Wednesday, September 12, 2012

US Believes Benghazi Attack on Embassy Was Pre-Planned

U.S. Envoy to Libya May Have Died in Preplanned al-Qaeda Assault

Gopal Ratnam and Tarek El-Tablawy Bloomberg News
September 12, 2012

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The four-hour assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi may have been orchestrated by groups tied to al-Qaeda, lawmakers said as U.S. officials began to investigate the attack.

The attack in Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other U.S. personnel bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda operation and may have been carried out by the terrorist group’s North Africa affiliate to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., said Michigan Republican Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House intelligence committee.

“It certainly appears to me the significance of this date was important,” Rogers told CNN yesterday. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who heads the Senate intelligence panel, also told the network the attack may have been premeditated.

It may have been the work of al-Qaeda because “the weapons were somewhat sophisticated, and they blew a hole in the building and started a big fire, and that’s how the ambassador died, in a fire,” Feinstein said.

It’s too early to say who the perpetrators were and what affiliation they may have had, according to U.S. officials who briefed reporters yesterday on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Early reports portrayed the protest in Libya as a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Islamic video posted on YouTube. The video, which ridicules the Islamic Prophet Muhammed, also sparked demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia.

Egypt Clash

Egyptian police fired tear gas on crowds near the U.S. embassy in Cairo today in a bid to break up a protest, and a police vehicle was set on fire during the clash, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.

The Pentagon dispatched an anti-terrorism team of 50 U.S. Marines from Europe to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, to safeguard the U.S. embassy there and also assist in evacuating American officials from Libya, U.S. officials told reporters yesterday.

Two U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been assigned to patrol off Libya, U.S. officials said. The USS Laboon is already on station, and the USS McFaul will arrive within two days, the officials said. They said the warships, which haven’t received specific orders, will be available for any contingencies.

The assault on the Benghazi compound, which includes a main building, several ancillary buildings and an annex, began about 10 p.m. local time on Sept. 11, according to the officials who briefed reporters.

In about 15 minutes the assailants had breached the perimeter guarded by Libyan security forces and began setting fire to buildings, said one of the officials.

Repelled by Flames

It took Libyan security forces and U.S. personnel, repelled by flames, dark smoke and small-arms fire, four hours to regain control, the official said. By 2 a.m., three Americans were found dead inside the compound, and Ambassador Stevens couldn’t be found, the official said. Stevens had been taken to a hospital and his body was later returned to U.S. personnel at the Benghazi airport, the official said.

The consulate in Benghazi came under rocket attack, Libya’s deputy interior minister, Wanis El-Sharif, said by phone yesterday. The British Broadcasting Corp. said attackers also threw homemade bombs at the compound.

El-Sharif said in a news conference that supporters of Muammar Qaddafi, who was overthrown and killed in last year’s revolt, were behind the attack, the Libya News Agency reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sean Smith, a foreign service information management official, was one of those killed in Benghazi. The families of the two other Americans were yet to be notified, she said.

Danish Cartoons

The deaths in Libya and protests outside U.S. embassies in Egypt and Tunisia recalled the worldwide demonstrations in 2005 after a Danish newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The conflict threatens U.S. efforts to establish new ties in a region where leaders including Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally, and Libya’s Qaddafi were toppled last year and Islamist parties are growing in influence.

President Barack Obama condemned the Libya attack “in the strongest terms” and vowed to work with Libyan officials to track down those responsible. “No act of terror will ever shake this great nation,” Obama said yesterday at the White House Rose Garden, with Clinton at his side.

Libya’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ali Aujali issued “an apology to America and the American people” and said at a news conference in Washington that his government “will try everything possible to find out who is responsible for this deadly attack.”

Personnel Evacuated

Those killed in the attack and other American personnel were evacuated by chartered flights from Benghazi to Tripoli and later to Germany, one of the U.S. officials said. Wounded personnel will be treated in Germany and the remains of the dead would be flown to the U.S., the official said.

The attack in Benghazi was the most serious to date against a foreign mission in a country that’s struggled to ensure security since Qaddafi’s ouster. Benghazi, the birthplace of the uprising, has seen attacks on British diplomats and an earlier attack on the U.S. consulate, while Libyan government buildings have been targeted in Tripoli.

Tunis Tear Gas

In Tunisia, authorities fired tear gas and rubber bullets yesterday to repel a crowd of several hundred protesters who tried to storm the U.S. embassy in Tunis, the north African nation’s capital, to protest the anti-Islamic film. Earlier, a smaller crowd of Salafi Muslims, who adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam, had burned an American flag outside the mission.

In Cairo, protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy Sept. 11, ripping down the U.S. flag and replacing it with a banner carrying an Islamic inscription. Egyptian police arrested four protesters and held them for questioning on charges of rioting and disturbing public opinion, the state-run Ahram Gate website reported.

A 14-minute clip of the video aired on Google Inc.’s YouTube shows a fictional attack by Muslims on a Christian family followed by an account of the origins of Islam depicting Muhammad as a womanizer. The origins and backers of the film remain unclear.

Google’s Action

Google said yesterday that YouTube has blocked access to the video in Egypt and Libya “given the very difficult situation” in both countries.

The video will remain on the site because it meets YouTube’s guidelines, Mountain View, California-based Google said in an e-mailed statement.

While Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney joined Republican and Democratic lawmakers in condemning the attacks, he also said the Obama administration sent “mixed signals” by failing to disavow a statement issued on Sept. 11 by the U.S. embassy in Cairo before the death of the American ambassador. The embassy was “effectively apologizing for the right of free speech,” Romney said.

The statement posted on the embassy’s website said the embassy “condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”

American air power helped Libya’s insurgents overthrow Qaddafi, while in Egypt the military has received more than $1 billion a year in U.S. aid since 1979 in return for maintaining a peace treaty with Israel.

Ambassador’s Service

Stevens, 52, arrived in Tripoli as ambassador in May, having served as special representative to the Transitional National Council from March 2011, shortly after the start of the rebellion against Qaddafi. He served as deputy chief of mission in Libya from 2007 to 2009, according to a biography published online by the U.S. State Department.

Obama said in a statement that he had directed the government to provide “all necessary resources to support” the staff in Libya and to boost security at U.S. missions worldwide. “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,” Obama said.

Egypt March

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood called for a million-man march on Sept. 14 to protest the video. Under Islam, any depiction or representation of the prophet is deemed blasphemous and ridiculing him is even more serious.

The protests cast a new spotlight on Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt after the election of President Mohamed Mursi, who came from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood. After clashes between Muslims and Christians in the months following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak last year, Mursi’s government has repeatedly said it will represent all Egyptians.

The United States must take a “firm stand” against the producers of the film and act in line with international accords that “criminalize actions that create sectarian strife” on the basis of race, color or religion, Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil told reporters yesterday, reading from a government statement.

--With assistance from Saleh Sarar and Dana El Baltaji in Dubai, Glen Carey in Riyadh, Terry Atlas, Larry Liebert, Laura Litvan, Nicole Gaouette, David Lerman, Tony Capaccio and Nadeem Hamid in Washington, Jihen Laghmari in Cairo and Brian Womack in San Francisco. Editors: Larry Liebert, John Walcott

To contact the reporters on this story: Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.net; Gopal Ratnam in Washington at gratnam1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/U-S-Envoy-to-Libya-May-Have-Died-in-Preplanned-3861146.php#ixzz26Jevbi2L

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