US Unable to Secure Benghazi Consulate for FBI Investigation

2 Comments

1. 

   Oui on October 2, 2012 at 9:29 am

   [Posted earlier in my diary on Sept. 15, 2012]

   BooMan, you won’t find the answers in a nice review of events at Foggy Bottom. There were plenty of signs this year the 11th anniversary of 9/11 would not pass quietly in Libya. The US consulate should have been evacuated. One should ask where lies the failures to recognize unfolding events ending in the deadly attack. As I have stated before, Libya has no central authority to maintain security. The nation is divided in militias according to the dozens of tribes. Insult to the prophet Muhammad and charges of blasphemy are considered extremely grave. Even in Egypt, president Morsi was careful not to criticise the protests as this would place him in a position he himself would be culpable of blasphemy. Most likely the security forces protecting the US consulate in Benghazi stood down when the Salafist militia of Ansar al-Sharia attacked and entered the building. Remember the stupidity of William Hague threatening Ecuador the British would enter its embassy and take Julian Assange by force.

   US Consulate in Benghazi attack: What happened, and why?

   (Egypt Independent) – According to Abdel Moneim al-Hurr, spokesperson for Libya’s Supreme Security Committee, the body responsible for governing militias and security forces, police and security units withdrew under the intensity of the attack. The level of involvement of the Libyan security units which sought to defend the consulate is currently unclear.

   The group most heavily identified with the armed assaults in media reports is Ansar al-Sharia, a group whose name means supporters, or partisans, of Islamic law. Benghazi locals also attribute a recent attack on the Sufi Mausoleum in Rajma to the group. The group shares a name with Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Mali and Yemen, but its material links to those groups is unclear.

   Ansar al-Sharia gave a press conference Wednesday, in which they stated that they were not the only group present at the demonstration in front of the consulate. A spokesperson for the group said that what happened in Benghazi was “a response from the Libyan people for insulting Islam.”

   The Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades, understood to share a similar ideology to Al-Qaeda, are also known to operate in Benghazi. The group claimed responsibility for a bomb attack at the US Consulate in Benghazi in June. Noman Benotman of the Quilliam Foundation, which monitors militant Islamist groups, believes it was central to the attack.

   Ayman al-Zawahiri’s call on Libyans for revenge

   The Quilliam Foundation believes it is more likely that the armed assault was a response to a video statement released by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks of 11 September 2001. In the video, Zawahiri confirmed the recent killing of his deputy Abu Yahya al-Libi in a US drone strike in June, and called on Libyans to avenge his death.

   International Reactions

   • France24: ‘I saw Islamists attack the US consulate in Benghazi’
   • US Administratons’ Failure to Distinquish Strands of Islam
2. 

   Oui on October 2, 2012 at 3:03 pm

   Strange reply by Jay Carney, will be a long wait for review by FBI of Benghazi attack! Odd that Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice were baffled on Sept. 18 on what had really happened. Shameful. The US Consulate in Benghazi was a temporary location and provided no measure whatsoever of perimeter security.

   White House Has No Comment on House GOPers’ Assertions that Libyan Mission Requested Security Prior to 9/11/12 Attack

   (ABC News) – White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to comment on an assertion by the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that requests from diplomats in Libya for added security prior to the September 11, 2012 attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, were denied.

   “I’m not going to get into a situation under review by the State Department and the FBI,” Carney said.

   Earlier today, chairman of the committee Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the chair of the subcommittee on national security, homeland defense, and foreign operations, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asserting that “multiple U.S. federal government officials have confirmed to the Committee that, prior to the September 11 (2012) attack, the U.S. mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi. The mission in Libya, however, was denied these requests by officials in Washington.”

   The two congressmen also listed thirteen incidents leading up to the attack – ranging from I.E.D. and RPG attacks to a “posting on a pro-Gaddafi Facebook page” publicizing early morning runs taken by the late Ambassador Chris Stevens and his security detail around Tripoli.

   ‘This Week’ Transcript: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice

   TAPPER: Why was there such a security breakdown? Why was there not better security at the compound in Benghazi? Why were there not U.S. Marines at the embassy in Tripoli?

   RICE: Well, first of all, we had a substantial security presence with our personnel…

   TAPPER: Not substantial enough, though, right?

   RICE: … with our personnel and the consulate in Benghazi. Tragically, two of the four Americans who were killed were there providing security. That was their function. And indeed, there were many other colleagues who were doing the same with them.

   Hillary Clinton on Sept. 18 – No ‘Actionable Intelligence’ on Benghazi Attack

   • Bomb Explodes At U.S. Embassy In Libya In Possible Retaliation For U.S. Drone Killing Of Abu Yahya al-Libi – June 6, 2012
   • Revealed: inside story of US envoy’s assassination