Al-Qaeda says ‘meticulously executed’ Benghazi attack ‘revenge’ for number two’s death

[DonViejo]

Source: Raw Story/AF-P

Al-Qaeda said the deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya was in revenge for the killing of the network’s number two Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi, SITE Intelligence Group reported Saturday.

“The killing of Sheikh Abu Yahya only increased the enthusiasm and determination of the sons of (Libyan independence hero) Omar al-Mokhtar to take revenge upon those who attack our Prophet,” Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said in a statement, quoted by the US-based monitoring group.

Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based offshoot did not claim direct responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans.

But it stressed that “the uprising of our people in Libya, Egypt and Yemen against America and its embassies is a sign to notify the United States that its war is not directed against groups and organisations … but against the Islamic nation that has rebelled against injustice.”

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/15/al-qaeda-says-meticulously-executed-benghazi-attack-revenge-for-number-twos-death/

[Akoto]

1. Yeah, they gunned down harmless diplomats. Really brave. nt/

[dipsydoodle]

12. Same could be said of US drone attacks which kill innocent civilians.

This particular diplomat ran the US affairs office in Benghazi during the conflict. Not all of Libya supports their government.

[joshcryer]

16. Most do.

[Akoto]

18. Nothing excuses murdering diplomats. Two wrongs do not = right. n/t

[pampango]

19. "Not all of Libya supports their government." Of course not, but if the attackers were foreigners

it is somewhat more difficult to portray the attack as a Libyan response to NATO intervention. Indeed the presence of foreigners may be a sign that Libyan support for such an attack was weak.

[sabrina 1]

2. These are the jihadists we called 'revolutionaries' when NATO claimed to be

protecting civilians from the Gadaffi regime. People warned that giving them arms would come back to haunt us.

Just goes to show that the enemy of your enemy is only your friend while you can be of use to him. They wanted Gadaffi gone, because WE used Gadaffi to keep them under control, and then we shared their desire to have him gone.

What a powder keg they have created in that once relatively stable country.

[lumpy]

26. Sabrina 1, I tend to agree with your take on the situation. The same might be said about

our once friend, Saddam Hussein.

[leveymg]

3. If true, points to AQ reconstitution inside post-regime change Libya - bad omen for US ops in Syria.

This is significant because it is the first official Al-Qaeda acknowledgment of its role and motive in the attack in Bengahzi that took the life of the US Ambassador. There had been speculation dismissing the the attack as the work of die-hard Gadhafi supporters, not al-Qaeda. Note that this particular AQ group is not claiming direct responsibility.

If this claim by an outside AQ accurately reflects events, it also indicates that AQ forces have taken the opportunity of a safe haven to reconstitute inside Libya, and are capable of significant operations there since the US worked with Jihadist groups to overthrown the Gadhafi regime last year. US Ambassador Chris Andrews, who died in Benghazi, had a significant role in organizing Libyan militant groups in the rebellion, some of which are now involved in the US-backed effort to overthrow the regime in Syria. Please, see, Blowback in Benghazi: Attack Linked to Regime Change Operations in Libya and Syria, http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021343355

Regime change comes with costs. This can only get worse.

[joshcryer]

15. The "jihadist groups" were and remain a small minority in Libya.

The US and foreign supporters of the Libyan revolution would rightly call AQ counter-revolutionaries.

The weapons were gained from Gaddafi's insane stockpiling of western bought weapons. They got distributed very quickly when moderate Muslims took to the fight against Gaddafi.

Whatever groups exist will remain a niche given the overwhelming rejection of their actions by the Libyan people at large. I would argue that their acting so "soon" now is actually going to lead to their demise, since they haven't had time to really recruit despite the racist xenophobic lies that the revolutionaries were "jihadist."

The Libyan people overwhelmingly elected moderate Muslims and rejected Egypti/Tunisia style Muslim Brotherhood leadership.

[leveymg]

23. The jihadist groups disproportionately made up the fighters who took down Ghadaffi, which is why

Amd. Stevens landed in Benghazi and organized them from there. They also made off with most of the regime's weapons, including the MANPADs.

They are Sunni terrorists for hire, and increasingly are streaming into Syria where they are also a disproportionately effective part of the opposition, which the US is also organizing. In effect, this Administration is using the Jihadists in a coordinated campaign of regime change, and the attack on the Ambassador, a key player in executing the program, can be viewed as blowback from that policy.

[joshcryer]

25. Do you have a citation for that?

I do not think that is true because a third of the fighters were from Misrata, a moderate Muslim city, a third were from the Berber areas (lol, they're all jihadists too I suspect), and a third were from Benghazi. You could maybe make the argument that Benghazi was totally composed of radical extremists and that by NATO stopping Gaddafi's convoy that we were "supporting" the radical extremists but it doesn't really make sense given that Misrata and the western mountains were already under siege for a month before NATO acted. Misrata remained under siege for a further two months or thereabouts before NATO dropped one munition in Misrata.

It really is a narrow and ignorant view imo that the fighters were mostly extremists. Even if they started growing beards after they started the revolution.

So did fucking Che.

[leveymg]

27. Chris Stevens set up camp in Benghazi not in Misrata or the Berber areas.

The area in E. Libya between Benghazi and Tobruk also accounted for the largest percentage of foreign al-Qaeda suicide bombers in Iraq. Stevens was well aware of the presence of al-Qaeda and affiliated groups in Benghazi, he wrote a 2008 cable analyzing the groups. Obviously, it was obviously very important to the Obama Admin. to have someone on the ground in Benghazi coordinating Jihadist and Salaafist groups in the area. See, my post yesterday, Blowback in Benghazi, http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021343355

If you need more cites or sources, let me know.

[joshcryer]

30. Sure. But you contended that they "disproportionately made up the fighters...

...who took down Ghadaffi."

Yet we know that the fighters in Benghazi and the east never broke through Adjabiya until until near the end of the war!

I do not disagree that islamist elements that are still festering after the war still exist in Libya or that even they were fighting in some respect against Gaddafi (if only because they wanted revenge for being suppressed).

I consider them counter-revolutionaries and not representative of the vast majority of the Libyan revolutionaries who overthrew Gaddafi.

[pampango]

21. "Regime change comes with costs." The fall of dictators, tsars and kings does come with costs.

Most successful revolutions take years to establish levels of security comparable to that used by the ousted ruler.

One thing that successful dictators are good at 'providing' is 'security'. Of course most of the 'security' they provide is 'security' for their continued rule, but the fear of arbitrary arrest can also reduce common crime and even terrorist activities, as well.

Most liberals do not buy into the "They (not 'we', of course) need to have dictators. Sometimes you have to trade some human rights for national (and international) security."

[leveymg]

24. I wouldn't view Libya so much a revolution as a change in US/NATO installed gov't.

And, I don't approve of the policy of either dictators or regime change - I'm just describing one of its unintended but entirely foreseeable consequences of regime change and the use of terrorist groups in foreign operations, more generally: blowback.

"They (not 'we', of course) need to have dictators. Sometimes you have to trade some human rights for national (and international) security."

- That's your line, not mine.

[uppityperson]

4. i wonder what those who say it was because of the stupid movie will say about this.

[Vincardog]

5. That stupid movie was shown to a grand audience of 10 people. IT was and is only a pathetic

excuse for the fundies on both sides.

[dipsydoodle]

6. It was the narrative of its contents

by the Salafi tv news channel in Egypt which triggered the protests. Don't matter if only 10 saw it - news of it spread by word of mouth. If only 10 people told ten people who each then told ten people....................do the maths.

[Vincardog]

7. Funny that. I heard that the violence was in response to the killing of the #2 AQ. The "movie"

was only the cover for the violence. Draw your own conclusions.

[leveymg]

9. The protest was a diversion from the real attack. That was planned and coordinated in

two locations, and was so effective that two American security personnel who arrived in a US military helicopter were killed. This is not just a case of one guy with an RPG who just happened to be incensed and took a pot-shot at the Consulate. There was sustained and accurate mortar fire on the escape convoy as they neared the "safe house," which suggests an ambush planned with inside information, probably provided by someone in the local security detail.

The stupid video and fuss made about it by Salaafist clerics on an Egyptian broadcast was only part of a chain of events.

[dipsydoodle]

11. If the Salaafist clerics on an Egyptian broadcast had not done the broadcast

there wouldv'e been nothing to coordinate. As such the protest wasn't a diversion : more likely a coincidence.

I am inclined to agree it was probably a ‘revenge’ attack for number two’s death.

[Igel]

13. Forced choice.

When there is nothing from their side forcing the choice.

"to take revenge upon those who attack our Prophet"

What's forcing the choice is on our side, and we're the only ones making the choice.


Do you want peanut butter or chocolate? Most people I know would want Reese's.

[reACTIONary]

8. "Claiming responsibility" is the sort of bluster all terriorist / insurgent groups engage in...

... they "take credit" for anything that happens for the sake of propaganda and self aggrandizement.

[Tucsonric]

10. Is Al-Qaeda actually responsible or just taking credit?

Is Al-Qaeda actually responsible or just taking credit? Was the U.S. originated movie the cause or is there more to the story? For more speculation, please see this short post for a possible scenario: http://richardringler.weebly.com/blog.html

[fun n serious]

14. Which # 2

of all the #2?

[Frank Cannon]

22. There'll be a new #2 next week.

Ask this guy. He knows.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

17. Now people can shut the fuck up about dismantling the First Amendment. nt

[sendero]

20. It was pretty obvious..

.. that this attack was not the spontaneous reaction to a bullshit movie. Now we have confirmation.

[glacierbay]

28. I was listening to Amb. Rice this morning

saying that this was a spontaneous attack related only to the crappy film. My question is, does she honestly think that the American people believe this?
This attack was too well planned and executed for it to be a spontaneous hit.
I hope this doesn't come back to bite the Admin. in the ass.

[dkf]

29. I sure hope they have their facts right or walk this back really fast.