[59] The British Foreign Office withdrew all consular staff from Benghazi in late June 2012. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans?! The eastern region, in and around the city of Derna, is notorious for the prevalence of Islamist militias. Mr Hondros was wounded in an . [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. The team, which included two active-duty JSOC operators and five CIA personnel, had commandeered a small jet in Tripoli by paying the pilots $30,000 and forcing them to fly to Benghazi. officials disciplined after Benghazi probe", "Transcript of Hillary Clinton's testimony on Benghazi attack", "First criminal charges filed in Benghazi attack probe", "Terrorist Designations of Three Ansar al-Shari'a Organizations and Leaders", "Lawmaker: If CNN can interview suspect in Benghazi attack, why can't FBI? 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. Prior to her appearance, Rice was provided with "talking points" from a CIA memo,[184] which stated: The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi and subsequently its annex. 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. [80][81], Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Scott Wickland secured Stevens and Sean Smith, an information management officer, in the main building's safe haven. [177] She also reaffirmed "America's commitment to religious tolerance" and said "Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the protest that took place at our Embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," but whether true or not, that was not a justification for violence. On December 30, 2012, the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released a report, "Flashing Red: A Special Report on the Terrorist Attack at Benghazi", wherein it was determined: In the months [between February 2011 and September 11, 2012] leading up to the attack on the Temporary Mission Facility in Benghazi, there was a large amount of evidence gathered by the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and from open sources that Benghazi was increasingly dangerous and unstable, and that a significant attack against American personnel there was becoming much more likely. He also urged the United States to continue supporting Libya as it went "through a very difficult time" and that the young Libyan government needed help so that it could "maintain security and stability in our country". Mustafa . [7] Senior intelligence officials later . [8], The Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, a pro-al-Qaeda militia calling for the release of The Blind Sheikh, was implicated in the attack by Noman Benotman of the Quilliam Foundation. Obama administration officials, most notably Susan Rice, were provided this early assessment and repeated it to media outlets, only to be later contradicted as further intelligence assessments were made. 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. "[90], By 4:30p.m. [28] Another suspect, Mustafa al-Imam, was captured in October 2017. "[214] In the article, Kessler accused Obama of "revisionist history" for stating he had called the attack an "act of terrorism" when in fact he had used the term "act of terror", observing that Obama had gone out of his way to avoid calling the incident an "act of terrorism" or blame the ambassador's death on terrorism.[214][225]. [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. Also on September 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a classified briefing to U.S. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures. On September 26, Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) said he "cannot believe that the FBI is not on the ground yet". WASHINGTON The death toll in Libya after more than two months of violence could reach as high as 30,000, an Obama administration official said Wednesday . [228] Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who on September 13 said that the attacks had all the hallmarks of a coordinated attack by al-Qaeda,[229] has questioned whether there were any protests at all in Benghazi, saying: "I have seen no information that shows that there was a protest going on as you have seen around any other embassy at the time. Share this via Facebook Watch highlights from the House hearing about an attack in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, when Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state. A Libyan militant was sentenced on Thursday to more than 19 years in prison by a federal judge for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans . The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other U.S. nationals were killed during the attack. Carney said, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Ricks accused the network of covering the story more than it needed to be. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest. For example, the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee "did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people," according to the Associated Press. This claim was disputed by Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post in a "Fact Checker" article, which explored at length the difference in meaning between the phrases "act of terror" and "act of terrorism. The attack allegedly brought an end to the purported United States involvement, but did not stop the smuggling according to Hersh's source. In a phone call with the Egyptian prime minister Kandil the day after the attack, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said "we know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. Attackers set the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, on fire on September 11, 2012. At about 1:15 a.m. on September 12, a rescue team from Tripoli arrived in Benghazi. In January, a report prepared bya Libyan parliamentary committee listed 643 killings in 2013. I think it's clear that there were extremist elements that joined in and escalated the violence. [40]:16, J. Christopher Stevens was named the first liaison with the Libyan opposition in March 2011. 3,751. It was a planned attack, not a protest. "[173] After referring to "the 9/11 attacks", "troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan", and "then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi"[173] the President urged, "As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. June 17, 2014. The team then decided to return to the annex with the survivors and Smith's body. This latest spasm of violence is not unique. Attack!" It also reaffirmed "the depth of relationship between the peoples of Libya and the U.S., which grew closer with the positions taken by the U.S. government in support of the revolution of February 17". A taxi driver in Tripoli told me recently he "hated Qaddafi," but wished for a Qaddafi to bring back some order. Join our movement today. [152][153] On September 13, at a U.S. State Department reception in Washington D.C., the Libyan ambassador to the U.S. Ali Aujali apologized to Secretary of State Clinton for "this terrorist attack which took place against the American consulate in Libya". House Republicans investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, have found no new evidence to conclude that Hillary Clinton, secretary of state at the time, was culpable in the . Ambassador Chris Stevens, 52, died as he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as a crowd of hundreds attacked the consulate Tuesday evening, many of them firing machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The investigation is ongoing, and the U.S. government is working with Libyan authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of U.S. He stated that he would have responded with equal caution given the risks and the lack of intelligence on the ground, and that American forces require planning and preparation, which the circumstances did not allow for. Ever since Qaddafi's fall, Libya's government has failed to afford its citizens the protections and security they deserve. Tweet. So, again, that's self-evident. [141], On October 7, 2013, the Muhammad Jamal network (MJN) and Muhammad Jamal were designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the U.S. Department of State, which noted in its designation that "Jamal has developed connections with al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), AQ senior leadership, and al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leadership including Nasir 'Abd-al-Karim 'Abdullah al-Wahishi and Qasim Yahya Mahdi al-Rimi". Share this via WhatsApp The hearing testimony revealed that "Hicks argued that Rice's comments so insulted the Libyan presidentsince they contradicted his Sept. 16 claims that the attack was premeditatedthat it slowed the FBI's investigation. [162][163] Protesters burnt a car and a building of at least one facility, and looted weapons. The first shots exploded around 9:40 p.m. On Sept. 11, 2012, a group of local fighters, AK-47s in hand, burst through the fortified front gate of a US outpost in Benghazi, Libya. The CIA, which made up most of the U.S. government's presence in Benghazi, had a ten-member security team at its annex and the State Department believed that this team would assist the consulate in the event of an attack. "[183] He went on to say: There was no intelligence that in any way could have been acted on to prevent these attacks. 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