Moving from Romney to the actual situation on the ground, CNN has a nice blog that is frequently updating the situation. A few excerpts from it:
news.blogs.cnn.com
[Updated at 12:51 p.m. ET] A London think tank with strong ties to Libya speculated Wednesday that Stevens was actually the victim of a targeted al Qaeda revenge attack.
The assault "came to avenge the death of Abu Yaya al-Libi, al Qaeda's second in command killed a few months ago," the think tank Quilliam said Wednesday. It was "the work of roughly 20 militants, prepared for a military assault," the think tank said, noting that rocket-propelled grenade launchers do not normally appear at peaceful protests, and that there were no other protests against the film elsewhere in Libya.
The planned attack came in two waves, one which prompted U.S. officials to leave the consulate for a secure location. The second wave was directed at the place of retreat, Quilliam said, citing unnamed sources on the ground in Benghazi and abroad.
“These are acts committed by uncontrollable jihadist groups. We hope Libya will seize this opportunity to revive its policy of Disarmament, Demobilisation and Re-integration (DDR) in order to facilitate an end to the spread of such attacks, with the help of the International Community," Noman Benotman, President of Quilliam, said in a press release. "We hope that the International Community, including NATO member states and especially the U.S., will continue their excellent work in Libya which began with the overthrow of the dictator Gadhafi after 42 years in power.”
[Updated at 12:23 p.m. ET] A senior U.S. official tells CNN that U.S. unmanned surveillance drones are expected to begin flying over Benghazai and other locations in eastern Libya to look for jihadi encampments and targets that may be tied to the attack on U.S. State Department personnel.
The proposal for use of drones is expected to be approved shortly by the Pentagon and the White House, CNN's Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr reported. The official said the plan is for U.S. surveillance drones to gather the intelligence and then hand it off to the Libyans to strike the targets.
In June, Nic Robertson, Paul Cruickshank and Jomana Karadsheh reported that the U.S. was flying surveillance missions with drones over suspected jihadist training camps in eastern Libya because of concerns over rising activity by al Qaeda and like-minded groups in the region, according to a senior Libyan official. But the source said that to the best of his knowledge, they had not been used to fire missiles at militant training camps in the area
[Updated at 12:23 p.m. ET] A grenade attack created a fire in the U.S. consulate building in Benghazi, which created a very complicated and complex situation for those inside, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the details of what happened.
"Folks inside were fighting the fire inside and the attackers outside. It was a cascading casualty, and Amb. Chris Stevens and the others got separated trying to escape to the roof of the building, ultimately succumbing to smoke inhalation," the U.S. official told CNN's Jill Dougherty. "There will be more details as we go forward, but there were several valiant attempts to re-enter the burning building to find and save the ones we lost. Valiant but unsuccessful."
Another senior official with the State Department confirmed the details as well.
[Updated at 12:11 p.m. ET] Tuesday's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was planned in advance, and the attackers used the protest outside the consulate as a diversion, U.S. sources told CNN Wednesday.
The sources could not say whether the attackers instigated the protest or merely took advantage of it. The sources do not believe Ambassador Chris Stevens was specifically targeted.
[Updated at 12:01 p.m. ET] After Stevens was named U.S. ambassador to Libya in May, he recorded a three-minute video in which he introduced himself to Libyan citizens and said he was “thrilled” to watch Libyans “stand up and demand their rights” during the 2011 revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.
“Assalamu alaikum. My name is Chris Stevens and I’m the new U.S. ambassador to Libya,” Stevens said in the video produced by the State Departments’ public diplomacy communications bureau. “I had the honor to serve as the U.S. envoy to the Libyan opposition during the revolution, and I was thrilled to watch the Libyan people stand up and demand their rights.
“Now I’m excited to return to Libya to continue the great work we’ve started, building a solid partnership between the United States and Libya to help you, the Libyan people, achieve your goals.”
In the video, which was subtitled in Arabic and recorded in Washington, Stevens told viewers that he didn't know much about the Arab world when he grew up in California. But after graduating from the University of California in Berkeley, he joined the Peace Corps and taught English in Morocco for two years and “quickly grew to love this part of the world.”
“Since joining the foreign service, I’ve spent almost my entire career in the Middle East and North Africa,” Stevens said.
He expressed optimism about the future of U.S.-Libyan relations.
“One of the things that impressed me when I was last in Libya was listening to stories from the people who were old enough to have travelled and studied in the United States back when we had closer relations. Those days are back.”
Watch Stevens in the video or read more about him here. |
