Libya Officials, Past Attacks Contradict US Benghazi Attack Narrative

Libyan officials and intelligence assets on the ground say the US embassy attack was planned by Al Qaeda and the US was warned.

Libyan officials, US officials and intelligence assets on the ground say the Benghazi embassy attack was planned by Al Qaeda affiliated Islamic extremists.

Libya officials also say that the U.S warned in advanced but failed to take necessary measures to prevent the attack that took the lives of 4 Americans including that of US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stephens.

An investigation by The Examiner’s Alexander Higgins reveals further reveals that Libya extremists conducted nearly monthly attacks against diplomatic facilities and convoys prior to the 9/11 attack.

These are the latest details contradicting the US government’s claim the attack on the Benghazi Embassy in Libya was spontaneous outrage over an anti-Muslim film that caught the administration off-guard.

Several foreign policy experts have offered explanations on why the administration would be attempting to spin the narrative.

Explanations offered ranged from limiting political damage for backing the Libya extremists to overthrow Gaddafi to an attempt to hide the administration’s gross negligence in failing protect the consulate despite clear warnings prior to the attack.

As Canada’s Sun News details the video embedded on this page the US was given clear specific warnings that Al Qaeda publicly urged followers to attack embassies in both Libya and Egypt.

On September 10th Al Qaeda issued a warning they would attack the US embassy in Cairo and “burn it to the ground” if the blind Sheik was not released from prison.

In Libya Al Qaeda urged followers to attack the consulate in Benghazi for revenge of a US assassination drone strike.

Official diplomatic cables echoed the  warnings of potential attack in Cairo and CNN reported on the attack warning.

Despite those warnings much of the corporate media’s attention has focused on whether the Obama administration was warned of the possibility of an attack in the 48 to 72 hours prior to the assassination of the US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

Several top-level officials in the U.S. government and the Libyan government have stated that certainly is the case.

Libyan security officials tell the Independent the U.S. was warned three days prior to the attack.

The Independent cited top-level U.S. diplomatic sources in a prior report who revealed the US  was warned 48 hours in advance.

Those sources said an alert was issued by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security but was never made public.

The February 17th Brigade, the armed militia group in control of Benghazi security, told CNN that US diplomats were separately warned of the “rapidly deteriorating security” situation in a meeting three days before the attack.

Nearly Monthly Attacks On Libya Diplomatic Facilities Ignored

Not only did the Obama administration fail to attack on specific warnings of a potential attack but there also was a failure to harden security at diplomatic facilities in Libya.

Security alerts issued by the US Libya embassy to American travelers prior to the 9/11 attack that took the lives of 4 Americans, including that of US ambassador Chris Stevens, reveal diplomatic facilities were being attacked on a nearly monthly basis.

The previous attacks against US diplomatic facilities included rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices in attacks on diplomatic facilities.

Additionally there have also been attacks on diplomatic convoys, including an attack on a UN convoy in February, a UK convoy in June and a US convoy in Tripoli in August.

Each of these security alerts warn that protests in Libya in the past have often escalated into violence and attack against government buildings.

The nearly monthly occurrence of these attacks suggest severe gross negligence on behalf of the Obama administration.

There was clear failure to take the necessary steps to harden the Benghazi consulate from the same attacks that targeted it the past and provide the security needed to protect American lives.

Instead, just two weeks prior to the attack the consular section of the Benghazi office was opened to the public.

Libya Officials Say Attacks Were Planned

Libyan security officials have arrested several people and identified at least 50 more who played a role in the attack.

According to the Libyan officials and those investigating the attack on the Benghazi compound was in fact a planned by Al Qaeda.

More from RT:

America and Libya give completely different versions of Benghazi consulate attack

One week after an assault in Benghazi left an US ambassador and three fellow Americans dead, conflicting reports into the details surrounding their passing from both the White House and Libyan officials leave the facts of the raid uncertain.

Tuesday marks one week since Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed after a US consulate in Benghazi was destroyed on September 11, but reports describing the events that led up to his death differ depending on the source. The Obama administration insists that a mob stormed the consulate to show their contempt with an American-made film that mocked the Islamic prophet Mohammad, but overseas the explanation is much different.

Some authorities in Libya say the attack on the consulate that killed Ambassador Stevens had roots with al-Qaeda, and that the White House has whitewashed the facts in order to make the explanation more favorable for American audiences on the eve of a presidential election.

On Tuesday this week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters, “We have provided information about what we believe was the precipitating cause of the protest and violence based on the information that we have had available,” and that the US stands by the claim that “spontaneous” attacks on the consulate resulted in the loss of four Americans.

“[W]e do not have any indication at this point of premeditation or pre-planned attacks,” said Carney, adding, however, that “we’re not making declarations ahead of the facts here.”

In the American media, the story has largely been the same: protests erupted over an anti-Islamic film leaked to the Arab World called ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ and outrage in Cairo quickly spread to Libya. It’s there, though, that officials disagree with the White House’s explanation.

“The way these perpetrators acted and moved, and their choosing a specific date for this so-called demonstration, I think that this leaves us with no doubt that this was pre-planned, pre-determined,” Libyan parliament chief Mohammad Magarief, the head of the Libyan National Congress, said Sunday, McClatchy reports.

According to a report by Radio Free Europe, Magarief went on to explain the raid as “definitely” planned, and not the spontaneous storming of the consulate that American authorities claim. Additionally, Magarief believes that the assaults were planned by Islamic extremists, mostly foreigners, some of whom he considers “affiliates and sympathizers” with al-Qaeda.

To Fox News, an intelligence source on the ground in Libya told the outlet on condition of anonymity that the “spontaneous” protest claims were incorrect, and the attack “was planned and had nothing to do with the movie.”

An al-Qaeda led assault on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks doesn’t seem unlikely, but could significantly hinder US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign if true. The president has relied heavily on the execution of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to drum up support, and showing that the US failed to act on a premeditated strike targeting its own citizens could show that the War on Terror is far away from over.

[...]

Source: RT

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