Thread: US launches military action against Libya

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US ambassador killed in consulate attack in Libya
By ESAM MOHAMED and MAGGIE MICHAEL

Associated Press TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three American members of his staff were killed in the attack on the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi by protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad, Libyan officials said Wednesday.

They said Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed Tuesday night when he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as the building came under attack by a mob guns and rocket propelled grenades.

The three Libyan officials who confirmed the deaths were deputy interior minister for eastern Libya Wanis al-Sharaf; Benghazi security chief Abdel-Basit Haroun; and Benghazi city council and security official Ahmed Bousinia.

The State Department said Tuesday that one American was killed in the attack. It has not confirmed the other deaths.

The attack on the Benghazi consulate took place as hundreds of protesters in neighboring Egypt scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down and replaced the American flag with a black Islamic banner.

The attacks in Benghazi and Cairo were the first such assaults on U.S. diplomatic facilities in either country, at a time when both Libya and Egypt are struggling to overcome the turmoil following the ouster of their longtime authoritarian leaders, Moammar Gadhafi and Hosni Mubarak, in uprisings last year.

The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over a film ridiculing Muhammad produced by an Israeli filmmaker living in California and being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States. Excerpts from the film dubbed into Arabic were posted on YouTube.

Stevens, 52, was a career diplomat who spoke Arabic and French and had already served two tours in Libya, including running the office in Benghazi during the revolt against Gadhafi. He was confirmed as ambassador to Libya by the Senate earlier this year.

Before Tuesday, five U.S. ambassadors had been killed in the line of duty, the last being Adolph Dubs in Afghanistan in 1979, according to the State Department historian's office.

http://www.wafb.com/story/19519347/a...test-over-film

Reports out of Libya are that the U.S. ambassador there, Christopher Stevens, and three other members of the embassy staff have been killed in a rocket attack on their car. This follows the news of the killing of a U.S. consular diplomat in an earlier attack on our consulate in Benghazi. That may be referring to the killing of the ambassador. It's not clear.

U.S. ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi attack
By Tamim Elyan and Omar al-Mosmari

BENGHAZI, Libya | Wed Sep 12, 2012 7:56am EDT

Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff were killed in a rocket attack on their car, a Libyan official said, as they were rushed from a consular building stormed by militants denouncing a U.S.-made film insulting the Prophet Mohammad.

Gunmen had attacked and burned the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, a center of last year's uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, late on Tuesday evening, killing one U.S. consular official. The building was evacuated.

The Libyan official said the ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was being driven from the consulate building to a safer location when gunmen opened fire.

"The American ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets at them," the official in Benghazi told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department in Washington. U.S. ambassadors in such volatile countries are accompanied by tight security, usually travelling in well-protected convoys. Security officials will be considering whether the two attacks were coordinated.

Libyan deputy prime minister Mustafa Abu Shagour condemned the killing of the U.S. diplomats as a cowardly act.

The consular official had died after clashes between Libyan security forces and Islamist militants around the consulate building. Looters raided the empty compound and some onlookers took pictures after calm returned.

In neighboring Egypt, demonstrators had torn down an American flag and burned it during the protest. Some tried to raise a black flag with the words "There is no God but God, and Mohammad is his messenger", a Reuters witness said.

PORTRAYAL OF PROPHET

U.S. pastor Terry Jones, who had inflamed anger in the Muslim world in 2010 with plans to burn the Koran, said he had promoted "Innocence of Muslims", which U.S. media said was produced by an Israeli-American property developer; but clips of another film called "Mohammad, Prophet of Muslims", had been circulating for weeks before the protest.

That film portrayed Mohammad as a fool, a philanderer and a religious fake. In one clip posted on YouTube Mohammad was shown in a sexual act with a woman.

Jones, a pastor in Florida whose latest stunt fell on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, triggered riots in Afghanistan in 2010 with his threat to burn the Koran.

Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet offensive and any depiction of him can cause outbursts of anger in the Islamic world and among Muslims in Europe.

Libya's interim government has struggled to impose its authority on a myriad of armed groups that have refused to lay down their weapons and often take the law into their own hands.

It was clearly overwhelmed by Tuesday night's attack on the consulate that preceded the assault on the ambassador.

"The Libyan security forces came under heavy fire and we were not prepared for the intensity of the attack," said Abdel-Monem Al-Hurr, spokesman for Libya's Supreme Security Committee.

In Benghazi, unidentified men had shot at the consulate buildings, while others threw handmade bombs into the compound, setting off small explosions.

LOOTED

On Wednesday morning, the compound stood empty, with passers-by freely walking in to take a look at the damage.

Walls were charred and a small fire burned inside one of the buildings. A small group of men was trying to extinguish the flames and three security men briefly surveyed the scene.

A Reuters reporter saw chairs, table and food lying alongside empty shells. Some blood stains could also be seen in front of one of the buildings. Three cars were torched.

The crowd of around 2,000 protesters in Cairo was a mixture of Islamists and teenage soccer fans known for fighting police and who played a part in the revolt that toppled Egypt's leader Hosni Mubarak last year.

The fortress-like U.S. mission is near Tahrir Square, where Egypt's uprising began and the scene of many protests since. Youths danced and chanted football songs. A Reuters reporter said they appeared to climb into the embassy compound almost as an afterthought.

"We sacrificed dozens and hundreds during the uprising for our dignity. The Prophet's dignity is more important to us and we are ready to sacrifice millions," said mosque preacher Mohamed Abu Gabal who joined the protest.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a statement late on Tuesday, confirmed the death of the U.S. consular diplomat in Libya, who was not identified, and condemned the attack there; but she made no mention of an attack on the Ambassador's car.

(Additional reporting by Hadeel Al Shalchi in Tripoli, Sarah N. Lynch and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, and Reuters reporters in Cairo and Benghazi; Writing by Edmund Blair and Tom Pfeiffer; editing by Ralph Boulton and Janet McBride)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88B0EI20120912

Ambassador Killed, Embassy Attacked: A Time of Testing
John Podhoretz | @jpodhoretz 09.12.2012 - 6:16 AM

If reports are true, Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was one of four diplomats killed yesterday in a rocket strike in Benghazi. This is awful, calamitous, horrible news in a hundred different ways, not only for his family and for the Foreign Service in which he served so honorably, but when it comes to the most fundamental rule of relations between countries from time immemorial—which is that their emissaries are guaranteed safe passage and safe conduct when they travel on behalf of their own governments. We can presume Stevens and his colleagues were not killed by the Libyan government, because if that were the case, this would be nothing less than an act of war that required a response.

As we saw yesterday in Cairo, with the assault on the U.S. embassy there on the pretext of a cinematic offense against the Prophet, the United States has entered a new time of testing in the long war against Islamism—with assaults on official U.S. property and U.S. personnel. Such tests have always been highly problematic for us; before this becomes an occasion to blame Barack Obama’s weakness and vascillation, it’s worth remembering that the United States has never handled it well. In the 1960s, radicals attacking U.S. embassies became a kind of running joke. The joke ended in 1979 with the taking of the hostages in Iran, which was a state action in the guise of a radical private action.

But after yesterday, the test is Obama’s.



The strange spectacle of the dreadful initial response from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo—apologizing for an offense that the United States did not offer and that under any circumstances would not justify an attack—followed by a White House disavowal six hours later (“we didn’t clear it”) can be ascribed to the initial daze of a two-pronged attack that must have left everyone in shock. That lack of clarity must end today, or there will be more of this. Much more.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...9JYBRA.twitter

comments

OK, but it was Obama's mideast policy that fostered in a change in governments across the region, so there is some more responsibility here than just a random embassy attack.

And really, how much more like Jimmy Carter can he become, and have people still vote for him?

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But ... But ... But ... But didn't the Libyans and Egyptians listen to the famous Obama Cairo speech? Perhaps they missed it.

And Obama even pronounces Pahk-EEE-stun so authentically.

And he helped Libyan Al-Queida overthrow Gaddafi.

And he refused to see Netanyahu later this month, while agreeing to see Morsi!

This must all be some misunderstanding.

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I am expecting Obama to demand the prosecution of all Americans who besmirch the Prophet. A second term Obama will introduce some modern version of Yellow Stars.

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Romney criticizes Obama’s response to Middle East violence
By Holly Bailey, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 9 hrs ago.

Mitt Romney sharply criticized President Barack Obama's response to attacks on the United States Embassy in Egypt and the U.S. Consulate in Libya, accusing him of sympathizing with those who carried out the attacks.

"I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi," Romney said in a statement issued to reporters late Tuesday. "It's disgraceful that the Obama Administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."

Romney was referring to a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo that apologized for an obscure anti-Muslim film being distributed by an Israeli-American real estate developer that prompted the protests Tuesday.

An unnamed Obama administration official later disavowed that apology to Politico's Byron Tau, saying it "does not reflect the views of the U.S. government."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/r...-election.html

comments

The US should terminate the billions of dollars given as foreign aid to so many countries whose friendship doesn't even start to come close to the amount of money we dish-out. 2 Billion dollars to Pakistan is outrageous, and congress should be asjhamed of these wanton acts of largese.

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FACT: The days of the U.S. being the World's policeman is over. Let the warring nations do their own fighting and leave us, our soldiers and the millions of innocents the hell out of that scenario. Just look at Iraq...I rest my case 'yer honor!

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Obama gave 1500 milliion(1.5 billion) dollars to Egypt and they do this to us. Cut off their funding.

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These are acts of war, US embassy are American soil

President Obama silent while US Consulate in Libya burned;
Update: Romney calls Obama’s response ‘disgraceful’
Posted at 9:43 pm on September 11, 2012 by Twitchy Staff

Jason B. Whitman@JasonBWhitman

Clint Eastwood's #RNC2012 performance sure seems a lot more apropos after today's events.

11 Sep 12

The protests that started at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo today took an even more ominous turn as news outlets reported the death of a U.S. official in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Just last week at their convention, the Democrats offered Sen. John Kerry as the party’s voice of foreign policy, criticizing Mitt Romney for drawing his knowledge of Russia from watching “Rocky IV.” Tonight, though, with word of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi having been burned down, the Twitterverse wants to know if there’s an empty chair sitting next to that ringing telephone.

FloridaJayhawk@FloridaJayhawk

That 3am Phone Is Ringing!!!!!
American Killed in Libya Consulate Attack.
Obama is Silent.

11 Sep 12

Kasie Hunt@kasie

9/11/12: American killed in Libya; US emb. in Cairo overrun; Putin weighs in. At home, Obama trying to label Romney a neophyte. #alleconomy?

11 Sep 12

Kerrick Whisenant@kwhisenant

11 year anniversary of 9/11: US attacked in Egypt & Libya; Obama tells Israel to pound sand. #forward ??? More like speeding in reverse!!!

11 Sep 12

Mallory Jones@malloryjones83

Sooo...obama how bout that foreign policy of urs... Diplomat killed in Libya, Morsi meeting w/Iran, & egyptians tearing down US flag on 9/11

11 Sep 12

Kerry wasn’t the only figure from the Democrats’ past to emerge for the convention. Former President Jimmy Carter spoke via video, and today’s events have him back in the top of people’s minds.

BiasedGirl@BiasedGirl

So basically Obama went "Full Carter" today.

11 Sep 12

Mike Robbins@MikeRobbinsUSA

Embassy is sovereign soil of its country. Attacking embassy is an act of war. Obama acting like Clinton (Kenya & Tanzania) & Carter (Iran).

11 Sep 12

RB@RBPundit


Anyone know how long it took Carter to make a statement after the Iranian embassy was stormed?

11 Sep 12

RB@RBPundit

Re: Carter response -> RT @KRMullins1964: @RBPundit If my memory serves me, I think it was less than thirty minutes.

11 Sep 12

Jason B. Whitman@JasonBWhitman

Pretty much impossible to not see the similarities between Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama when you see this pic.twitter.com/KMlKFxQw

11 Sep 12

Update:

Romney released a statement Tuesday night saying he was “outraged” by the attacks by Islamists on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and calling the White House’s response “disgraceful.”

I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.

An administration official attempted to disavow the embassy’s original statement earlier tonight, saying it had not been cleared in Washington.

RB@RBPundit

Anyone got money on whether the media will be more upset with Romney’s reaction to Obama’s failure re: embassies than with Obama? #tcot

11 Sep 12

http://twitchy.com/2012/09/11/presid...-libya-burned/

Chris Stevens Photos?: Images Appear To Show U.S. Ambassador After Benghazi Attack (GRAPHIC)
Posted: 09/12/2012 8:24 am Updated: 09/12/2012 8:47 am

And now it appears that Libyan mobs were carrying our ambassador's body through the streets. https://twitter.com/CedarPosts/statu...30909683712000 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1876695.html

The White House Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release September 12, 2012
Statement by the President on the Attack in Benghazi

I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America's commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.

I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.

On a personal note, Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States. Throughout the Libyan revolution, he selflessly served our country and the Libyan people at our mission in Benghazi. As Ambassador in Tripoli, he has supported Libya's transition to democracy. His legacy will endure wherever human beings reach for liberty and justice. I am profoundly grateful for his service to my Administration, and deeply saddened by this loss.

The brave Americans we lost represent the extraordinary service and sacrifices that our civilians make every day around the globe. As we stand united with their families, let us now redouble our own efforts to carry their work forward.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...ttack-benghazi

Sean Smith confirmed as second American killed in Libyan attack; Sent chat message before death?
Posted at 8:39 am on September 12, 2012 by Twitchy Staff

e Tapper✔
@jaketapper

State Dept ID's a 2nd American killed in Benghazi, Foreign Service Information Management Officer, Sean Smith.

12 Sep 12

Secretary Clinton confirmed that Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith was killed in the terrible attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that also claimed the life of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and two others.

Peter Doocy@pdoocy

Secretary Clinton names 2nd American killed in Libya:"Sean Smith was a husband and a father of two, who joined the Department ten years ago"

12 Sep 12

Michael Forian@Forian

US State Department official Sean Smith, who was killed in #Benghazi, previously worked at the American consulate in Montreal.

12 Sep 12

The families of the other two victims have not been notified yet.

Laura Rozen@lrozen

Clinton: W/ profound sadness share news of death of Amb. Chris Stevens, Foreign Service Info Officer Sean Smith. Notifying kin of 2 others

12 Sep 12

Smith was reportedly an online gamer and frequent player of EVE Online.

Ben Crosse@bencrosse

Sean Smith aka Vile Rat meant a lot to me and my friends who play a silly spaceship game. An article about him: http://themittani.com/news/rip-vile-rat

12 Sep 12

Simon Lim@slim_lim

Struck by how humanizing this story is: Slain consulate staffer Sean Smith joked: "assuming we don't die tonight."ow.ly/dEpxo

12 Sep 12

A friend says Smith sent this online chat message: http://themittani.com/news/rip-vile-rat

“(12:54:09 PM) vile_rat: assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.”

Bee Sendz@BeeSendz

RIP Chris Stevens, Sean Smith and the others killed in Libya. America thanks you for your diplomatic service. ����

12 Sep 12

http://twitchy.com/2012/09/12/sean-s...-before-death/

“(12:54:09 PM) vile_rat: assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.”

Is it just me - but that would lead me to believe that this was a planned coordinated attack ... not a spontanous action by "students" upset by a percieved 'insult to Islam'

I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

~~ Barack Obama
The White House Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release September 12, 2012
Statement by the President on the Attack in Benghazi

“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
~~ Barack Obama
from Audacity of Hope

They don't want to peaceably co-exist. America has a hard time understanding this.