interests. State Department officials said they do not know who took Stevens to the hospital or transported the body to the airport and into U.S. [147], Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur's office condemned the attack and extended condolences, saying: "While strongly condemning any attempt to abuse the person of Muhammad, or an insult to our holy places and prejudice against the faith, we reject and strongly condemn the use of force to terrorize innocent people and the killing of innocent people." At least 48 people were killed in ensuing clashes, which have yielded neither an investigation nor any prosecutions. He found Woods on the roof with two other agents. Join our movement today. After the attack, all diplomatic staff were moved to the capital, Tripoli, with nonessential personnel to be flown out of Libya. USA Today reported that protests in Cairo that preceded the attack on Benghazi were intended to protest the imprisonment of Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman and announced as early as August 30. Thu 13 Sep 2012 07.22 EDT. But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. On July 26, 2013, prominent political activist Abdelsalam Elmessmary, who had denounced the murders and criticized Islamist groups three days earlier during a TV appearance, was killed while walking home. 6 of 30 7 of 30 A man looks at documents at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012. He further stated he was the commander of an Islamist brigade, Abu Obaida ibn al-Jarrah, some of whose members had joined Ansar al-Sharia. Mustafa al-Imam, a Libyan national approximately 48 years old, was found guilty of terrorism charges for his participation in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Special Mission and Annex in Benghazi, Libya. 921. Others accuse Qaddafi "loyalists" of responsibility. On September 28, a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence stated, In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo. At the time, they were informed that the attack was a "terrorist attack". [179], On September 12, it was reported that the United States Navy dispatched two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, USSMcFaul and USSLaboon, to the Libyan coast. and cars are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi, Libya . [244], On the edition of October 24 of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer claimed that a State Department e-mail, which passed along a report from Embassy Tripoli that Ansar al-Sharia had claimed responsibility for the attack on Facebook and Twitter,[245][246] proved that the White House knew of terrorist connections to the attack almost immediately. '"[154] She went on to say: "We've seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men.". The FBI opened its investigation soon after the attack and it remains ongoing. This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated. [132], Conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg of the National Review stated that on NBC's Meet the Press, host David Gregory changed the subject when a guest raised the subject of the Benghazi attack, saying, "Let's get to Libya a little bit later", but never returned to the subject. "Do they want us all to get killed before they respond?". I want people around the world to hear me: To all those who would do us harm, no act of terror will go unpunished. Stevens sent cables to D.C., including a Benghazi weekly report of security incidents . And yet despite its own resolution pledging to remain "seized" of the situation in Libya, it has tragically failed to do so. [117][118] It was further reported that Ahmed Abu Khattala was called a ringleader of the attack by both witnesses and authorities, though he insisted he did not play a part in the aggression at the American compound. On September 13, Rachel Maddow, during her show on MSNBC, stated: An organized attack. "[208], On October 4, 22 days after the attack, FBI investigators were finally allowed access to the scene of the attack. The fighter planes based in Aviano were unarmed and no aerial refueling planes were within a 10-hour flight to the base. Efforts", "US Names Chris Stevens Liaison to Libyan Opposition", "Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For", "Will a Middle East awash with weapons be Gaddafi's final legacy? The vehicle was able to make it to its destination with two flat tires, and the gates to the annex were closed behind them at 11:50p.m.[40]:4345[70], The US military had mobilized three separate teams to respond to the attack including EUCOM's CIF (Commander's-in-Extremis Force, a specialized direct action/hostage rescue team made up of US Special Forces soldiers)[86] from central Europe, a Marine Security Force Regiment team from Rota, Spain, and an unnamed special operations forces team which was in the US at the time. [154], In the days after the attack, The New York Times stated that young Libyans had flooded Twitter with pro-American messages after the attacks. [87][88], Diplomatic Security Service agents/Regional Security Officers informed their headquarters in Washington about the attack just as it was beginning at about 9:40p.m. local time (3:40p.m. Eastern Time (ET)). "[128] However, on the same day of the Clinton phone call, Ansar al-Sharia issued a statement saying it "didn't participate as a sole entity; rather, it was a spontaneous popular uprising in response to what happened by the West," an apparent reference to the release of the video. [166] Hours before the announcement, in Derna, the two main militias (one of them Ansar al-Sharia) active in the city both withdrew, leaving both their five military bases behind. In his Univision Town Hall appearance on September 20, President Obama said 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 U.S. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people. [232][233] Romney was accused by the Obama campaign of trying to exploit the attacks for political gain, leading the father of Ambassador Stevens to call for both campaigns to avoid making it a campaign issue. On September 11, 2012, the Islamic militant group, Ansar al-Sharia, attacked the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. At the time, AFRICOM, which is responsible for operations in Africa, was the only combatant command which did not have its own CIF team thus having to request EUCOM's assistance. By this time, communicators at the CIA annex were notifying the chain of command about current developments, and a small CIA and JSOC element in Tripoli that included Glen Doherty was attempting to find a way to Benghazi. Using these talking points as a guide, Rice stated: 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 embassysparked by this hateful video. [266], According to The Wall Street Journal, the e-mail was written to prepare U.S. The incident sparked controversy and ignited a political firestorm in the United States. [112], On September 10, 2012, at least 18 hours before the attack in Benghazi, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video to coincide with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which called for attacks on Americans in Libya in order to avenge the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2012. Ibrahim al-Sanussi Agilah, head of intelligence for the eastern region, was gunned down in his car on May 8. On July 30, 2013, Rep. Ed Royce (R, CA-39) introduced the Department of State Operations and Embassy Security Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2014 (H.R. Though they took him to be a foreigner, no one recognized him as Stevens. The head of the ICRC's delegation in Libya said the aid group was "appalled" by the attack and "extremely concerned" about escalating violence in Libya. The moderator of the debate, Candy Crowley, agreed, stating "Hehe did call it an act of terror." It was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying?" "[210], To assist the Libyan government in disbanding extremist groups, the Obama administration allocated $8 million to begin building an elite Libyan commando force over the next year. On May 30, 2013, it was reported that the Republican National Committee filed a FOIA for "any and all emails or other documents containing the terms 'Libya' and/or 'Benghazi' dated between September 11, 2012 and November 7, 2012 directed from or to U.S. Department of State employees originating from, or addressed to, persons whose email addresses end in either 'barackobama.com' or 'dnc.org'". [249][250] In an interview with the Associated Press, Fox News' White House correspondent Ed Henry suggested that he thought Benghazi was being covered too much by the network. Two British protection officers were injured in the attack when their convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade 300 meters from their consulate office. These accusations were widely shared across various blogs and social media platforms. [241], Multiple conservative media outlets, most notably Fox News, promulgated an elaborate narrative of a scandal and cover-up by officials of the Obama administration, including, among other things, accusations that officials issued a "stand-down order" to preclude a military rescue operation; that officials knowingly lied by repeatedly asserting the attack was spontaneously triggered by the Innocence of Muslims video rather than a pre-planned terrorist attack; that a secret CIA gun-running operation to Syrian rebels was being conducted out of Libya; that President Obama and Hillary Clinton were absent and negligent on the night of the attack; that Hillary Clinton had personally declined multiple requests for more security at the compound; that a live video feed of the attack was viewed at the White House or State Department; that Ambassador Stevens had been captured by terrorists and dragged through the streets; and that witnesses had been prevented from testifying. [5] [6] Stevens is the first U.S. ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs was killed in 1979. [151] Think Progress stated that Libyans are typically more positively inclined towards the United States than their neighbors. [119][120][121] CNN,[119] the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,[122] Commentary Magazine[121] and The Daily Telegraph[120] have listed this group as a chief suspect. [40]:58 By the time of the attack, a composite U.S. Special Operations team with two JSOC members was already in Libya working on their mission profile independently of the CIA and State Department operations. [165][166][169], Hundreds of Libyans, mainly former rebel fighters, gathered in the city centers of Tripoli and Benghazi to hand over their weapons to the government on September 29. [138], Also in October, a Libyan suspect, Karim el-Azizi, who had recently returned to Egypt from Libya and was storing weapons in his hideout, detonated a bomb and was found dead in his apartment after clashes with security forces. [40]:4546 That same morning, Libyan government forces met up with a group of Americans, reinforcements from Tripoli including Glen Doherty,[92][93] that had arrived at the Benghazi airport. custody.[104]. [141] He received financing from the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, petitioned Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to establish a new Al-Qaeda affiliate he called al-Qaeda in Egypt,[140][141] and was subsequently detained by Egyptian authorities in December 2012. His credibility was reduced,' Hicks said, adding that the president was apparently 'still steamed' two weeks later. President Obama responded, "The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened," Obama said. "[40]:34, According to a local security official, he and a battalion commander had met with United States Diplomats three days before the attack and warned the Americans about deteriorating security in the area. The government formed a "National Mobile Force" for the purpose of evicting illegal militias. It was either willful ignorance or abysmal intelligence to think that people come to spontaneous demonstrations with heavy weapons, mortars, and the attack goes on for hours. He drove away in a police car and a complaint was made to the Libyan police station. A possible political motive for the investigation was revealed on September 29, 2015, when Republican House majority leader Kevin McCarthy, then vying to become Speaker of the House, told Sean Hannity on Fox News that the investigation was part of a "strategy to fight and win,' adding "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? The 2012 Benghazi attack was a coordinated attack against two United States government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia.. On September 11, 2012, at 9:40 pm local time, members of Ansar al-Sharia attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi resulting in the deaths of both United States Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and . [82] Three agents returned to the main building in an armored vehicle, searched the building and found Smith's body, but not Stevens. 'President Magariaf was insulted in front of his own people, in front of the world. [206], Also on September 28, it was reported that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the producer of the Innocence of Muslims video, had been arrested in California and was being held without bail for alleged probation violations stemming from a 2010 bank fraud conviction. [110][111] Stevens was the first United States ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1979. [+] following an overnight attack on the building. [247][248], On November 26, 2012, journalist Tom Ricks went on Fox News' Happening Now with Jon Scott to discuss the attack. Senators,[199] which several Republican attendees criticized. [170] The campaign has been less successful in other areas, such as the remote Nafusa Mountains, inhabited by the Nafusi-speaking Berber minority, where the Emirati news agency The National reported on September 23 that arms were being hoarded. "[183] He went on to say: There was no intelligence that in any way could have been acted on to prevent these attacks. During Congressional hearings, Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens' top deputy in Libya, Gregory N. Hicks, testified that Ambassador Stevens was in Benghazi in 2012 because "Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton wanted the post made permanent", and it was understood that the secretary hoped to make an announcement to that effect during a visit to Tripoli later in the year. "[214], On October 19, 2012, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) came under fire from intelligence officials in the Obama administration when he posted, on a public website, 166 pages of sensitive but unclassified State Department communications related to Libya. [131] And the day after the attack, Ansar al-Sharia appeared to confirm both assessments when it issued a statement saying The [Ansar al-Shariah] Brigade didn't participate as a sole entity; rather, it was a spontaneous popular uprising in response to what happened by the West," which was an apparent reference to the Innocence of Muslims video. The eastern region, in and around the city of Derna, is notorious for the prevalence of Islamist militias. He blamed the police and interior ministry's lack of authority to conduct arrests for the stalled justice process, but assured us the investigations were "ongoing.". In May, retired Gen. Khalifa Haftar took matters into his own hands, launching "Operation Dignity" -- an armed campaign aimed at fighting Islamist militia "terrorists," and thus ending the bloodshed. [157][158], The Libyan response to the crisis was praised and appreciated in the United States, and President Obama emphasized how the Libyans "helped our diplomats to safety" to an American audience the following day,[15] while a New York Times editorial criticized Egypt's government for not doing "what Libyan leaders did". "[239] However, immediately upon release of the committee's report on November 21, 2014, the Associated Press reported that the Committee did not conclude that any "government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people. "[204], On September 26, Clinton acknowledged a possible link between Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Benghazi attack.[205]. As the Libyan . April 27, 2011 / 4:03 PM / CBS/AP. Share this via Twitter And while the violence is reprehensible and unjustified, it is not a reaction to the 9/11 anniversary that we know of, or to U.S. policy. [174][175] It was announced that the FBI would investigate the possibility of the attack being planned. Share this via Reddit [82], According to the Annex Security Team, they had become aware of the consulate attack after 9:30p.m. local time, and were ready to respond; however, they were delayed by "the top CIA officer in Benghazi". Hayes argues that there's "the real Benghazi" the actual city in Libya, a place where things of real concern like the 9/11/12 attack happen and "#Benghazi," which he defines as "the world . Share this via Facebook There is no easy answer to what happens next, and no magic wand. In Benghazi and Derna, HRW found that roughly 35 people have been killed in seemingly targeted assassinations each month, on average, from January to May of this year. Hanan Salah is the Libya researcher at Human Rights Watch. 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