Chris Stevens, US liaison to the Libyan rebels in Benghazi
US Ambassador to Libya pays his respects at graves of sailors from USS Intrepid, 1804
Chris Stevens, US Ambassador to Libya - September 11, 2012 - Benghazi
Even words like shocking and outrageous fall short in
characterizing the killings of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three
other American diplomats Tuesday in Libya.
Stevens' killing, the first for a U.S.
Reports were emerging Wednesday that the attacks in Libya Benghazi
The mob was protesting an American-made video that ridiculed
and insulted Islam. It also sparked protests in Egypt, where thugs
scaled the U.S. Embassy walls in Cairo
The offensive video is amateurish, produced by a real-estate
developer in California
There's a Florida Afghanistan
The film and Jones' efforts to promote it are reprehensible,
but they're no justification for murder. No expression of free speech is, no
matter how offensive.
Stevens could not have been a less deserving target for
hostility in the new Libya U.S. United
States Mideast
and North Africa .
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the attack in Libya Libya U.S.
Other new governments, including Egypt's, also have a responsibility to ensure the safety of
envoys from the United States
Stevens' killing must not stand. If Libya U.S. America
Copyright © 2012, Orlando Sentinel
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 7:31 PM EDT ,
Wed September 12, 2012
Washington (CNN) -- The United
States Libya
The slain ambassador, Chris
Stevens, helped save Libya Benghazi
The Benghazi
But U.S. Benghazi
"We will not waver in our commitment to see that
justice is done for this terrible act," President Barack Obama said.
"And make no mistake, justice will be done."
A senior U.S.
But two American destroyers also are being moved toward the
Libyan coast, two U.S.
The move "will give the administration
flexibility" in case the administration orders action against targets
inside Libya island
of Crete Gibraltar , a few days away from Libya
"Since our founding, the United
States
"The good thing about this is the majority -- 95, 98%
of the Libyan people -- care not for this," he said.
Sources tracking militant Islamist groups in eastern Libya Benghazi
The FBI also is investigating, the bureau said Wednesday.
In June, a senior Libyan official told CNN that U.S. Libya
Tuesday's attack took place on the 11th anniversary of the
al Qaeda attacks on New York Washington
"As the president said, make no mistake, we will work
with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our
people." Vietor said.
Gunfire erupted outside the consulate about 10 p.m. (4 p.m.
ET ), senior administration officials told reporters. The officials,
who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the attackers broke into the
consulate compound about 15 minutes later.
The main building was set ablaze by a rocket-propelled
grenade, a senior U.S. U.S.
The security officer managed to get out and brought others
back to retrieve Smith and Stevens, the officials said, but they found Smith
dead and Stevens missing. The ambassador's body was handed over to U.S.
"There are reports out there that I cannot confirm that
he was brought to the hospital by Libyans who found him," one of the
officials said. "Obviously, he had to get there somehow. No Americans were
responsible for that."
Two U.S. 2:30 a.m. ,
the officials said.
American sources could not say whether the attackers instigated
the protest or merely took advantage of it, and they say they don't believe
Stevens was specifically targeted.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dispatched Stevens to Libya
"He arrived on a cargo ship in the port
of Benghazi Libya Clinton Libya
At a Washington
"He believed in the Libyan people," said Aujali,
who said Stevens was a personal friend. "He believed that America
"This was an attack by a small and savage group, not
the people or government of Libya Libya
Meanwhile, the protests over the video resumed Wednesday
night in Egypt Cairo Tahrir Square
Stevens spoke Arabic and French and was among the first U.S. Libya Washington Tripoli U.S.
The last time an American ambassador was murdered was in
1979, when the envoy to Afghanistan
The Driving Force Behind Anti-Americanism
Humiliation and Rage in Libya
by VIJAY PRASHAD
Al-Nass (The People), and other television channels of
“Satellite Salafism,” broadcast news of a year old mediocre film trailer about
the life of the Prophet Mohammad, made by an Israeli-Californian and championed
by a Florida-based Christian pastor. Across the waters, radicals spurred each
other on. The reactions in Cairo Benghazi US Egypt US Libya Benghazi US US Libya
The crowds in both Cairo Benghazi Egypt
This is not the first such protest in Benghazi Libya Libya US
Frustration with the West is commonplace amongst sections of
society, who are not Gaddafi loyalists, but on the contrary fought valiantly in
the 2011 civil war against Gaddafi. The NATO intervention did not mollify a
much more fundamental grievance they have against the US-UK, namely the sense
of humiliation of the Arab world against the arrogance of Western domination in
cultural and political terms.
An earlier incident helps to highlight this point. In late
2005, protests across the world took place in reaction to a Danish
newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, publishing cartoons that demeaned the Prophet
Mohammad. This upsurge came to eastern Libya Benghazi 17 February 2006 . The Gaddafi regime
sent in its armed police, who opened fire, killing 11. After the police firing,
a section of the middle-class that was not sympathetic to the Islamists turned
against the Gaddafi regime. Intellectuals such as Fathi Terbil, Terbil Salwa
and Idris al-Mesmari joined a platform to bring justice not only to the
families of the slain in 2006, but also for the families of those members of
the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and others who were massacred in Abu
Salim prison in 1996.
To commemorate the slain on the fifth anniversary of the
firing, on 17 February 2011 ,
Terbil and others organized a demonstration in Benghazi Benghazi Libya
Western Support for Gaddafi Not Forgotten
The protests were not just about the cartoons. They were
also about the 1996 massacre in Abu Salim prison and about the collaboration of
the Gaddafi regime with the War on Terror. From the late 1980s, Gaddafi’s
regime had harshly repressed any signs of political Islam. Prisons were filled
with bearded men, and there was no tolerance for any dissent amongst the
population along Islamic lines. This is the reason why LIFG members fled the
country for Saudi Arabia Sudan Afghanistan Pakistan
After 9/11, when the West wanted to outsource torture to
prisons outside its direct control, Gaddafi (like Mubarak and Syria US Tripoli CIA opened up an office there as
well. Later that month, Tony Blair came to Libya, the first British prime
minister to visit the country since 1943, and he spent considerable time
talking about commercial interests (to get Shell its oil concessions) and the
“common cause” in fighting terrorism. Blair was excited to meet Gaddafi (the
“Leader,” as the British faxes to Tripoli Libya Britain 18 March 2004 . The specific matter here was the “safe
arrival of Abu Abdallah Sadiq,” the nom de plume of Abdul Hakim Belhadj, former
emir of LIFG and now leader of the al-Watan political party (and a crucial
leader of the military part of the 2011 Revolution).
A comprehensive Human Rights Watch report, Delivered
into Enemy Hands: US-Led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya,
released last week details the stories of a number of the leading figures who
were arrested around the world, tortured in US-run prisons in Afghanistan and
elsewhere, and then delivered back to Libya. They were handed over to the
Libyan authorities with full-awareness that they were going to be tortured or
even killed. Belhadj and his wife, Fatima Bouchar (four months pregnant at the
time), were picked up in Malaysia CIA in Bangkok ,
Thailand Libya CIA thanks the Libyan
security service for its “hospitality” and says that its visit was “very
productive.” When the couple arrived in Libya
In April 2012, Belhadj told the European Parliament, “All we
seek is justice. We hope the new Libya Doha , Qatar CIA ’s
Steve Kappes, will ever have to admit to what they did, apologize for it, or be
charged with grave violations of international law.
The humiliations accumulate without outlet.
Libyan Rage Despite Elections
The elections in July heralded an opening for Libya Tunisia Egypt Libya Kuwait Mediterranean .” When things did not work out as
planned, Jibril got frustrated. He had no political base. When the rebellion
broke out, Jibril threw in his lot with it, and thanks to NATO intervention,
was able to use his affinity with the West to put himself into a position of
political power. His victory in the polls vindicated NATO, which now felt that
it had its man in charge – open to sweetheart deals for Western oil companies
and eager to push further the neo-liberal agenda that was constrained five
years ago.
The rules for the July elections provided Jibril’s Alliance Alliance JCP ),
from moving its own agenda. Furthermore, disagreements between two central
Islamist leaders, Ali al-Salabi and Belhadj, prevented the JCP
from fighting the election with robust unity.
Gaddafi’s anti-Islamist propaganda of the past two decades
certainly has not dissolved, and with only 18 days to run an election campaign,
it was clear that the JCP would not have
been able to make inroads into sections who remain suspicious of it, and are
yet sympathetic to its general orientation. That is to say, they might not
share its tendency toward theocracy, but it does share its frustrations at what
is perceived to be the Arab world’s enduring humiliation at the hands of the
West. Jibril does not know how to address this humiliation, comfortable as he
is with the Western agenda. The results of the July elections, therefore, are
not representative of the social character of the country, where political
Islam plays an important role. Talk of the “defeat” of the Islamists in the
ballot box further inflames a section that believes that it remains integral to
the future of Libya
It is too early to make a full judgment about the attack on
the US North Africa to
take into consideration the sacrifices and the programs of the Islamists.
Vijay Prashad’s new book, Arab
Spring, Libyan Winter , is published by AK Press.
This article originally appeared in Al-Akhbar.
Originally published: September 12, 2012 7:46 AM
Updated:September 12, 2012
7:50 PM
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated:
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BENGHAZI, Libya - The U.S. dispatched an elite group of
Marines along with two warships to Tripoli on Wednesday following a mob attack
that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. U.S.
Tuesday's stunning attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi U.S.
The one-story villa that serves as the consulate was a
burned-out wreck after the crowd armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled
grenades rampaged through it. Slogans of "God is great" and
"Muhammad is God's Prophet" were scrawled across its scorched walls.
Libyan civilians strolled freely in charred rooms with furniture and papers
strewn everywhere.
President Barack Obama vowed in a Rose Garden address that
the U.S.
Stevens was the first U.S.
"We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious
beliefs of others, but there is absolutely no justification for this type of
senseless violence. None," said Obama, who also ordered increased security
at U.S.
Republican Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration of
showing weakness in the consulate killings, but the president retorted that his
rival "seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later." Some
in the GOP called Romney's remarks hasty.
The mob attack was initially presumed to have been a
spontaneous act triggered by outrage over a movie mocking Islam's Prophet
Muhammad that was produced in the U.S. Cairo
But a U.S. Benghazi
The FBI was sending evidence teams to Libya
Libya's new leadership — scrambling to preserve ties with
Washington after U.S. help to overthrow former dictator Moammar Gadhafi — vowed
to find those behind the attack. Interim President Mohammed el-Megarif
apologized to the United States
Parliament speaker Omar al-Houmidan suggested the attack
might have been planned, saying the mob "may have had foreign
loyalties" — an apparent reference to international terrorists. "We
are not sure. Everything is possible," he said.
A Libyan jihadist group, the Omar Abdel-Rahman Brigades,
claimed responsibility for a bomb that went off outside the Benghazi Libya U.S. Pakistan
About 50 U.S. Marines were sent to Libya U.S. FAST ,
whose role is to respond on short notice to terrorism threats and to reinforce
security at embassies.
The Marines, sent from a base in Spain Tripoli Benghazi U.S.
The consulate attack illustrated the breakdown in security
in Libya
There also were indications that two distinct attacks took
place — one on the consulate, then a second hours later early Wednesday on a
nearby house to which the staff had been evacuated.
The crowd of several thousand that descended on the
consulate was armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, said Wanis
el-Sharef, the deputy interior minister of Libya
A small contingent of Libyan security protecting the
facility fired in the air, trying to intimidate the mob. But faced with
superior size and firepower, the Libyan security withdrew, el-Sharef said.
Gunmen stormed the building, looted its contents and torched it, he said.
Details of how the Americans were killed were still unclear.
Stevens, 52, and a consulate staffer who had stayed behind
in the building died in the initial attack, el-Sharef said. The rest of the
staff successfully evacuated to a nearby building, preparing to move to Benghazi
Airport Tripoli
Hours after the storming of the consulate, a separate group
of gunmen attacked the other building, opening fire on the more than 30
Americans and Libyans inside. Two more Americans were killed, he said.
Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid, who treated Stevens, told The Associated
Press that he died of asphyxiation, apparently from smoke. In a sign of the
chaos, Stevens was brought by Libyans to the Benghazi
Medical Center
He said he tried to revive Stevens for about 90 minutes
"with no success." The ambassador was bleeding in his stomach because
of the asphyxiation but had no other injuries, the doctor said.
Widely regarded as one of the most effective American envoys
to the Arab world, Stevens brokered tribal disputes and conducted U.S. Jerusalem Cairo Damascus Riyadh U.S. Libya
Smith, 34, was an Air Force veteran who had worked as an
information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels Baghdad Pretoria
The bloodshed stunned many Libyans, especially since Stevens
was a popular envoy among different factions and politicians, including
Islamists, and was seen as a supporter of their uprising against Gadhafi.
The leader of Ansar al-Shariah, an armed ultraconservative
Islamist group, denied any involvement in the attack.
"We never approve of killing civilians, especially
those who helped us," Youssef Jihani said in a reference to Stevens.
"We are well-educated and religious."
The violence in Libya
The two-hour movie that sparked the Cairo Egypt
In Cairo
In a statement on his official Facebook page, Egypt
But, he added, authorities "will confront with full
determination any irresponsible attempt to break the law."
Romney's criticism of Obama didn't mesh completely with
events in Cairo
A U.S. Embassy statement that Romney referred to as akin to
apology was issued by the Cairo midday on Tuesday at a
time the staff was aware of still-peaceful demonstrations nearby. It was four
or five hours later when the mob breached the compound's walls and tried to
burn a U.S. Libya
The embassy statement condemned "the continuing efforts
by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we
condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions," and noted that
religious freedom is a cornerstone of American democracy.
About 50 protesters burned American flags outside the U.S.
Embassy in Tunisia Gaza City
A man identifying himself as Sam Bacile, a 56-year-old California
He told the AP he was an Israeli Jew and an American
citizen. But Israeli officials said they had not heard of Bacile and there was
no record of him being a citizen. They spoke on condition of anonymity because
they are not permitted to share personal information with the media.
Separately, the film was being promoted by an extreme
anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United
States
Broken pots and rubble lie at the burned-out entrance to the
U.S. Benghazi , Libya Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012 ,
following an attack the night before by protesters angry over a film that
ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The U.S. Libya
US sends Marines to Libya
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press / September 12, 2012
Tuesday’s stunning attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi U.S.
The one-story villa that serves as the consulate was a
burned-out wreck after the crowd armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled
grenades rampaged through it. Slogans of ‘‘God is great’’ and ‘‘Muhammad is
God’s Prophet’’ were scrawled across its scorched walls. Libyan civilians
strolled freely in charred rooms with furniture and papers strewn everywhere.
President Barack Obama vowed in a Rose Garden address that
the U.S.
Stevens was the first U.S.
‘‘We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs
of others, but there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless
violence. None,’’ said Obama, who also ordered increased security at U.S.
Republican Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration of
showing weakness in the consulate killings, but the president retorted that his
rival ‘‘seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later.’’ Some in the
GOP called Romney’s remarks hasty.
The mob attack on Tuesday — the 11th anniversary of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strike in the U.S. — was initially presumed to have
been a spontaneous act triggered by outrage over a movie called ‘‘Innocence of
Muslims’’ that mocked Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that was produced in the U.S.
and excerpted on YouTube. The amateurish video also drew protests in Cairo
But a U.S. Benghazi
The FBI was sending evidence teams to Libya
Libya’s new leadership — scrambling to preserve ties with
Washington after U.S. help to overthrow former dictator Moammar Gadhafi — vowed
to find those behind the attack. Interim President Mohammed el-Megarif
apologized to the United States
Parliament speaker Omar al-Houmidan suggested the attack
might have been planned, saying the mob ‘‘may have had foreign loyalties’’ — an
apparent reference to international terrorists. ‘‘We are not sure. Everything
is possible,’’ he said.
A Libyan jihadist group, the Omar Abdel-Rahman Brigades,
claimed responsibility for a bomb that went off outside the Benghazi Libya U.S. Pakistan
About 50 U.S. Marines were sent to Libya U.S. FAST ,
whose role is to respond on short notice to terrorism threats and to reinforce
security at embassies.
The Marines, sent from a base in Spain Tripoli Benghazi U.S.
The consulate attack illustrated the breakdown in security
in Libya
There also were indications that two distinct attacks took
place — one on the consulate, then a second hours later early Wednesday on a
nearby house to which the staff had been evacuated.
The crowd of several thousand that descended on the
consulate was armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, said Wanis
el-Sharef, the deputy interior minister of Libya
A small contingent of Libyan security protecting the
facility fired in the air, trying to intimidate the mob. But faced with
superior size and firepower, the Libyan security withdrew, el-Sharef said.
Gunmen stormed the building, looted its contents and torched it, he said.
Details of how the Americans were killed were still unclear.
Stevens, 52, and a consulate staffer who had stayed behind
in the building died in the initial attack, el-Sharef said. The rest of the
staff successfully evacuated to a nearby building, preparing to move to Benghazi
Airport Tripoli
Hours after the storming of the consulate, a separate group
of gunmen attacked the other building, opening fire on the more than 30 Americans
and Libyans inside. Two more Americans were killed, he said.
Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid, who treated Stevens, told The Associated
Press that he died of asphyxiation, apparently from smoke. In a sign of the
chaos, Stevens was brought by Libyans to the Benghazi
Medical Center
He said he tried to revive Stevens for about 90 minutes
‘‘with no success.’’ The ambassador was bleeding in his stomach because of the
asphyxiation but had no other injuries, the doctor said.
Widely regarded as one of the most effective American envoys
to the Arab world, Stevens brokered tribal disputes and conducted U.S. Jerusalem Cairo Damascus Riyadh U.S. Libya
Smith, 34, was an Air Force veteran who had worked as an
information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels Baghdad Pretoria
The bloodshed stunned many Libyans, especially since Stevens
was a popular envoy among different factions and politicians, including
Islamists, and was seen as a supporter of their uprising against Gadhafi.
The leader of Ansar al-Shariah, an armed ultraconservative
Islamist group, denied any involvement in the attack.
‘‘We never approve of killing civilians, especially those
who helped us,’’ Youssef Jihani said in a reference to Stevens. ‘‘We are
well-educated and religious.’’
The violence in Libya
The movie, ‘‘Innocence of Muslims,’’ came to attention in Egypt
In Cairo
In a statement on his official Facebook page, Egypt
But, he added, authorities ‘‘will confront with full
determination any irresponsible attempt to break the law.’’
Romney’s criticism of Obama didn’t mesh completely with
events in Cairo
A U.S. Embassy statement that Romney referred to as akin to
apology was issued by the Cairo midday on Tuesday at a
time the staff was aware of still-peaceful demonstrations nearby. It was four
or five hours later when the mob breached the compound’s walls and tried to burn
a U.S. Libya
The embassy statement condemned ‘‘the continuing efforts by
misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn
efforts to offend believers of all religions,’’ and noted that religious
freedom is a cornerstone of American democracy.
About 50 protesters burned American flags outside the U.S.
Embassy in Tunisia Gaza City
The search for those behind ‘‘Innocence of Muslims’’ led to
a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged
his role in managing and providing logistics for the production.
A man identifying himself as Sam Bacile told the AP on
Tuesday that he wrote, produced and directed the film.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told the AP in an interview
outside Los Angeles
Nakoula denied directing the film and said he knew Bacile.
But the cellphone number that the AP used Tuesday to reach the man who
identified himself as Bacile was traced to the same address near Los
Angeles
Nakoula told the AP that he was a Coptic Christian and said
the film’s director supported the concerns of Christian Copts about their
treatment by Muslims.
Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud
charges in California
Nakoula denied posing as Bacile. During a conversation
outside his home, he offered his driver’s license to show his identity but kept
his thumb over his middle name, Basseley. Records checks by the AP subsequently
found the name ‘‘Basseley’’ and other connections to the Bacile persona.
Bacile told the AP he was an Israeli-born, 56-year-old,
Jewish writer and director. But a Christian activist involved in the film
project, Steve Klein, said Wednesday that ‘‘Bacile’’ was a pseudonym, that he
was not Jewish or Israeli, and a group of Americans of Mideast origin
collaborated on the film. Officials in Israel
And even though Bacile told AP he was 56, he identified
himself on his YouTube profile as 74. Bacile also said he is a real estate
developer, but his name does not appear in searches of California
Film industry groups and permit agencies said they had no
records of ‘‘Innocence of Muslims.’’ A man who answered a phone listed for the
Vine Theater, a faded Hollywood movie house, confirmed
the movie had run for a least a day, and possibly longer, several months ago,
arranged by a customer known as ‘‘Sam.’’
Michael reported from Cairo Tripoli Washington Los Angeles Jerusalem Cairo
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