Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will answer questions today about the injustice that went wrong in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. Around 10 p.m., Secretary Clinton issued a statement confirming that a State Department official had been killed in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.
The attackers initially tried to kidnap Al-Barassi, but they eventually shot him dead. On 26 September, Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf reiterated his belief that the planned terrorist act in Benghazi was committed by al-Qaeda elements hiding in Libya. He said the Benghazi security directorate had promised an investigation into the attack on the U.S. consulate and the subsequent killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens.
The military operation began in October 2014, when LNA - allied forces - clashed with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) fighters who had since withdrawn from Benghazi. While the Benghazi attack itself would not pose an insurmountable challenge, it is less likely, and certainly more unusual, that it was carried out by AQ-IM elements in Libya.
Matthew Olsen's admission came more than a week after the Benghazi attack, and is in stark contrast to the initial statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who formally classified the event as a terrorist attack. One thing is clear: the US eventually claimed that at least two US military personnel and three US intelligence agents were involved in the attack and ultimately assisted in its assassination. Although President Obama claimed that the "Benghazi incident" was a "terrorist attack," he could not publicly call it a terrorist attack. There was no major terrorist event in Benghazi before or during the attacks, but there were terrorist attacks after.
This should perhaps not be surprising, but the attack in Benghazi was a direct result of the US government's complicity in the assassination of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three US intelligence officials.
Armed militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and attacked a nearby CIA outbuilding. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, was derided by right-wingers for dramatizing her role in the attack. Ironically, the Benghazi attack raised a very big issue that attracted relatively little Republican attention, namely that US intervention in Libya contributed to the chaos in which Stevens was killed. The shaky political coalition that nominally ruled Libya at the time took control of the remaining Libyan citizens and flew them out of Benghazi in the morning.
The Americans, including a team traveling from Tripoli, later left Benghazi on two flights. The four Americans who died there, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, were from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, as well as the CIA annex.
Just hours after Tate and Jolly reached the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, the compound where the ambassador and another American were killed and where dozens more were trapped was hit by a mortar.
The bodies were eventually taken to the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, where a chartered U.S. plane was called to evacuate diplomatic staff and the embassy from Benghazi to Tripoli. Ambassador Stevens was normally stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, but this week visited a U.S. special mission in Benghazi, where an ad hoc consulate had been set up despite the ongoing conflict. Unknown Libyans have launched an attack on the State Department building that serves as a consulate in Benghazi. A team of 50 marines arrived in Libya to secure the consulate and diplomatic compound, as well as Tripoli, where all Benghazi personnel were eventually evacuated. This marked the beginning of a series of events that began in the early hours of 11 September 2012 on 12 September 2012.
That same night, reports emerged that the US consulate in Benghazi had been overrun, according to USA Today. Critics of the State Department and the Obama administration say it took three weeks for the FBI to reach the Benghazi consulate compound, complicating the investigation. At last, someone seems willing to pay attention to what is actually happening in Benghazi.
According to emails released by the White House on May 15, 2013 and made available on July 10, 2015, the Obama administration has compiled its public talking points following the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012.
Initial reports from journalists in Libya also linked the Benghazi attack to the video, and there, too, comments by US officials appear to be to blame. Photographer of Benghazi Mohamed el-Theib said the building did not look like the real consulate and it "did not look like Benghazi. Al-Mismari compared life in Tripoli and Benghazi, saying that "the security situation in Benghazi has allowed companies and manufacturers to resume their work. This is probably largely due to the lack of security in the city and the absence of government.