendants Rick Holton, and
Anna Haala, 77, of Seattle, look on during the canoe reparation ceremony,
Saturday Sept. 24, 2011, at Fort Columbia, near Chinook, Wash. Back in 1806,
explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark stole a canoe from native
Americans living on the <st1:place><st1:placename>Pacific</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Coast</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
More than 200 years later, <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants are
making amends to the Indian's descendants by having a 36-foot replica built for
them. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Clatsop later became one of five tribes to form the
Chinook Indian Nation. It has long been a sore subject with the tribes in the <st1:place>Pacific
Northwest</st1:place>, who perceived the theft as a major insult.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Canoes were a sacred part of their culture and an important
mode of transportation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Chinook Indian Nation is not formally recognized by the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
government.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Federal recognition would make the tribe eligible for
economic assistance, land, housing grants and other government benefits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I cannot help but think, if one family can step
forward and right a wrong that has been committed against the Chinook nation
205 years later," <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said, "it would be nice if the federal government would do the same."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendant, Lotsie Clark
Holton, said she was overwhelmed by the acceptance of her family by Chinook
tribe members.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Holton learned of the theft while working at a <st1:place><st1:city>Washington</st1:city>,
<st1:state>D.C.</st1:state></st1:place>, nonprofit with <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>,
setting Saturday's events in motion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It's been a wonderful experience. The Chinook people
totally accepted us," Holton said. "After 205 years, it was certainly
overdue."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants replace stolen
tribal canoe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lewis and Clark stole a canoe from the Clatsop Indians who
kept them alive all winter<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place><st1:city>LONG BEACH</st1:city>, <st1:state><st1:stockticker>WASH</st1:stockticker>.</st1:state></st1:place>
– After completing their journey west and spending a wet and wretched winter at
the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place> in 1806, William Clark
and Meriwether Lewis prepared to head home. There was just one problem: They
were short a canoe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So they stole one from the Native Americans who had kept
them alive all winter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has long been a sore subject with Chinook Indians in the <st1:place>Pacific
Northwest</st1:place>, who perceived the theft as a major insult. Canoes were
a sacred part of their culture and an important mode of transportation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More than 200 years later, William Clark's descendants will
make amends by presenting a 36-foot replica of the canoe to the Chinook Indian
Nation during a ceremony here Saturday.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"We talked about what happened 205 years ago, and we
believed that things could be restored if something like this were done,"
said Carlota Clark Holton of <st1:place><st1:city>St. Louis</st1:city>, <st1:state>Mo.</st1:state></st1:place>,
seven generations removed from William Clark.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I think everyone acknowledges that it was wrong, and
we wanted to right a wrong," she said. "The family was very much
behind it."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Lewis and Clark expedition arrived at the <st1:place>Columbia
River</st1:place>'s estuary in late 1805. They built a fortification outside
present-day <st1:city><st1:place>Astoria</st1:place></st1:city> and called it <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename>Clatsop</st1:placename></st1:place>, after a tribe that is part
of the Chinook Nation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though they braved the previous winter in <st1:state><st1:place>North
Dakota</st1:place></st1:state>, the explorers found the rainy season on the
northern <st1:place><st1:placename>Pacific</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Coast</st1:placetype></st1:place>
far worse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"The winds violent," a grumpy <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>
wrote. "Trees falling in every (direction), (whirl) winds, with gust of
rain, hail and thunder, this kind of weather lasted all day, certainly one of
the worst days that ever was."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The expedition couldn't find any elk and was running low on
tobacco and goods to trade with Native Americans.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The captains decided to head home that spring but found they
were also short on boats. So they took one from the Chinook.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The expedition then whitewashed the theft by saying the
tribe owed them for six stolen elk, a debt the Native Americans -- and
historians -- say was repaid by delivering three dogs to <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename>Clatsop</st1:placename></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Historian James Ronda, an expert on the Corps of Discovery's
dealings with American Indians, said the theft was significant because it
violated the explorers' code of ethical conduct.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"The captains were abandoning a two-year tradition of
never stealing from the Indians," Ronda wrote in his book "Lewis and
Clark Among The Indians."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ronda told The AP in a phone interview from <st1:place><st1:city>Tulsa</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Okla.</st1:state></st1:place>, "It was theft, and a malicious
thing to do."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The expedition left <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename>Clatsop</st1:placename></st1:place> on March 23, bound for
home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two hundred years later, Clark Holton was working at a <st1:place><st1:city>Washington</st1:city>,
<st1:state>D.C.</st1:state></st1:place>, nonprofit when she was introduced to
Ray Gardner, chairman of the Chinook Nation's tribal council. The two worked on
a project to bring down dams in the area, and on a trip paddling down a <st1:state><st1:place>Virginia</st1:place></st1:state>
river, they talked about the canoe theft and its consequences to the Chinook.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants and a few
friendly donors eventually stepped forward to pay for the canoe, which was
custom built in <st1:place><st1:city>Veneta</st1:city>, <st1:state>Ore.</st1:state></st1:place></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Chinook Indian Nation is not formally recognized by the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
government. Federal recognition would make the tribe eligible for economic
assistance, land, housing grants and other government benefits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whatever happens with the Chinook's continued efforts for
recognition, the tribe is looking forward to the Saturday ceremony with <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s
descendants.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The canoe will be cleansed, blessed and named, <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said. Then, it becomes a living member of the tribe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Once it's named, then we'll take it down and put it in
the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place>," <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said. "I know I'm going to be skippering it."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Klahooya, everyone! My name is Cliff Snider and I am the
honorary chief of the Chinook Indian Tribe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My fourth great grandfather was Chief Concomly that met
Lewis and Clark in 1805. Well, I always say they discovered the Lewis and Clark
expedition at that particular time at the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia
River</st1:place>. And he was the most famous Chinook Indian chief of all
time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Arlie Neskahi: Today on Turtle
Island Storytellers, we join Cliff Snider, honorary Chief of the Chinook
Indian Tribe, who tells us ancient legends about the origins of the Chinook.
Off mic, he tells us how the Chinook peoples originally lived in the <st1:place>Pacific
Ocean</st1:place>. Every season, they would turn themselves into salmon and
come up the river, where their relatives, the Indians, would harvest them, eat
them, and then throw their bones back into the river. The salmon would then
swim back to sea where they would turn into humans again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Snider: As Lewis and Clark came down the river, they found
the Watlas, the Wasukles, Skilliutes Cathlamets, the Wahkiakums, the Lower
Chinooks, and the Clatsops, and so at that particular time there were over
16,000 Chinook Indians living on the river. And actually, they didn’t live in
one camp like Sitting Bull with tipis and many tribes around him, but they
lived in little villages along the river at the mouth of every stream. And
there might be 40 in a village, 50 in a village.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as everyone knows, the Chinook had one of the best
canoes in the world. And, in fact, they were so good, that when the white
man later built their clipper ships, they patterned the shape of their clipper
ships after the Chinook canoes. And they were the fastest ships in the world.
When Lewis and Clark came down the river in those logs that were hollowed out,
they were no match for the Chinooks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also have another famous relative and his name is Selowish
he was a chief at Skamokawa. And so actually my hereditary runs, my family
tree runs back to two different chiefs on the lower <st1:city><st1:place>Columbia</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I have another famous relative who is Ilche, who is
Concomly’s favorite daughter. And her name was moon woman. First it was moon
girl and then moon woman. And her statue is along the <st1:city><st1:place>Vancouver</st1:place></st1:city>
waterfront, along the walking trail. And I helped the sculptor, Eric Jensen, of
Scappoose, change her. We had a cone hat on her head and she was in clay, of
course, and I asked him to take the hat off and to let her hair flow, and put
beads in her ears, and trinkets in her nose. And of course, the cedar bark skin
mantle around her. And she is really a beautiful woman, and now she is the
queen of the <st1:city><st1:place>Columbia</st1:place></st1:city> in <st1:city><st1:place>Vancouver</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The story about her goes is that one day she said that the
white man would come, and the rivers would flow, and the red fish would come no
more. And this has happened now since we have put in all of our dams. And so
the prophecy came true.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when the white man came with the disease, Ilche took
many of the tribe to the hills to escape the disease. And that is probably the
reason why we are still here today.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Tribe now was recognized and we were all allotted on the
Quinault Reservation in the early 1930′s. And my mother was allotted, I was
allotted, and all my relatives were allotted. Had eighty acres and some even
more. So we were recognized by the United States Government at that time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes, I am asked a question, where the Chinooks really
came from. We know they have been here over 10,000 years according to
carbon dating. And if you really want to know and put it into perspective,
that’s 8,000 years before Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
Old Man South Wind, long long ago, was traveling north along the <st1:place>Pacific
Ocean</st1:place> and eventually neared the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia
River</st1:place>. And there he met Giant Woman and told her he was hungry.
Giant Woman had no food, but she lent him a net and told him he could catch
fish in it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Old Man South Wind headed to the great waters of the
Pacific. When he got there, he unfolded the net and he drug it along the
ocean floor until he caught a fish. It was not an ordinary fish, but
a small whale, which Old Man South Wind brought ashore and begun to cut. Giant
Woman, who was present at the scene, instructed him to slice the whale
lengthwise from head to tail. But Old Man South Wind was so famished that he
ignored Giant Woman, and because it was quicker, drew the knife over the arc of
the whale’s back from side to side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suddenly the fish turned into a monstrous bird. The bird
then rose into the air, flapping his wings so powerful that they shook the
earth. As he climbed, bird monster blotted out the sun. Soon Old Man South Wind
and Giant Woman saw that it was really Thunderbird. They were in awe of this
great bird as they watched it fly to the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place>.
There atop <st1:place><st1:placename>Saddle</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Mountain</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
Thunderbird laid a large nest and laid several eggs on it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One day, when Thunderbird flew away, Giant Woman climbed
high to the bird’s nest. She mischievously cracked an egg, but it was bad and
she threw it down the mountain. She cracked another, and another, until she had
broken them all, and hurled them from the peak.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each time the leg landed at the base of the mountain, it
became an Indian. This is how the first Chinook men, women and children came to
be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another story I’d like to talk to you about is on my Indian
button blanket given to me by Kathryn Harold Trow, one of the elders of the
tribe. The legend inscribed on my button blanket is this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once when the world was very young, Raven, Killer Whale,
Beaver, and Eagle decided to have a picnic. At this time in the world, things
were not as we know them now. There were no oceans or continents and nothing
familiar to us. But there was a very high mountain from which the gods could
watch how the world grew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eagle decided to have a picnic on top of the mountain. All
the creatures arrived, each bringing his own food. Everyone put his food in a
big pile with all the food that others had brought, everyone that is, except
Eagle. He arrived with no food in sight, just carrying a small basket under his
wing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The others sat around and talked and laughed, but not Eagle.
He just sat quietly and every once in a while, when he thought he was not seen,
he dipped his beak into the basket and just as quietly withdrew. He said not a
word.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now Raven, who is a very gay talker, enjoyed a joke, became
a little worried about Eagle and kept darting little glances out of the corner
of his eyes at Eagle. He soon saw that Eagle must have something very wonderful
in his basket, so good that he had to look at it from time to time to see if it
was still there. Raven became so worried that he just had to do something. So
he lured Eagle into putting down his basket and coming over to the main group.
Quick as a wink, Raven was over to Eagle’s basket and scooping it up and
putting it under his wing. He flew away with it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the basket was the first water in the world. As Raven
flew away with it, the water spilled out of his basket and fell to the dry
earth where it became ponds, river, seas, and oceans of the earth. That is how
water came to the earth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Committed to Native American cultural sustainability,
multimedia </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Education and race reconciliation, Wisdom of the Elders,
Inc. (Wisdom) records and preserves the oral history, cultural arts, language
concepts, and traditional ecological knowledge of exemplary American Indian
historians, cultural leaders and environmentalists in collaboration with arts
and cultural organizations and educational institutions. We especially seek to
correct misconceptions, end prejudice, bring health and wellness to Native
people, and demonstrate how Indian culture has and is continuing to enrich our
worlds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Committed to Native American cultural sustainability,
multimedia Education and race reconciliation, Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
(Wisdom) records and preserves the oral history, cultural arts, language
concepts, and traditional ecological knowledge of exemplary American Indian
historians, cultural leaders and environmentalists in collaboration with arts
and cultural organizations and educational institutions. We especially seek to
correct misconceptions, end prejudice, bring health and wellness to Native
people, and demonstrate how Indian culture has and is continuing to enrich our
worlds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today on Turtle Island Storytellers, we join Cliff
Snider, honorary Chief of the Chinook Indian Tribe, who tells us ancient
legends about the origins of the Chinook. Off mic, he tells us how the Chinook
peoples originally lived in the <st1:place>Pacific Ocean</st1:place>. Every
season, they would turn themselves into salmon and come up the river, where
their relatives, the Indians, would harvest them, eat them, and then throw
their bones back into the river. The salmon would then swim back to sea where
they would turn into humans again -</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Snider: As Lewis and Clark came down the river, they found
the Watlas, the Wasukles, Skilliutes Cathlamets, the Wahkiakums, the Lower
Chinooks, and the Clatsops, and so at that particular time there were over
16,000 Chinook Indians living on the river. And actually, they didn’t live in
one camp like Sitting Bull with tipis and many tribes around him, but they
lived in little villages along the river at the mouth of every stream. And
there might be 40 in a village, 50 in a village.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as everyone knows, the Chinook had one of the best
canoes in the world. And, in fact, they were so good, that when the white
man later built their clipper ships, they patterned the shape of their clipper
ships after the Chinook canoes. And they were the fastest ships in the world.
When Lewis and Clark came down the river in those logs that were hollowed out,
they were no match for the Chinooks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also have another famous relative and his name is Selowish
he was a chief at Skamokawa. And so actually my hereditary runs, my family
tree runs back to two different chiefs on the lower <st1:city><st1:place>Columbia</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I have another famous relative who is Ilche, who is
Concomly’s favorite daughter. And her name was moon woman. First it was moon
girl and then moon woman. And her statue is along the <st1:city><st1:place>Vancouver</st1:place></st1:city>
waterfront, along the walking trail. And I helped the sculptor, Eric Jensen, of
Scappoose, change her. We had a cone hat on her head and she was in clay, of
course, and I asked him to take the hat off and to let her hair flow, and put
beads in her ears, and trinkets in her nose. And of course, the cedar
bark skin mantle around her. And she is really a beautiful woman, and now
she is the queen of the <st1:city><st1:place>Columbia</st1:place></st1:city> in
<st1:city><st1:place>Vancouver</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The story about her goes is that one day she said that the
white man would come, and the rivers would flow, and the red fish would come no
more. And this has happened now since we have put in all of our dams. And so
the prophecy came true.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when the white man came with the disease, Ilche took
many of the tribe to the hills to escape the disease. And that is probably the
reason why we are still here today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Tribe now was recognized and we were all allotted on the
Quinault Reservation in the early 1930′s. And my mother was allotted, I was
allotted, and all my relatives were allotted. Had eighty acres and some even
more. So we were recognized by the United States Government at that time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes, I am asked a question, where the Chinooks really
came from. We know they have been here over 10,000 years according to
carbon dating. And if you really want to know and put it into perspective,
that’s 8,000 years before Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
Old Man South Wind, long long ago, was traveling north along the <st1:place>Pacific
Ocean</st1:place> and eventually neared the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia
River</st1:place>. And there he met Giant Woman and told her he was hungry.
Giant Woman had no food, but she lent him a net and told him he could catch
fish in it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Old Man South Wind headed to the great waters of the
Pacific. When he got there, he unfolded the net and he drug it along the
ocean floor until he caught a fish. It was not an ordinary fish, but a
small whale, which Old Man South Wind brought ashore and begun to cut. Giant
Woman, who was present at the scene, instructed him to slice the whale
lengthwise from head to tail. But Old Man South Wind was so famished that he
ignored Giant Woman, and because it was quicker, drew the knife over the arc of
the whale’s back from side to side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suddenly the fish turned into a monstrous bird. The bird
then rose into the air, flapping his wings so powerful that they shook the
earth. As he climbed, bird monster blotted out the sun. Soon Old Man South Wind
and Giant Woman saw that it was really Thunderbird. They were in awe of this
great bird as they watched it fly to the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place>.
There atop <st1:place><st1:placename>Saddle</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Mountain</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
Thunderbird laid a large nest and laid several eggs on it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One day, when Thunderbird flew away, Giant Woman climbed
high to the bird’s nest. She mischievously cracked an egg, but it was bad and
she threw it down the mountain. She cracked another, and another, until she had
broken them all, and hurled them from the peak.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each time the leg landed at the base of the mountain, it became
an Indian. This is how the first Chinook men, women and children came to be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another story I’d like to talk to you about is on my Indian
button blanket given to me by Kathryn Harold Trow, one of the elders of the
tribe. The legend inscribed on my button blanket is this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once when the world was very young, Raven, Killer Whale,
Beaver, and Eagle decided to have a picnic. At this time in the world, things
were not as we know them now. There were no oceans or continents and nothing
familiar to us. But there was a very high mountain from which the gods could
watch how the world grew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eagle decided to have a picnic on top of the mountain. All
the creatures arrived, each bringing his own food. Everyone put his food in a
big pile with all the food that others had brought, everyone that is, except
Eagle. He arrived with no food in sight, just carrying a small basket under his
wing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The others sat around and talked and laughed, but not Eagle.
He just sat quietly and every once in a while, when he thought he was not seen,
he dipped his beak into the basket and just as quietly withdrew. He said not a
word.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now Raven, who is a very gay talker, enjoyed a joke, became
a little worried about Eagle and kept darting little glances out of the corner
of his eyes at Eagle. He soon saw that Eagle must have something very wonderful
in his basket, so good that he had to look at it from time to time to see if it
was still there. Raven became so worried that he just had to do something. So
he lured Eagle into putting down his basket and coming over to the main group.
Quick as a wink, Raven was over to Eagle’s basket and scooping it up and
putting it under his wing. He flew away with it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the basket was the first water in the world. As Raven
flew away with it, the water spilled out of his basket and fell to the dry
earth where it became ponds, river, seas, and oceans of the earth. That is how
water came to the earth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Clark of Lewis and <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s
Descendants Make Up for Stolen Canoe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
NBC NEWS </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
— It was a long time coming, but the descendants of
explorer William Clark have tried to make amends for a 205-year-old theft.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A descendant of the explorer in the Corps of Discovery
expedition that opened a land route to the West presented the Chinook Indian
Nation with a replica of a canoe that the corps stole in 1806.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants and a few
donors stepped forward to pay for the canoe, which was custom built in <st1:place><st1:city>Veneta</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Ore.</st1:state></st1:place></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The five-hour ceremony on Saturday included songs, gift
exchanges and the maiden voyage of the replica canoe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ray Gardner, chairman of the Chinook Nation's tribal
council, said the return of the canoe is a "good place to begin
healing."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It's nice to see a circle completed," <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Major insult </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
After completing their journey west and spending a wet and wretched winter at
the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place> in 1806, <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>
and Meriwether Lewis found they were short a canoe, so they stole one from the
Clatsop Indians who had kept them alive all winter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rick Bowmer /AP</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Clark's 8th generation descendants Rick Holton, right,
and Anna Haala, 77, of Seattle, look on during the canoe reparation ceremony,
Saturday Sept. 24, 2011, at Fort Columbia, near Chinook, Wash. Back in 1806,
explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark stole a canoe from native
Americans living on the <st1:place><st1:placename>Pacific</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Coast</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
More than 200 years later, <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants are
making amends to the Indian's descendants by having a 36-foot replica built for
them. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Clatsop later became one of five tribes to form the
Chinook Indian Nation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has long been a sore subject with the tribes in the <st1:place>Pacific
Northwest</st1:place>, who perceived the theft as a major insult.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Canoes were a sacred part of their culture and an important
mode of transportation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Chinook Indian Nation is not formally recognized by the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
government.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Federal recognition would make the tribe eligible for
economic assistance, land, housing grants and other government benefits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I cannot help but think, if one family can step
forward and right a wrong that has been committed against the Chinook nation
205 years later," <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said, "it would be nice if the federal government would do the same."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendant, Lotsie Clark
Holton, said she was overwhelmed by the acceptance of her family by Chinook
tribe members.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Holton learned of the theft while working at a <st1:place><st1:city>Washington</st1:city>,
<st1:state>D.C.</st1:state></st1:place>, nonprofit with <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>,
setting Saturday's events in motion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It's been a wonderful experience. The Chinook people
totally accepted us," Holton said. "After 205 years, it was certainly
overdue."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants replace stolen
tribal canoe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lewis and Clark stole a canoe from the Clatsop Indians who
kept them alive all winter<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place><st1:city>LONG BEACH</st1:city>, <st1:state><st1:stockticker>WASH</st1:stockticker>.</st1:state></st1:place>
– After completing their journey west and spending a wet and wretched
winter at the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place> in 1806,
William Clark and Meriwether Lewis prepared to head home. There was just one
problem: They were short a canoe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So they stole one from the Native Americans who had kept
them alive all winter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has long been a sore subject with Chinook Indians in the <st1:place>Pacific
Northwest</st1:place>, who perceived the theft as a major insult. Canoes were
a sacred part of their culture and an important mode of transportation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More than 200 years later, William Clark's descendants will
make amends by presenting a 36-foot replica of the canoe to the Chinook Indian
Nation during a ceremony here Saturday.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"We talked about what happened 205 years ago, and we
believed that things could be restored if something like this were done,"
said Carlota Clark Holton of <st1:place><st1:city>St. Louis</st1:city>, <st1:state>Mo.</st1:state></st1:place>,
seven generations removed from William Clark.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I think everyone acknowledges that it was wrong, and
we wanted to right a wrong," she said. "The family was very much
behind it."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Lewis and Clark expedition arrived at the <st1:place>Columbia
River</st1:place>'s estuary in late 1805. They built a fortification outside
present-day <st1:city><st1:place>Astoria</st1:place></st1:city> and called it <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename>Clatsop</st1:placename></st1:place>, after a tribe that is part
of the Chinook Nation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though they braved the previous winter in <st1:state><st1:place>North
Dakota</st1:place></st1:state>, the explorers found the rainy season on the
northern <st1:place><st1:placename>Pacific</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Coast</st1:placetype></st1:place>
far worse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"The winds violent," a grumpy <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>
wrote. "Trees falling in every (direction), (whirl) winds, with gust of
rain, hail and thunder, this kind of weather lasted all day, certainly one of
the worst days that ever was."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The expedition couldn't find any elk and was running low on
tobacco and goods to trade with Native Americans.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The captains decided to head home that spring but found they
were also short on boats. So they took one from the Chinook.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The expedition then whitewashed the theft by saying the
tribe owed them for six stolen elk, a debt the Native Americans -- and
historians -- say was repaid by delivering three dogs to <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename>Clatsop</st1:placename></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Historian James Ronda, an expert on the Corps of Discovery's
dealings with American Indians, said the theft was significant because it
violated the explorers' code of ethical conduct.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"The captains were abandoning a two-year tradition of
never stealing from the Indians," Ronda wrote in his book "Lewis and
Clark Among The Indians."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ronda told The AP in a phone interview from <st1:place><st1:city>Tulsa</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Okla.</st1:state></st1:place>, "It was theft, and a malicious
thing to do."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The expedition left <st1:place><st1:placetype>Fort</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename>Clatsop</st1:placename></st1:place> on March 23, bound for
home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two hundred years later, Clark Holton was working at a <st1:place><st1:city>Washington</st1:city>,
<st1:state>D.C.</st1:state></st1:place>, nonprofit when she was introduced to
Ray Gardner, chairman of the Chinook Nation's tribal council. The two worked on
a project to bring down dams in the area, and on a trip paddling down a <st1:state><st1:place>Virginia</st1:place></st1:state>
river, they talked about the canoe theft and its consequences to the Chinook.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s descendants and a few
friendly donors eventually stepped forward to pay for the canoe, which was
custom built in <st1:place><st1:city>Veneta</st1:city>, <st1:state>Ore.</st1:state></st1:place></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
JENNI MONET: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated J.
Christopher Stevens was 1/8th Chinook, when he was 1/16th along with certain
family details.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When President Barack Obama addressed the United Nations
General Assembly in <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state> on
September 25th, he began <a href="http://bit.ly/UxBuRn"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">his speech</span></a> memorializing
United States Ambassador to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
J. Christopher Stevens. The president spoke of Steven’s birthplace of Grass
Valley, California and of his parents, a lawyer and a cellist who would see
their son grow up to join the Peace Corps, <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/ambassador-j.-christopher-stevens%E2%80%99-mother-spells-out-family-legacy-136422" title="Click to Continue > by Supreme Savings"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">learn to speak</span></a> Arabic,
before becoming what many have regarded as a diplomatic hero.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Chris Stevens embodied the best of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>,”
said Obama. “He built bridges across oceans and cultures, and was deeply
invested in the international cooperation that the United Nations represents.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stevens was among four Americans who lost their lives on the
evening of September 11th after the U.S. Consulate was attacked in <st1:place><st1:city>Benghazi</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region>Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The 52-year-old
diplomat arrived in the country’s second largest city to unveil an American
cultural center and to modernize a hospital. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Family and friends mourning Stevens’ death have noted the
small irony and overwhelming tragedy tied to his tireless work to support a
free <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Meanwhile, his diplomacy has not gone ignored among thousands of protesters who
took to the streets of Benghazi denouncing the Consulate attacks; from those
who changed their Facebook photos to one of Stevens in solemn recognition of
his service; and among the signs that turned up on Youtube that read ‘<a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/09/18/libyans-seen-allegedly-rescuing-j-christopher-stevens-in-latest-video-134578"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Chris Stevens
was a friend to all Libyans</span></a>.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the world has learned in greater detail about the
ambassador’s life and work, what also surfaced in the days following his
passing was the little-known fact that<a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/09/14/slain-ambassador-to-libya-and-chinook-citizen-chris-stevens-mourned-by-chinook-tribe-134180"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Stevens was
also a direct descendent</span></a> to a great Chinook Indian chief who
reigned throughout the late 18th and early 19thcenturies. Chief Comcomly, also
spelled Concomly, according to <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/ambassador-j.-christopher-stevens%E2%80%99-mother-spells-out-family-legacy-136422" title="Click to Continue > by Supreme Savings"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">cemetery records</span></a>, was
principle chief of the Chinook Confederacy that extended along the Pacific
coastline in what is present-day <st1:state><st1:place>Oregon</st1:place></st1:state>
and <st1:place><st1:placename>Washington</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
Considered a friend of the white man, Comcomly received medals from Lewis and
Clark upon their initial encounter in 1805.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The chief had a daughter by the name of Elvamox, also known
as Marianne. She married a Scottish fur trader who later joined the Astor
Expedition—the ambitious trade war financed by <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/ambassador-j.-christopher-stevens%E2%80%99-mother-spells-out-family-legacy-136422" title="Click to Continue > by Supreme Savings"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">millionaire</span></a> John
Jacob Astor and led by Lewis and Clark in the early 19th century. When the
voyage made its way to the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place>,
Comcomly helped the Americans fight the British during the War of 1812.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elvamox’s husband would never return. So, she remarried,
this time to Etienne Alexis Aubichon, a French fur trader. Mary Commanday,
Stevens’ 75-year-old mother, says relations with white explorers impacted the
way of life for her Chinook ancestors. “The interesting thing about this story
to me is that Elvamox, considered a privileged woman in Chinook society—she
somehow saw the handwriting on the wall and realized that the future lay with
these white men who were coming out,” Commanday said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to Stevens’ mother, formerly Mary J. Floris,
Elvamox is her great-great-great grandmother. Their shared family legacy lives
on in the pages of a book that was penned by Commanday’s mother, Beryl Marjory
Brown Floris, in 1980. Entitled, <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Elvamox.html?id=w_1AHAAACAAJ"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Elvamox:
Memories of a Pacific Northwest Family</span></a>, the bound manuscript was
never commercially distributed, despite its 200 copies that ultimately went to
print. Rather, the book has become a source of prideful representation of a
family lineage Commanday says helped shape her own identity along with that of
the young Stevens and his two siblings, Anne and Thomas. “There’s always been
kind of a close feeling although we haven’t lived up there [in <st1:place><st1:placename>Washington</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype></st1:place>],” said Commanday, in a
telephone interview from her home in <st1:place><st1:city>Oakland</st1:city>, <st1:state>California</st1:state></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today, there is a cemetery in the coastal community of <st1:place><st1:city>Ilwaco</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Washington</st1:state></st1:place> where as many as four
generations of Commanday’s family lay at rest. By description, the public
graveyard bears aging headstones weathered by centuries of salty air. A marker
for Chief Comcomly is recorded in the cemetery records. Commanday says other
familiar names of ancestors-passed can be found on those burial grounds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In August, one month before Stevens’ death, Commanday and
her 50-year-old daughter Anne visited the cemetery. It’s where, in 1979,
Commanday said Stevens, then 19-years-old, helped spread and preserve the ashes
of his grandmother Floris. She was the author of the book that has chronicled
the stories of the family’s rich Chinook heritage. “Chris went with my dad and
took my mother’s ashes up there and took care of the whole burial in Ilwaco
because he was very much a part of that whole process,” said Commanday.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During their recent visit to Ilwaco, Commanday said she and
her daughter lunched with their relative, Charlotte Killien, the daughter of
Charlotte Davis, a twin of the late historian and Chinook elder, Catherine
Troeh. Commanday was second cousins with Davis and Troeh who have walked on in
recent years. Both of the sisters were well known throughout Pacific County,
the region in which Ilwaco is situated. Chinook tribal leaders say the twins
were well skilled in crafting traditional button blankets and straw
hats—customary regalia that have long been used among the Chinook people over
the generations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, much of Stevens’ and Commanday’s Chinook heritage is
rooted in a family bloodline that was seemingly destined for integration into
white society. As Commanday put it, “There was very little connection with the
Indian population in these generations because they had intermarried with the
French, and as you know, there was a great amount of prejudice of non-Caucasian
people in that time.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even so, there are places in Ilwaco that stand as a
testament to Stevens’ forebears, including the 19th century home built by
Commanday’s great grandfather, Frederick Colbert, the husband of Catherine
Petit Colbert, Chief Comcomly’s great-granddaughter. The two-story Victorian
house, known as the Colbert House, was passed down through three generations of
Commanday’s matriarchal ancestors until it was enlisted in the state of <st1:state><st1:place>Washington</st1:place></st1:state>’s
National Register of Historic Places in 1977.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An endearing chuckle escapes from Commanday upon recalling a
certain story about the home. After Catherine inherited the house from her
mother, Amelia Aubichon Petit, she was fixated on permanently moving
the kitchen stove. As Commanday recounts, Catherine was an “able woman”
who took to the task all on her own, including building a new chimney that
would scale through two stories and an attic before reaching the roof. But
Commanday says Catherine caved into the ways of the 19th century and its
views on women in society. “You know it wasn’t ladylike to be climbing around,
seen on the roof, finishing your own chimney,” Commanday laughed. “So, she
hired somebody to go out on the roof to finish it even though she was perfectly
able to do it herself.”</div>
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While Commanday’s and Stevens’ family stories remain vibrant
in the southern Washington hamlet of Ilwaco, it’s about 30 miles north
in the community of Bay Center — home of the Chinook Indian Nation
headquarters — where Chairman of the tribe, Ray Gardner looks on with pride.
“I’m very proud to say [Commanday’s family] are from Chinook people and that
they promote that lineage within themselves, even making sure their children
are enrolled and keeping their traditions and cultures alive.”</div>
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According to Commanday, Stevens was a 1/16th enrolled
citizen of the Chinook Indian Nation; she is listed as an 1/8th. All three of
her children are members of the tribe that today represents a citizenry of an
estimated 3,000 people. Yet, the Chinook are not considered a federally
recognized Indian Nation—a status people like Gardner have doggedly been
fighting to obtain over the years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/09/28/ambassador-j-christopher-stevens-mother-spells-out-family-legacy-136422/amelia-petita"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/09/28/ambassador-j-christopher-stevens-mother-spells-out-family-legacy-136422/amelia-petita"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">J.
Christopher Stevens' Great-Great-Great Grandmother Amelia Petita<o:p></o:p></span></a></div>
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Like many tribes across North America, the Chinook people
lost their lands to white encroachment in the 19th and 20thcenturies. By
the 1950’s the Chinook Nation dissolved under federal termination policies
designed to assimilate Native Peoples into white society. In 2001, the U.S.
Department of the Interior initially granted the tribe federal recognition. Yet,
it’s unclear why this status was overturned under George W. Bush’s
administration in 2002. Since then, Gardner and other tribal leaders have been
engaged in regaining their formal recognition as a sovereign tribal
government—a status that would open the doors to a host of federal Indian
entitlement programs linked to trust lands, low to no-cost
healthcare, education benefits, housing assistance, and gaming
opportunities.</div>
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In <a href="http://bit.ly/TK9nng"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">an editorial</span></a> published
in Ilwaco’s local newspaper, the Chinook Observer, it described the
tribe’s federal government wrangling as “unjust” and brought similar comparison
to Stevens’ untimely death. “The innocent suffer while the guilty often go
free,” the editorial read. “Will it be any different this time?”</div>
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Despite these correlations that have been drawn in the
aftermath of Stevens’ death, <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
says he’s been able to take the “good with the bad” in embracing the discovery
of the ambassador’s tribal heritage. One instance came in the<a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/09/28/ambassador-chris-stevens-mourned-across-indian-country-as-peacemaker-diplomat-136439"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">outpouring of
support</span></a> he received from tribal leaders across the Pacific
Northwest and as far north as Canada’s First Nation’s in British Columbia. A
special message was even sent by Grand Chief Edward John who currently chairs
the UN Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Issues. Gardner said,
“Everyone that has come into contact with [Stevens] throughout his life, has
had nothing but praise. Even in the fact that it’s bringing nations in the
north of the border with nations in the south of the border, shows how far he’s
reached out.”</div>
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In an email, Commanday echoed similar sentiments. “Someone
said to me that Comcomly was bridging the space between two cultures in his
kind reception and aid to Lewis & Clark, just as my Chris was doing in his
work in the Middle East,” she wrote. “I thought that was an interesting idea,
but later remembered that the Chinook's reward for the Chinooks' kindness,
ultimately, was to be rounded up off their property.”</div>
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LINKS: </div>
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The Chinook Indian Nation is not formally recognized by the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
government. Federal recognition would make the tribe eligible for economic
assistance, land, housing grants and other government benefits.</div>
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Whatever happens with the Chinook's continued efforts for
recognition, the tribe is looking forward to the Saturday ceremony with <st1:place>Clark</st1:place>'s
descendants.</div>
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The canoe will be cleansed, blessed and named, <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said. Then, it becomes a living member of the tribe.</div>
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"Once it's named, then we'll take it down and put it in
the <st1:place>Columbia River</st1:place>," <st1:city><st1:place>Gardner</st1:place></st1:city>
said. "I know I'm going to be skippering it."</div>
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Klahooya, everyone! My name is Cliff Snider and I am the
honorary chief of the Chinook Indian Tribe.</div>
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My fourth great grandfather was Chief Concomly that met
Lewis and Clark in 1805. </div>
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Well, I always say they discovered the Lewis and Clark
expedition at that particular time at the mouth of the <st1:place>Columbia
River</st1:place>. And he was the most famous Chinook Indian chief of all
time.</div>
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<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44658752/ns/us_news/t/clarks-descendants-replace-stolen-tribal-canoe/#.T2kV18yOIfo">http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44658752/ns/us_news/t/clarks-descendants-replace-stolen-tribal-canoe/
- .T2kV18yOIfo</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/23/william-clark-lewis-and-clarks-descendants-make-up-for-stolen-canoe/">http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/23/william-clark-lewis-and-clarks-descendants-make-up-for-stolen-canoe/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44658752/ns/us_news/t/clarks-descendants-replace-stolen-tribal-canoe/#.T2kV18yOIfo">http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44658752/ns/us_news/t/clarks-descendants-replace-stolen-tribal-canoe/
- .T2kV18yOIfo</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/23/william-clark-lewis-and-clarks-descendants-make-up-for-stolen-canoe/">http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/23/william-clark-lewis-and-clarks-descendants-make-up-for-stolen-canoe/</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.dailyastorian.com/free/slain-ambassador-was-member-of-local-chinook-tribe/article_7ec80cf9-19fc-56a3-88db-628bc49c45fa.html">http://www.dailyastorian.com/free/slain-ambassador-was-member-of-local-chinook-tribe/article_7ec80cf9-19fc-56a3-88db-628bc49c45fa.html</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.americanindianreport.com/wordpress/2012/09/chinook-tribe-mourns-ambassador-chris-stevens/">http://www.americanindianreport.com/wordpress/2012/09/chinook-tribe-mourns-ambassador-chris-stevens/</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/ambassador-j.-christopher-stevens%E2%80%99-motherAmbassador
J. Christopher Stevens’ Mother Spells Out Family Legacy</div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-27125858500020984582013-05-30T20:32:00.003-04:002013-05-30T20:32:25.629-04:00Remembering US Ambassador Chris Stevens <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibL0hf-oUXzEjk1LDF7OCCTDEEInYlgZMlqAC1oZS9oj0_FvJodVSH6otCheK0AI1C4Z6Ev0NVaKoKhONQsLAscFBF1AmcLqutaB_Y85BEPNqL2E8sMHJypiHKOU-WCeCSlkBfVVHOy40/s1600/550849_445753522103313_100000060062443_1682603_1150160637_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibL0hf-oUXzEjk1LDF7OCCTDEEInYlgZMlqAC1oZS9oj0_FvJodVSH6otCheK0AI1C4Z6Ev0NVaKoKhONQsLAscFBF1AmcLqutaB_Y85BEPNqL2E8sMHJypiHKOU-WCeCSlkBfVVHOy40/s400/550849_445753522103313_100000060062443_1682603_1150160637_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/columns/guest-columnists/38594-us-ambassador-chris-stevens-was-a-revolutionary-hero-to-lybians.html">http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/columns/guest-columnists/38594-us-ambassador-chris-stevens-was-a-revolutionary-hero-to-lybians.html</a></div>
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US Ambassador Chris Stevens </div>
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John Christopher Stevens was a legendary revolutionary hero
to the Libyan people before most Americans ever heard his name. </div>
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Stevens, whose death at the hands of Islamic terrorist is
now a political football in Washington, was not your typical diplomat who ran
things from behind a desk, but was known to mingle among the people and meet
informally with tribal elders, earning their respect by not only speaking their
language and eating their food, but delivering on the promises he made. </div>
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Relatively unknown and unheralded when alive, Stevens served
in the Peace Corps teaching English in Morocco where he learned Arabic and
acquired a taste for the local cuisine, then joined the State Department, doing
embassy duty in a number of Arab countries until Gadhafi renounced terrorism
and renewed relations, when he served as an assistant to the US Ambassador in
Tripoli. </div>
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Stevens was aware of the efforts to repatriate the remains
of Richard Somers and the Intrepid crew because he was included in the early
correspondence between those seeking repatriation and the embassy. While
Stevens was in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city> the State
Department sought the restoration of <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
where the Intrepid graves are located, and nominated the cemetery as a World
Heritage site.</div>
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Shortly after the revolution began, Stevens was sent to <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
to make contact with the rebels and determine their motives and intentions.
Arriving in the hold of a cargo ship, he met with the rebels and determined
they were mainly freedom fighters, though there were some extremists who sought
to impose an Islamic state. While a minority, the Islamists were the best fighters
and were part of the deal. </div>
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Reversing a long standing policy of support of foreign dictators
who backed US interests, Stevens recommended the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> support the rebels <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
decision to intervene militarily and attack Gadhafi’s forces just as they bore
down on <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.</div>
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As a student of history Stevens certainly saw the parallels between
his situation and that of William Eaton, the American counsel to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in 1805 who helped capture the eastern port city of <st1:city><st1:place>Derna</st1:place></st1:city>
and led a rag tag army of rebels fighting to topple a tyrant in Tripoli. While
Eaton’s promise was co-opted by the diplomatic moves of government, Stevens saw
it through, and finish the historic march to liberate <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>.
</div>
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The revolution was difficult, but creating a new government
and an open society is harder, and as a reward for his revolutionary success,
Stevens was named US Ambassador to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
On Memorial Day 2012 Stevens led a delegation of embassy personnel to pay their
respects at the graves of the Intrepid sailors at <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
While not familiar to most Americans, the Libyans knew him as a hero much like
French General Lafayette was an American revolutionary war hero. </div>
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As ambassador Stevens went out among the people, met and
dined with them, and got to know them personally. On <st1:date day="11" month="9" year="2012">September 11, 2012</st1:date> Stevens was in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
to visit his former guide who had opened a school. He visited the school and
made arrangements to meet a <st1:city><st1:place>Boston</st1:place></st1:city>
medical doctor, Dr. Thomas Burke, who was in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
to establish an emergency medical service that could have possibly saved
Steven’s life that night if it was operating.</div>
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A Libyan who sent a recent photo of <st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename>
<st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
included the sentiment, “I would like to give you my belated condolences on the
loss of Ambassador Chris J. Stevens. He was a much liked and respected by
most Libyans. What happened to him in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
was tragic and shameful. 40,000 people marched in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
against his killers a week after his death. He will be missed.”</div>
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While the politicians in Washington play the blame game over
the circumstances of Stevens’ death, Americans can do something in his memory
by supporting the things Stevens was working on when he was killed - the
education of Libyans, especially women, and helping to establish such basic
social services as emergency medical assistance.</div>
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Towards that end, Chris Stevens’ sister and Dr. Burke have
set up a foundation that needs support - the J. Christopher Stevens Fund to
promote intercultural understanding between Americans and the people of the <st1:place>Middle
East</st1:place>, especially educational programs, student exchanges,
libraries and the Peace Corps. [ http;//<span style="font-size: 12pt;">rememberingchrisstevens.com. - </span> </div>
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<a href="http://www.ujenzi.org/">http://www.ujenzi.org/</a> or <a href="mailto:info@ujenzi.org" style="font-size: 12pt;">info@ujenzi.org</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span> ] </div>
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And you can also help convince the American government and US
military that the same radical extremists who killed Stevens are also grave robbers
who are now the most dangerous threat to the remains of the American sailors at
<st1:place><st1:placename>Old</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Protestant</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place>, remains that should be
repatriated home before they are desecrated. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p> </div>
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<a href="http://www.ujenzi.org/">http://www.ujenzi.org/</a></div>
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<a href="mailto:info@ujenzi.org">info@ujenzi.org</a></div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-11491684628483981732013-03-19T18:53:00.003-04:002013-03-19T18:53:57.748-04:00Dear Director, About Benghazi <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Director Robert S. Mueller <st1:stockticker>III</st1:stockticker><o:p></o:p></div>
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Federal Bureau of Investigation<o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:street><st1:address>935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW</st1:address></st1:street><o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:place><st1:city>Washington</st1:city>, <st1:state>D.C.</st1:state>
<st1:postalcode>20535</st1:postalcode></st1:place><o:p></o:p></div>
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Dear Director Mueller:<o:p></o:p></div>
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It has now been six months since four brave Americans were
killed in the attack on our diplomatic facilities in <st1:place><st1:city>Benghazi</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region>Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>. I am writing to
request a briefing on the status of the FBI’s investigation into this terrorist
attack.</div>
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As you are well aware, retired Senator Joe Lieberman and I,
in our former capacity as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland
Security Committee, conducted a three-month investigation into the attacks
in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. We were not, however,
able to have access to the interviews conducted by the FBI of survivors, nor to
interview these personnel, due to the pending FBI investigation. While our
report was as comprehensive as possible, access to these interviews would have
benefited our report.</div>
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In the days <a href="http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2013/03/19/letter-to-fbi-director-about-the-benghazi-attack-click-to-read/" title="Click to Continue > by Solid Savings">following</a> the <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
attack, the President repeatedly promised the American people that justice
would be served. At a press statement in the Rose Garden on <st1:date day="12" month="9" year="2012">September 12, 2012</st1:date>, President Obama
said, “make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to
justice the killers who attacked our people,” and in later remarks, “make no
mistake, justice will be done.” During a radio interview on October 26, he
reiterated, “my biggest priority now is bringing those folks to justice, and I
think the American people have seen that’s a commitment I’ll always keep.”
Administration officials pointed to the FBI investigation as the means by which
the attackers would be identified.</div>
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The Administration has not provided the U.S. Senate with an
in-depth update on the current status of the FBI investigation. Therefore, I
request such a briefing as well as the answers to the following questions:</div>
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· Are any of the suspects believed to be responsible for the
deaths of these four Americans, including Ambassador Stevens, in <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
or Libyan custody?<o:p></o:p></div>
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· How many suspects in the attacks are still at large?</div>
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· Is there any suspect in the custody of another government
to whom the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking access or
extradition? Has such access been granted?<o:p></o:p></div>
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· Are the Libyan government and other governments, whose
cooperation is beneficial for the FBI’s investigation, fully cooperating?</div>
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· In your judgment, are the Libyan security agencies and
legal system adequate and sufficiently mature to investigate and bring the
individuals responsible for this act of terrorism to justice?</div>
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· Have any of the suspects believed to be responsible for
the deaths been otherwise captured or held under the existing authority
afforded to the American government in the war against al-Qaeda and its
affiliates?</div>
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I look forward to your response as soon as possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Susan M. Collins<o:p></o:p></div>
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United States Senator<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3322943179825627878.post-6047536477337890762013-03-14T23:40:00.002-04:002013-03-14T23:40:18.267-04:00Benghazi Church Attacked Burned <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Witnesses: Church used by Egyptian Christians torched in
eastern <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region></div>
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/witnesses-church-used-by-egyptian-christians-torched-in-eastern-libya/2013/03/14/96b22daa-8cd7-11e2-adca-74ab31da3399_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/witnesses-church-used-by-egyptian-christians-torched-in-eastern-libya/2013/03/14/96b22daa-8cd7-11e2-adca-74ab31da3399_story.html</a></div>
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By Associated Press,</div>
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/witnesses-church-used-by-egyptian-christians-torched-in-eastern-libya/2013/03/14/96b22daa-8cd7-11e2-adca-74ab31da3399_story.html#license-96b22daa-8cd7-11e2-adca-74ab31da3399"></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<st1:place><st1:city>TRIPOLI</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>
— Witnesses say that unidentified assailants torched a church used by Egyptian
Christians in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
eastern city of <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> on
Thursday, a week after scores of Christians were detained and reportedly abused
by militias there for alleged proselytization.</div>
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Flames were seen rising from the church, witnesses said. The
Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning what it described as
“assault,” and that the church’s priest was not inside and is unhurt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Abdel-Salam al-Barghathi, a security official in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
said his forces stopped angry men from doing more damage to the church. He says
they were angry about a protest by Christians in front of the Libyan embassy in
<st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>, where they set fire to the
Libyan flag.</div>
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The protests came after death of one Egyptian Christian
detainee in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
whose family says he died of torture. They say Ezzat Atallah, who died in
detention in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city> after being
transferred from his prison in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>,
was one of around 100 Christians, mostly Egyptians, who were detained by
militias on suspicion of trying to covert Muslims to Christianity.</div>
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Al-Barghathi appeared to blame the Christian protesters for
the violence. He said Atallah died of natural causes and that he confessed
before his death. “I got everything taped. He confessed and we videotaped his
confessions. Why do the Christians burn the flag and replace it with a cross?”
he said.</div>
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“These incidents will take place once and twice if the
reactions on the other side continue like this,” he warned.</div>
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<st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has seen multiple outbreaks of disorder since the 2011 civil war that led to
the killing and ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The security and political
vacuum has allowed hardline Islamist militias to act with impunity, especially
since the government has relied on ex-rebel groups to keep order in absence of a
functioning police force or a unified military.</div>
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On Sept. 11, four Americans including the U.S. Ambassador in
Libya Chris Stevens were killed in an assault on the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mission in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. An Islamist
extremist militia that had been handling some security duties in the city,
Ansar al-Shariah, was blamed for the attack. Months later, several Western
countries withdrew their <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/witnesses-church-used-by-egyptian-christians-torched-in-eastern-libya/2013/03/14/96b22daa-8cd7-11e2-adca-74ab31da3399_story.html" title="Click to Continue > by Solid Savings">nationals</a> from <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
citing imminent threats.</div>
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Churches, shrines used by traditionalist Muslims, and a
Commonwealth war cemetery have also been vandalized in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>
and other cities in attacks blamed on hard-line Islamist puritans.</div>
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Last week, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
Foreign Ministry intervened to win the release of 55 Egyptians who were in the
group suspected of proselytizing. Thirty-five of them were deported for illegally
entering the country, while 20 were cleared to stay in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
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Four foreigners under investigation for alleged espionage
and proselytizing remain in a Libyan prison. They are a Swedish-American, a
South Korean, a South African and an Egyptian.</div>
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Copyright 2013 The <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/witnesses-church-used-by-egyptian-christians-torched-in-eastern-libya/2013/03/14/96b22daa-8cd7-11e2-adca-74ab31da3399_story.html" title="Click to Continue > by Solid Savings">Associated Press</a>. All
rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.</div>
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<b>Government condemns
attack on </b><st1:city><st1:place><b>Benghazi</b></st1:place></st1:city><b> church<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/03/03/government-condemns-attack-on-benghazi-church/">http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/03/03/government-condemns-attack-on-benghazi-church/</a></div>
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation has condemned an attack on Thursday on the Egyptian Coptic church
in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> in which the priest and
his assistant were assaulted.</div>
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In a statement today, Sunday, the Ministry voiced its
concern at what had happened and expressed regret, saying that the attack was
“contrary to the teachings of our Islamic faith and customs and as well as
international covenants on human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect
for the monotheistic religions”.</div>
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The attack followed the arrest earlier in the week of a
number of Copts, variously put at between 50 and 100, who were accused being
Christian missionaries. Following the intervention of the Egyptian Foreign
Minister Mohammed Amr Kamel and the Egyptian embassy in <st1:city><st1:place>Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city>,
they have now been deported. Charges of proselytism have been dropped.</div>
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There have been concerns about possible Christian missionary
activity in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> since earlier
reports that four Protestant Christians were arrested in the city on 13
February accused of proselytizing. One of them was also said to be an Egyptian,
although it is extremely unusual for Protestants and Copts to have any links
whatsoever.</div>
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The Copts were arrested in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>’s
Suq Al-Jareed area and accused of being missionaries after they were reportedly
found in position of bibles and other Christian literature. According to the
police, the <a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/03/03/government-condemns-attack-on-benghazi-church/" title="Click to Continue > by Solid Savings">arrests</a> followed a row
at the market. Other Egyptians working there, accused a group of Copts of
trying to take over control of it. One of the complaints was that the latter
were renting space at the market for LD 1,000 a month and then subletting it
for LD 2,000.</div>
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Following the complaints, the police say that after they
arrested the Copts they found books in a “storage place” which were covered on
the outside so as not be identified as Christian. These books, they said, the
Copts denied owning.</div>
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A display of the books went on show last week at a Katiba
building in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city> not run by the
police.</div>
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Insisting that they had nothing against Christianity and
that they respected all religions, the Libyan police said that the group’s
behaviour aroused their suspicions, including, reportedly, the fact that all
had crosses tattooed on their wrists.</div>
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All Copts have crosses tattooed on their wrists.</div>
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On questioning, the police say, the traders disclosed the
names of other Copts whom they knew, resulting in the arrest of around 100 in
all. The police said they were found without passports or any identity
documents and that it was not clear how they entered the country.</div>
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Following Egyptian embassy complaints about the treatment of
the men, the Interior Ministry took control of the Copts, holding them in
prison pending their expulsion on charges of entering the country illegally.</div>
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There been claims, however, reported in the online edition
of the Egyptian daily Al Ahram, that the Copts were absued. The paper
reported a Coptic Church source in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>
claiming that “the detained Copts had been tortured by their captors, who had
also shaved their heads and used acid to burn off the crosses tattooed on their
wrists”.</div>
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<a href="http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/03/03/government-condemns-attack-on-benghazi-church/" title="Click to Continue > by Solid Savings">Photos</a> show the men
with shaved heads, but no sign of anything else.</div>
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The Church source had also claimed that the men had been
arrested after “a group of Salafist Muslims” attacked a Coptic church in <st1:city><st1:place>Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>.
However, all the indications are that the attack on the church took place after
the arrests, not before.</div>
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According to today’s Foreign Ministry statement, a committee
of enquiry comprising itself, the Interior Ministry, the General Staff and the
Intelligence Service and headed by the Ministry of Justice has been set up to
investigate the attack on the church. In the meantime, it said the government
would be providing security to the building.</div>
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The Ministry statement also called on “all Libyan citizens
to respect those from friendly and sister countries living in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and to respect their beliefs”.</div>
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On 30 December, two members of the Coptic church in Misrata
died when the building was bombed. The culprits have not yet been found.</div>
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0