Libya, Pay back / J. Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, and three other consulate employees were reportedly killed by local militia in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. The consulate was attacked by members of two armed gangs: "17 February brigade" and "Ansar al-Sharia brigade", the same brigades that had been strongly supported by NATO from the air in war against the Libyan army. And J. Christopher Stevens was sent to Benghazi to actively support these Islamists and to coordinate their actions with US government. He came to Libya for a second time in April 2011, arriving on a cargo ship. The US government sent him to "rebel" headquarters in Benghazi to serve as a special representative to the Libyan National Transitional Council.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War." Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta." The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
This morning bright and early the blogger b. at Moon of Alabamabroke an explosive counter narrative to the attack in Libya which killed American Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
b. speculated the attack was carried out to avenge the killing of Abu Yahya al-Libi a high ranking al Qaeda operative who was targetted in a drone strike in June. The video confirmation of al-Libi's death preceded the attack. Moon of Alabama:
The real reason, though unmentioned yet in the media, was likely this:
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has released a videocoinciding with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, confirming for the first time the death of his deputy, US monitors said.
The 42-minute video is Zawahiri's first release in three months, and confirms that Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal areaon June 4, according to SITE and IntelCenter.
Yesterday's confirmation of Abu Yahya al-Libi's death seems to be a much better explanation for yesterday's raising of al-Qaeda's flag in front of the U.S. embassy in Cairo and the deadly attack on the consulate in Bengahzi. The AQ people in the area certainly had an urge and a plan to avenge al-Libi (the Libyan). That this happened on the anniversary of 9/11 is, as the Zahwahiri tape demonstrates, NOT a coincidence! These people used the movie story only to raise additional rabble to cover for them.....
.......(cut)
The U.S. went to Afghanistan to fight Al-Qaeda. There it also captured and tortured one Abu Yahya al-Libi before he fled from Bagram. The U.S. was also working with Gaddhafi in Libya to keep Jihadis like al-Libi down. But in 2011 the U.S. suddenly changed course and Chris Stevens and others worked in lockstep with al-Libi and Salafi forces in Libya to overthrow Gaddhafi. Now, as these forces are out of control, the powers the U.S. unleashed in Libya are coming back to haunt it. Those lovable rebels that heroically dragged Gaddhafis body through the streets of Libya's are now "thugs" for doing the same to the U.S. ambassador. This is obviously a self inflicted wound.
As ambassador Chas W. Freeman explained in a speech last week:
The so-called "global war on terror" or "militant Islam," as so many now openly describe it, has become an endless run in a military squirrel cage that is generating no light but a lot of future anti-American terrorism. It turns out that all that is required to be hated is to do hateful things. Ironically, as we "search abroad for monsters to destroy," we are creating them transforming our foreign detractors into terrorists, multiplying their numbers, intensifying their militancy, and fortifying their hatred of us. The sons and brothers of those we have slain know where we are. They do not forget. No quarter is given in wars of religion. We are generating the very menace that entered our imaginations on 9/11.
The killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya will make further U.S. support for the insurgency in Syria, which is also supported by Al Qaeda and by Libyan Salafist fighters, more unlikely.
(CNN) -- A pro-al Qaeda group responsible for a previous armed assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is the chief suspect in Tuesday's attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, sources tracking militant Islamist groups in eastern Libya say.
They also note that the attack immediately followed a call from al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri for revenge for the death in June of a senior Libyan member of the terror group Abu Yahya al-Libi.
There's lots more data and links at b's report, I recommend.
This news is still developing but we can already say that it will have consequences for the further U.S. involvement in Syria and elsewhere:
The US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, has died from smoke inhalation in an attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, security sources have said.An armed mob attacked and set fire to the building in a protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam's Prophet Muhammad, after similar protests in Egypt's capital.
Three other members of Stevens' staff were killed together with Chris Stevens and the circumstances of their death are still a bit murky. There are unconfirmed pictures floating around that could be consistent with a public lynching.Last year Chris Stevens was very active in helping the Salafist rabble from Benghazi to overthrow the Libyan government:
Chris Stevens, a former U.S. Embassy official in Tripoli and the highest-ranking U.S. representative to travel to Libya since the uprising began, will explore ways to open the funding spigots for an opposition movement that is desperately short of cash and supplies, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday."We're well aware that there's an urgency," spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. "The Transitional National Council does need funding if it's to survive, and we're looking for ways to assist them."
When the job to overthrow and kill Gaddhafi was done Stevens was named U.S. ambassador to Libya.Last night he was killed by exactly those lunatics, who are a disgrace to Islam, Gaddhafi had warned of and had kept under tight control. Such riots do not come out of nowhere. Allegedly these people were incited by the deeds of some other murky lunatic, now in hiding, who is working to create a "clash of civilizations" in the hope that his tribe will benefit from it:
In Benghazi, Libya, several dozen gunmen from an Islamist group, Ansar al Sharia, attacked the consulate with rocket-propelled grenades to protest the film, a deputy interior minister for the Benghazi region told the Al-Jazeera network.
...
The film's 52-year-old writer, director and producer, Sam Bacile, said that he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion. "Islam is a cancer," he said in a telephone interview from his home. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie."Mr. Bacile said he raised $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors, whom he declined to identify.
But that stupid hate-speech movie was likely only the pretext for yesterday's riots and the attacks on U.S. embassies and consulates. The real reason, though unmentioned yet in the media, was likely this:
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has released a video coinciding with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, confirming for the first time the death of his deputy, US monitors said.The 42-minute video is Zawahiri's first release in three months, and confirms that Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal area on June 4, according to SITE and IntelCenter.
Yesterday's confirmation of Abu Yahya al-Libi's death seems to be a much better explanation for yesterday's raising of al-Qaeda's flag in front of the U.S. embassy in Cairo and the deadly attack on the consulate in Bengahzi. The AQ people in the area certainly had an urge and a plan to avenge al-Libi (the Libyan). That this happened on the anniversary of 9/11 is, as the Zahwahiri tape demonstrates, NOT a coincidence! These people used the movie story only to raise additional rabble to cover for them:
Al-Libi was a citizen of Libya, who was captured by ISAF forces in the Invasion of Afghanistan a year after 9/11 (Pakistani authorities and turned over to American authorities, who eventually put him in the Bagram prison.) and was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram interim detention facility. [...] Al-Libi was one of several high-profile Bagram captives who escaped on the night of July 10, 2005.
Al-Libi had one interest in common with Chris Stevens:
On March 12, 2011 al-Libi urged his countrymen to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi's regime and establish Islamic rule, expanding the terror network's attempts to capitalize on the wave of unrest sweeping the region.
The U.S. went to Afghanistan to fight Al-Qaeda. There it also captured and tortured one Abu Yahya al-Libi before he fled from Bagram. The U.S. was also working with Gaddhafi in Libya to keep Jihadis like al-Libi down. But in 2011 the U.S. suddenly changed course and Chris Stevens and others worked in lockstep with al-Libi and Salafi forces in Libya to overthrow Gaddhafi. Now, as these forces are out of control, the powers the U.S. unleashed in Libya are coming back to haunt it. Those lovable rebels that heroically dragged Gaddhafis body through the streets of Libya's are now "thugs" for doing the same to the U.S. ambassador. This is obviously a self inflicted wound. As ambassador Chas W. Freeman explained in a speech last week:
The so-called "global war on terror" or "militant Islam," as so many now openly describe it, has become an endless run in a military squirrel cage that is generating no light but a lot of future anti-American terrorism. It turns out that all that is required to be hated is to do hateful things. Ironically, as we "search abroad for monsters to destroy," we are creating them transforming our foreign detractors into terrorists, multiplying their numbers, intensifying their militancy, and fortifying their hatred of us. The sons and brothers of those we have slain know where we are. They do not forget. No quarter is given in wars of religion. We are generating the very menace that entered our imaginations on 9/11.
The killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya will make further U.S. support for the insurgency in Syria, which is also supported by Al Qaeda and by Libyan Salafist fighters, more unlikely. One might even hope that this incident will lead to a complete turn around of current U.S. policies towards Syria. Hillary Clinton's and the other state department furies who had urged the U.S. to attack Libya and who are also behind the drive against Syria are now confronted with the ruins of their policies. They carry at least some blame for yesterday's deaths.http://www.moonofalabama.org/2012/09/the...ghazi.html
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
The consulate was allegedly stormed by Salafist gunmen
The Tunisian consulate in Benghazi was attacked this evening, Monday, by demonstrators from the Salafist group Ansar Al-Sharia (Soldiers of the Sharia). There were reports of explosions and gunfire. The Salfists said they had acted because of attacks by Tunisian artists against Islam. It also claimed it had found pictures of ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the consulate. It is reported that the Tunisian flag was ripped down in the attack. Sources at the Supreme Security Commission have confirmed the incident, saying that "an Islamic group" had attacked the Tunisian consulate. However, it had moved to contain the attack and said that no one had entered the building. It also denied reports that shots were fired. It said no one had been injured, no serious damage was done and that the demonstrators had withdrawn. However, an hour after the statement, at midnight, shots were still being heard in the area. Locals reported that the "security level is very high". Last week, one person was killed and over 100 injured in riots across Tunisia after a preacher in the town of Zitouna called on people to kill a number of Tunisian artists whom he said had insulated Islam. The imam, Sheikh Hocine Labadi, was referring to an exhibition in the Tunis suburb of La Marsa where, among other displays, artists had presented a naked women being eyed by fundamentalists and the word "Allah" spelled out by line of ants. As a result, militants attacked the exhibition as well as police stations, political party offices and government buildings in a number of towns, setting some on fire. In response, other Tunisians took up arms to protect their areas from the Salafists. The imam has since been banned by Tunisia's Ministry of Religious Affairs from preaching anywhere in the country for inciting murder. Ansar Al-Sharia organised an armed rally in Benghazi 11 days ago demanding the full implementation of Sharia law in the country. There is a similarly named Salafist group in Tunisia. http://www.libyaherald.com/?p=9581
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach, The Independent can reveal.
American officials believe the attack was planned, but Chris Stevens had been back in the country only a short while and the details of his visit to Benghazi, where he and his staff died, were meant to be confidential. The US administration is now facing a crisis in Libya. Sensitive documents have gone missing from the consulate in Benghazi and the supposedly secret location of the "safe house" in the city, where the staff had retreated, came under sustained mortar attack. Other such refuges across the country are no longer deemed "safe". Some of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyans who are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist groups, while some of the other documents are said to relate to oil contracts.
According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under which movement is severely restricted.
Mr Stevens had been on a visit to Germany, Austria and Sweden and had just returned to Libya when the Benghazi trip took place with the US embassy's security staff deciding that the trip could be undertaken safely.
Eight Americans, some from the military, were wounded in the attack which claimed the lives of Mr Stevens, Sean Smith, an information officer, and two US Marines. All staff from Benghazi have now been moved to the capital, Tripoli, and those whose work is deemed to be non-essential may be flown out of Libya.
In the meantime a Marine Corps FAST Anti-Terrorism Reaction Team has already arrived in the country from a base in Spain and other personnel are believed to be on the way. Additional units have been put on standby to move to other states where their presence may be needed in the outbreak of anti-American fury triggered by publicity about a film which demeaned the Prophet Mohamed.
A mob of several hundred stormed the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday. Other missions which have been put on special alert include almost all those in the Middle East, as well as in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Burundi and Zambia. Senior officials are increasingly convinced, however, that the ferocious nature of the Benghazi attack, in which rocket-propelled grenades were used, indicated it [B]was not the result of spontaneous anger due to the video, called Innocence of Muslims. Patrick Kennedy, Under-Secretary at the State Department, said he was convinced the assault was planned due to its extensive nature and the proliferation of weapons.[/B] There is growing belief that the attack was in revenge for the killing in a drone strike in Pakistan of Mohammed Hassan Qaed, an al-Qa'ida operative who was, as his nom-de-guerre Abu Yahya al-Libi suggests, from Libya, and timed for the anniversary of the 11 September attacks.
Senator Bill Nelson, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: "I am asking my colleagues on the committee to immediately investigate what role al-Qa'ida or its affiliates may have played in the attack and to take appropriate action."
According to security sources the consulate had been given a "health check" in preparation for any violence connected to the 9/11 anniversary. In the event, the perimeter was breached within 15 minutes of an angry crowd starting to attack it at around 10pm on Tuesday night. There was, according to witnesses, little defence put up by the 30 or more local guards meant to protect the staff. Ali Fetori, a 59-year-old accountant who lives near by, said: "The security people just all ran away and the people in charge were the young men with guns and bombs."
Wissam Buhmeid, the commander of the Tripoli government-sanctioned Libya's Shield Brigade, effectively a police force for Benghazi, maintained that it was anger over the Mohamed video which made the guards abandon their post. "There were definitely people from the security forces who let the attack happen because they were themselves offended by the film; they would absolutely put their loyalty to the Prophet over the consulate. The deaths are all nothing compared to insulting the Prophet."
Mr Stevens, it is believed, was left in the building by the rest of the staff after they failed to find him in dense smoke caused by a blaze which had engulfed the building. He was discovered lying unconscious by local people and taken to a hospital, the Benghazi Medical Centre, where, according to a doctor, Ziad Abu Ziad, he died from smoke inhalation.
An eight-strong American rescue team was sent from Tripoli and taken by troops under Captain Fathi al- Obeidi, of the February 17 Brigade, to the secret safe house to extract around 40 US staff. The building then came under fire from heavy weapons. "I don't know how they found the place to carry out the attack. It was planned, the accuracy with which the mortars hit us was too good for any ordinary revolutionaries," said Captain Obeidi. "It began to rain down on us, about six mortars fell directly on the path to the villa."
Libyan reinforcements eventually arrived, and the attack ended. News had arrived of Mr Stevens, and his body was picked up from the hospital and taken back to Tripoli with the other dead and the survivors.
Mr Stevens' mother, Mary Commanday, spoke of her son yesterday. "He did love what he did, and he did a very good job with it. He could have done a lot of other things, but this was his passion. I have a hole in my heart," she said. Global anger: The protests spread Yemen
The furore across the Middle East over the controversial film about the Prophet Mohamed is now threatening to get out of control. In Sana'a, the Yemeni capital, yesterday around 5,000 demonstrators attacked the US embassy, leaving at least 15 people injured. Young protesters, shouted: "We sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God," smashed windows of the security offices and burned at least five cars, witnesses said. Egypt
Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi yesterday condemned the attack in Benghazi that killed the US ambassador. In a speech in Brussels, Mr Morsi said he had spoken to President Obama and condemned "in the clearest terms" the Tuesday attacks. Despite this, and possibly playing to a domestic audience, President Obama said yesterday that "I don't think we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy".
Demonstrators in Cairo attacked the mission on Tuesday evening and protests have continued since. Iraq
Militants said the anti-Islamic film "will put all the American interests Iraq in danger" and called on Muslims everywhere to "face our joint enemy", as protesters in Baghdad burned American flags yesterday. The warning from the Iranian-backed group Asaib Ahl al-Haq came as demonstrators demanded the closure of the US embassy in the capital. Bangladesh
Islamists warned they may "besiege" the US embassy in Dhaka after security forces stopped around 1,000 protesters marching to the building. The Khelafat Andolon group called for bigger protests as demonstrators threw their fists in the air, burned the flag and chanted anti-US slogans. Others
There was a Hamas-organised protest in Gaza City, and as many as 100 Arab Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv. In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai postponed a trip to Norway, fearing violence. Officials in Pakistan said they "expected protests". Protesters in Tunis burnt US flags.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Quote:Bodies of six militiamen found in Benghazi after attacks on bases
Militiamen found apparently executed the day after protesters stormed jihadists' bases in Libyan city of Benghazi
Chris Stephen in Benghazi
The Observer, Saturday 22 September 2012 19.06 BST
The Libyan city of Benghazi was tense after the bodies of six militiamen apparently executed after the storming of a base on the southern outskirts were discovered in a field.
The bodies were found the day after crowds marched on three militia bases, including that of Ansar al-Sharia, blamed by many in the city for the murder of the US ambassador, Chris Stevens, earlier this month. Funerals were held for nine protesters killed when crowds tried to force their way into the Rafallah al-Sahati militia base early on Saturday morning.
The militia was the only one of three to fire back when demonstrators swarmed over their bases, following a rally on Friday in which 30,000 people vowed to retake the streets of the city.
The interior minister, Fawzi Abdul Al, who was criticised for his failure to launch a full investigation of the murder of Stevens and three fellow diplomats, criticised the action of the crowds, saying the militias should have been given more time to incorporate into the official security forces.
The mood in Benghazi is one of both triumph and sorrow at the toll of dead and wounded. Mohammed El Kish, whose cousin was killed by a stray bullet more than a mile from the clashes, said: "He was not even involved in the actions, it is terrible."
City hospitals were braced for more violence after the Rafallah al-Sahati militia reoccupied its looted base. Several hundred unarmed people gathered outside. "This is not good, they should not be here. When the funerals have finished there will be trouble," said Ashraf Saleh.
Police remained in control of the Ansar al-Sharia compound, which is now a looted ruin. A spokesman for Ansar al-Sharia, whose units have dispersed outside the city, insisted they had withdrawn rather than confront protesters "for reasons of security".
The chaos at the heart of Libya's government remains, with some angry that Rafallah was attacked after it had formally been incorporated into the Libyan army. Such designations are lost on many ordinary Libyans, who say many militias from last year's revolution have simply cut deals with ministries, enabling them to form what are in essence private armies.
Washington is likely to draw quiet comfort from the sight of ordinary Libyan civilians confronting jihadists, after a week in which embassies across the Muslim world were firebombed and protests claimed 15 lives in Pakistan. US diplomats in Libya had been at pains not to inflame public opinion, with no criticism of the failure of the Libyan police to launch a full investigation into the killing of Stevens.
Nearly two weeks after his death, an FBI team sent to Tripoli has yet to be given permission to travel to Benghazi. The city's chief prosecutor Saleh Adem Mohammed refused to discuss the case, nor confirm reports of four men arrested on suspicion of the killing. "We are not responsible for what the politicians say."
Rumours are sweeping Benghazi that one of the two US compounds in the city that came under attack housed a small "black ops" unit that had moved to Libya after the rocket attack on the British ambassador in the city in June. The US has yet to explain why some 30 diplomats needed to be evacuated from a consulate that might be expected to have less than half that staff.
But as more eyewitness evidence accumulates, it is clear that the attack on the consulate was unprovoked, and that statements from Washington that it grew out of an anti-American protest appear to be false.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War." Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta." The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, the USA liaison to the Libyan revolutionaries, was in Benghasi to arrange for the USA to assist in the establishment of an emergency medical service - ambulance for the city - which still doesn't exist, and might have saved his life if it did.
The killings of the USambassador to Libyaand three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious andcontinuing security breach, The Independent can reveal.
American officials believe the attack was planned, but Chris Stevens had beenback in the country only a short while and the details of his visit to Benghazi,where he and his staff died, were meant to be confidential.
The US administration is now facing a crisis in Libya. Sensitivedocuments have gone missing from the consulate in Benghaziand the supposedly secret location of the "safe house" in the city,where the staff had retreated, came under sustained mortar attack. Other suchrefuges across the country are no longer deemed "safe".
Some of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyanswho are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremistgroups, while some of the other documents are said to relate to oil contracts.
According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credibleinformation 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and theembassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings weregiven for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under whichmovement is severely restricted.
Mr Stevens had been on a visit to Germany,Austria and Swedenand had just returned to Libyawhen the Benghazi trip took placewith the USembassy's security staff deciding that the trip could be undertaken safely.
Eight Americans, some from the military, were wounded in the attack whichclaimed the lives of Mr Stevens, Sean Smith, an information officer, and two USMarines. All staff from Benghazihave now been moved to the capital, Tripoli,and those whose work is deemed to be non-essential may be flown out of Libya.
In the meantime a Marine Corps FASTAnti-Terrorism Reaction Team has already arrived in the country from a base in Spainand other personnel are believed to be on the way. Additional units have beenput on standby to move to other states where their presence may be needed inthe outbreak of anti-American fury triggered by publicity about a film whichdemeaned the Prophet Mohamed.
A mob of several hundred stormed the USembassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday. Other missions which have beenput on special alert include almost all those in the Middle East,as well as in Pakistan,Afghanistan, Armenia,Burundi and Zambia.
Senior officials are increasingly convinced, however, that the ferocious natureof the Benghazi attack, in whichrocket-propelled grenades were used, indicated it was not the result of spontaneous anger due to the video,called Innocence of Muslims. Patrick Kennedy, Under-Secretary at the StateDepartment, said he was convinced the assault was planned due to its extensivenature and the proliferation of weapons.
There is growing belief that the attack was in revenge for the killing in adrone strike in Pakistan of Mohammed Hassan Qaed, an al-Qa'ida operative whowas, as his nom-de-guerre Abu Yahya al-Libi suggests, from Libya,and timed for the anniversary of the 11 September attacks.
Senator Bill Nelson, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said:"I am asking my colleagues on the committee to immediately investigatewhat role al-Qa'ida or its affiliates may have played in the attack and to takeappropriate action."
According to security sources the consulate had been given a "healthcheck" in preparation for any violence connected to the 9/11 anniversary.In the event, the perimeter was breached within 15 minutes of an angry crowdstarting to attack it at around 10pmon Tuesday night. There was, according to witnesses, little defence put up bythe 30 or more local guards meant to protect the staff. Ali Fetori, a59-year-old accountant who lives near by, said: "The security people justall ran away and the people in charge were the young men with guns andbombs."
Wissam Buhmeid, the commander of the Tripoligovernment-sanctioned Libya'sShield Brigade, effectively a police force for Benghazi,maintained that it was anger over the Mohamed video which made the guardsabandon their post. "There were definitely people from the security forceswho let the attack happen because they were themselves offended by the film;they would absolutely put their loyalty to the Prophet over the consulate. Thedeaths are all nothing compared to insulting the Prophet."
Mr Stevens, it is believed, was left in the building by the rest of the staffafter they failed to find him in dense smoke caused by a blaze which hadengulfed the building. He was discovered lying unconscious by local people andtaken to a hospital, the Benghazi Medical Centre, where, according to a doctor,Ziad Abu Ziad, he died from smoke inhalation.
An eight-strong American rescue team was sent from Tripoliand taken by troops under Captain Fathi al- Obeidi, of the February 17 Brigade,to the secret safe house to extract around 40 USstaff. The building then came under fire from heavy weapons. "I don't knowhow they found the place to carry out the attack. It was planned, the accuracywith which the mortars hit us was too good for any ordinaryrevolutionaries," said Captain Obeidi. "It began to rain down on us,about six mortars fell directly on the path to the villa."
Libyan reinforcements eventually arrived, and the attack ended. News hadarrived of Mr Stevens, and his body was picked up from the hospital and takenback to Tripoli with the other deadand the survivors.
Mr Stevens' mother, Mary Commanday, spoke of her son yesterday. "He didlove what he did, and he did a very good job with it. He could have done a lotof other things, but this was his passion. I have a hole in my heart," shesaid.
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