Posted on 09/21/2012 9:11:50 PM PDT by bronxville
(Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside the U.S. diplomatic mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi overnight, an attack that could be retaliation for the killing, in a U.S. drone strike, of al Qaeda's Libyan second-in-command.
An improvised explosive device was dropped from a passing vehicle onto the road outside the mission, in an upmarket area of central Benghazi. It exploded moments after, slightly damaging the building's gate, U.S. and Libyan officials said.
Washington had confirmed a few hours before the attack that a U.S.-operated drone had killed Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan-born cleric and senior al Qaeda operative, in Pakistan.
The U.S. State Department said it had asked Libyan authorities to increase security around U.S. facilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at tvnz.co.nz ...
The bombing will revive concerns about the lack of security in Libya, where last year Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in an uprising supported by NATO air power.
Toner said Washington was awaiting results from an investigation by the Libyan government, but had no reason to suspect the attack was retaliation for Libi’s killing.
Some security analysts disagreed: “The possibility that this act took place because of what happened to Abu Yahya is, in my personal opinion, a very strong one,” said Noman Benotman, a Libyan former Islamist who is now an expert on militant groups.
“Al Qaeda loyalists maybe wanted to deliver a message to the U.S. ...to say enough is enough,” he said.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/06/06/uk-libya-attack-usa-idUKBRE8550WS20120606?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
The bombing happened 3 months prior to the Sept. 11 attack.
If it was a spontaneous attack, then how come the embassy was bombed a few months before the Sept 11 attack? And why didn’t they beef up security after that bombing?
If you’re thinking tactics, you’ll assume the bombing was for two purposes. First, to assess response time to immediate threat, and provoke safety exit procedures in order to expose the ‘safe house’, but leave the target unscathed.
The second was to jeopardize sensitive documents, forcing the action of diplomatic mission requiring Ambassador supervision (destroying sensitive documents). Then all they had to do was have their ears in the WH (Clinton Sr. Advisor, and maybe even plant bug in ear to have Stevens itinerary known so possible link to Chicago bathhouses suppressed).
RideForever, a response time assessment wouldn’t be needed if it was an inside job, vis a vis, the Revolutionary Martyrs Brigade - Feb17 and al Sharia, their Security Guards. I don’t know why they gave a bomb warning...
It would be even worse if it was discovered that the people who were entrusted to guard the lives of those in the US Mission were armed by us. I haven’t given any thought to “sensitive documents”.
There is a commonality between all of them though, to include the Muslim Brotherhood, who is linked to the PLO, Hezbollah, Hamas, al Qaeda and many other similar groups...
MB info here... http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/a-brief-history-of-the-muslim-brotherhood
The Salafis/Wahabbi al Nour Party in Egypt are now partnered with the Muslim Brotherhood in their parliment. It’s difficult not look at all of this and not see it was premeditated. The Algerian “coup” vaccum was filled with the MB, Egypt, Tunisa, Yemen and so on, with the freed “revolutionaries” aka previous jihadi, picking up the slack for the police, and military. One has to wonder why they didn’t get rid of the MB affiated monster in the Sudan, instead he’s been invited to meet with Morsi, or maybe one doesn’t have to wonder. Yes, the corrupt secularist dictators were far from good but what is it being replaced with...hard to imagine our intel is so bad that this wasn’t anticipated, and yes, I’m implying we likely assisted the MB in this takeover. The whole rotten thing reminds me of the Balkans and wouldn’t you know, they ended up with an Islamic state. What did Obama want that domestic independent militia force for here in the US?
Ex rebels fill Libya’s security vacuum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIyiM3PEWCU
Interesting that Libya was the only country who didn’t vote for the MB, they’re in a transitional government state though, with the leader being linked to, none other than the MB.
News reports from the five months before the attack on the US Consulate show a slew of attacks on western outposts and diplomats in Benghazi:
April 10, 2012 - A convoy carrying the head of the UN mission to Libya on a visit to Benghazi is attacked with an improvised bomb. The bomb misses its target by a few meters but leaves “a small hole in the road.”
May 22, 2012 - A rocket propelled grenade is fired at the compound of the Red Cross in Benghazi.
June 6, 2012 - A bomb is thrown at the gate outside the US Consulate in Benghazi. This is the same location where the deadly attack that killed four Americans took place on 9/11.
June 11, 2012 - A rocket propelled grenade is fired at a convoy carrying the British ambassador as he approaches his consulate in Benghazi. The ambassador is unharmed but two bodyguards are injured.
July 31, 2012 - Seven Red Crescent officials are kidnapped by a Benghazi militia.
September 2, 2012 - A bomb is placed in the car of a Libyan intelligence official. It explodes on one of the busiest streets in Benghazi, killing him.
Despite awareness of this pattern, the consulate in Benghazi did not maintain a strong security posture as advised by the State Department itself. On the contrary, the consulate appears to have had minimal security, with as few as four Libyan guards. Once the attack began on the night of 9/11, the perimeter was breached within 15 minutes.
The argument about what happened in Benghazi has devolved into a squabble over whether or not the US had advance warning of the attack. Libyan officials say the US did have warning while the Obama administration insists they did not and claims the attack was spontaneous.
The administration’s claim appears to be increasingly unlikely, but whether the attack was spontaneous or not, it was not unpredictable. The fact that traveling diplomats had been a target for militants in Benghazi should have been a red flag that security needed to increase during Ambassador Stevens’ visit to the area.
Whoever is responsible for failing to heed the State Department’s own warnings needs to be held accountable for the failure.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/09/18/State-Dept-Issued-Travel-Warning-for-Libya-2-Weeks-Before-Consulate-Attack
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