[citation needed] The British Foreign Office withdrew all consular staff from Benghazi in late June 2012. When Johnson pressed her to explain why, in the immediate aftermath, no one from the State Department had asked American evacuees if there had been a protest before the attack, Clinton replied: With all due respect, the fact is, we had four dead Americans! Anybody who tells you that what happened to our ambassador and our consulate in Libya was as a result of a protest over an offensive movie, you should ask them why they think that. What are her numbers today? The security guards briefly detained the man before releasing him. President Obama responded, "The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened," Obama said. I didn't see those requests, I didn't approve them, I didn't deny them. The incident sparked controversy and ignited a political firestorm in the United States. The Benghazi attack triggered many controversies and created a lot of conspiracy theories. US Ambassador Chris Stevens and computer expert Sean Smith died in the first attack and two former Navy Seals, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, were killed in the second attack. [111][112] It was further reported that Ahmed Abu Khattala was called a ringleader of the attack by both witnesses and authorities, though he insisted he did not play a part in the aggression at the American compound. The first shots exploded around 9:40 p.m. On Sept. 11, 2012, a group of local fighters, AK-47s in hand, burst through the fortified front gate of a US outpost in Benghazi, Libya. 'President Magariaf was insulted in front of his own people, in front of the world. Benghazi, which has become a byword for disaster, was an avoidable tragedy, in Bay’s telling. [156][157] Some militia members accused the protestors of being Gaddafi loyalists, looking to disarm the militias in the wake of the revolution. He said, "I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. And what did he do about it? On-the-record testimony establishes that the CIA was not sending weapons ... from Libya to Syria, or facilitating other organizations or states that were transferring weapons from Libya to Syria. But the ferocious attack which left four Americans dead exposed the president’s flaccid diplomacy. [107] Furthermore, an intercepted phone call from the Benghazi area immediately after the attack reportedly linked senior Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar to the attack. [239], In June 2014, Maddow criticized the right-wing media for reporting an arrest as bad news, said that Americas are poorly served by the media, and that "the take on Fox News is that's not actually news" and now "they have to make it bad news, they have to make into maybe a scandal itself. "[203], On October 4, 22 days after the attack, FBI investigators were finally allowed access to the scene of the attack. The bodies were taken to Benina International Airport and flown to the capital, Tripoli, and then to Ramstein Air Base in Germany aboard a C-17 military transport aircraft. "[84], By 4:30 p.m. Whether they were al Qaeda affiliates, whether they were Libyan-based extremists or al Qaeda itself I think is one of the things we'll have to determine. [24][25][26] Khattala was captured in Libya by United States Army Special Operations Forces, who were acting in coordination with the FBI, in June 2014. [214] The incident prompted Republican Rep. Allen West to claim that the illness was a ruse intended to avoid testifying. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The third attack occurred early in the morning: the compound was hit by mortar fire, and two security agents were killed. While en route back to the annex, the group's armored vehicle was hit by AK-47 rifle fire and hand grenades. It was a planned attack, not a protest. The incident continued to generate controversy, however, as various congressional committees conducted their own investigations; the final investigative report on the attacks was released nearly four years later, in the summer of 2016. [195] According to the article, senators were angered at the Obama administration's rebuff of their attempts to learn details of the Benghazi attack, only to see that information published the next day in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. [246][247] In an interview with the Associated Press, Fox News' White House correspondent Ed Henry suggested that he thought Benghazi was being covered too much by the network. [citation needed], In the days after the attack, The New York Times stated that young Libyans had flooded Twitter with pro-American messages after the attacks. [167], After the attack, Obama ordered that security be increased at all such facilities worldwide. No attack aircraft had been placed on high alert on September 11, the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the closest fighter planes to trouble spots in North Africa were based in Aviano, Italy. However, is Clinton complicit in the Benghazi attack? "[150] Another poll in Eastern Libya, taken in 2011, reported that the population was at the same time both deeply religious conservative Muslims and very pro-American, with 90% of respondents reporting favorable views of the United States. Click here to get an answer to your question ️ How many libyans died in benghazi attack? Former UN Ambassador John Bolton called the concussion a "diplomatic illness".[215]. [216], In March 2013, Representative Duncan D. Hunter introduced legislation into the 113th Congress to authorize awarding of Congressional Gold Medals to Doherty and Woods for their actions that led to their deaths. [22], On August 6, 2013, it was reported that the United States had filed criminal charges against several individuals alleged to have been involved in the attacks, including militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala. On September 24, advertisements condemning an anti-Islam video appeared on Pakistani television. That does not seem to explain what happened that night or by the facts or the more facts we get. Dionne, Rachel Maddow, Carly Fiorina, David Brooks", "Tom Ricks to Fox News: The network operates 'as a wing of the Republican Party, "Ricks: Fox doesn't care about story behind Benghazi story", "Does Fox News's Ed Henry agree with Tom Ricks? Corrections? [64] In her January 2013 testimony before Congress, Secretary Clinton claimed security decisions at the Benghazi compound had been made by others, stating, "The specific security requests pertaining to Benghazi ... were handled by the security professionals in the [State] Department. "[207] When Romney challenged Obama, asking "You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack, it was an act of terror. Ten investigations were conducted into the 2012 Benghazi attack, six of these by Republican-controlled House committees.Problems were identified with security measures at the Benghazi facilities, due to poor decisions made by employees of the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and specifically its director Eric Boswell, who resigned under pressure in December 2012. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. ET) and began providing a video feed to Washington. and Obama 2012 Campaign", "Judicial Watch: Benghazi Documents Point to White House on Misleading Talking Points", "Benghazi emails: Proof Obama White House put politics ahead of truth", "Knopf Email on Toria Nuland Information Page 2", "Lies, Damned Lies, and Garden-Variety Self-Deception", The House Republican Investigation of Benghazi: single-source site of all the unclassified information and findings from investigations into the attacks, Interactive Map of Attack at The New York Times, Background Conference Call With Senior State Department Officials, Washington, DC, October 9, 2012, What the Obama administration has said about the Libya attack, Accountability Review Board (ARB) Report on Benghazi Attack, Criminal Complaint Against Ahamed Abu Khatallah in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, The Security Failures of Benghazi: Hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, October 10, 2012, Benghazi and Beyond, Part I: What Went Wrong on September 11, 2012 and How to Prevent It From Happening at Other Frontline Posts: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, November 15, 2012, Benghazi and Beyond, Part II: The Report of the Accountability Review Board: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, December 20, 2012, Benghazi: The Attacks and the Lessons Learned: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, December 20, 2012, Terrorist Attack in Benghazi: The Secretary of State's View: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, January 23, 2013, Department of Defense's Response to the Attack on U.S. Facilities in Benghazi, Libya, and the Findings of its Internal Review Following the Attack: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, February 7, 2013, Benghazi: Exposing Failure and Recognizing Courage: Hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, May 8, 2013, Benghazi: Where is the State Department Accountability? [219], On May 13, 2013, President Obama stated during a news conference, "The day after it happened, I acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism." The first assault occurred at the main diplomatic compound, approximately 300 yards (270 m) long and 100 yards (91 m) wide, at about 9:40 p.m. local time (3:40 p.m. Eastern Time). What did the president know? Henry said, "We've had the proper emphasis, but I would not be so deluded to say that some of our shows, some of our commentators, have covered it more than it needed to be covered. This investigation also failed to find any evidence of wrongdoing by senior Obama administration officials. [156][157] At least 10 people were killed and dozens more wounded as militiamen fired on demonstrators at the headquarters of Sahaty Brigade, a pro-government militia "operating under the authority of the ministry of defence". ET, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned CIA Director David Petraeus to coordinate. [162], Across the country, militias began surrendering to the government. [171] She also reaffirmed "America's commitment to religious tolerance" and said "Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the protest that took place at our Embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," but whether true or not, that was not a justification for violence. Diplomatic security agent David Ubben located Smith,[81] who was unconscious and later declared dead, but the team was unable to find Stevens in the smoke-filled building. [172] The State Department had previously identified embassy and personnel security as a major challenge in its budget and priorities report. One Libyan guard who was wounded in the attack was quoted as saying "there wasn't a single ant outside [before the attack]. And with his help find out how many died in benghazi. [181][182][183][184][185], Since Rice's five television appearances, there have been persistent accusations that she had intentionally and repeatedly lied. [15][16][157] The militia compounds and many weapons were handed over to Libya's national army[16] in what "appeared to be part of a coordinated sweep of militia bases by police, government troops and activists" following the earlier demonstrations. Two former Navy SEALs acting as CIA security contractors, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, are killed in that attack. citizens.[180]. [212] In a radio interview October 29, 2012, Senator John McCain said that the surveillance tapes had been classified top secret. 'Preventable': A Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, two days after the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Therefore, to answer the question how many died in benghazi you need … [159][160][163], Hundreds of Libyans, mainly former rebel fighters, gathered in the city centers of Tripoli and Benghazi to hand over their weapons to the government on September 29. Schmitt, Eric; Cooper, Helene; Schmidt, Michael S. American fatalities and injuries of the 2012 Benghazi attack, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Department of State Operations and Embassy Security Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2014, Investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack, Timeline of the investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack, United States House Select Committee on Benghazi, Attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad, Ambassadors of the United States killed in office, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, "U.S. Senate Select Committee Review of the Terrorist Attacks on U.S. [170] U.S. officials said surveillance over Libya would increase, including the use of unmanned drones, to "hunt for the attackers". [160] Hours before the announcement, in Derna, the two main militias (one of them Ansar al-Sharia) active in the city both withdrew, leaving both their five military bases behind. The wreckage of a car sits inside the US Embassy compound on September 12, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya,...[+] following an overnight attack on the … Based on a textual analysis that tallied the occurrence of certain words and phrases in news reports during the days immediately following the attack, the study concluded that leading newspapers in the U.S. framed the attack in terms of a spontaneous protest over the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims as framed by the Obama administration's version, four times as often as a planned terrorist attack, which was the Republican version. In the days following the attacks, officials in the Obama administration reported that the incident was related to demonstrations that same day that occurred outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo, after an Egyptian-American had produced and posted an anti-Islam video on YouTube. Several investigations into the incident faulted insufficient bureaucratic measures responsible for the failure to prevent and respond properly to the attacks. [62], The desire of the State Department to maintain a low profile in Benghazi has been cited as the reason why the State Department circumvented their own Overseas Security Policy Board (OSPB) standards for diplomatic security. ", "Ed Henry: Some Fox News Shows Covered Benghazi 'More Than It Needed To Be, "House Republicans repudiate Kevin McCarthy comments - CNNPolitics", "Rep. Kevin McCarthy how he would differ from John Boehner", "Accountability Review Board (ARB) Report [Benghazi Report of December 19, 2012]", "House Benghazi committee files final report and shuts down", "The 5 most serious accusations from Republicans' Benghazi report", "Judicial Watch Obtains First Photos from State Department Depicting Aftermath of Benghazi Attack", "RNC Files FOIA Request for Benghazi Emails Between State Dept. [145] Think Progress stated that Libyans are typically more positively inclined towards the United States than their neighbors. [186], In a White House press briefing on September 18, press secretary Jay Carney explained the attack to reporters: "I'm saying that based on information that we—our initial information, and that includes all information—we saw no evidence to back up claims by others that this was a preplanned or premeditated attack; that we saw evidence that it was sparked by the reaction to this video. According to al-Bakoush, the Libyans saw he was alive and breathing, his eyelids flickering. In his press briefing on September 14, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that "we don't have and did not have concrete evidence to suggest that this [the Benghazi attack] was not in reaction to the film. On September 16, the U.S. "[128], In a September 18 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, President Obama said, "extremists and terrorists used (the anti-Muslim YouTube video) as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies. Ahmed Shams, a 22-year-old arts student, told the Associated Press that they were happy when they found Stevens alive and tried to rescue him. Susan Candiotti and Tim Lister, "Sources: Benghazi suspect detained in Libya", Bill Gertz, "Benghazi attack suspect walks: Libyans release key player in consulate ambush", "Statement regarding the events at US Consulate in Benghazi", "15 Photos Of Libyans Apologizing To Americans", "Struggle for Ideological Upper Hand in Muslim World Seen as Factor in Attacks", "Did Ansar al-Sharia carry out Libya attack? On September 10, 2012, he went to the U.S. compound in Benghazi to continue work on the special mission there, including reconnecting with local contacts and filling staffing gaps. interests."[189][190][191][192][193]. Carney said, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Fox News was subsequently criticized for cutting the interview short. State Department officials said they do not know who took Stevens to the hospital or transported the body to the airport and into U.S. [80] The Regional Security Office sounded the alarm and called to the Benghazi CIA annex and the embassy in Tripoli. When did he know it? [156][157] Protesters burnt a car and a building of at least one facility, and looted weapons. In a deadly attack on September 11, 2012, over 125 armed militants successfully breached the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. According to Bishari, it was launched without warning or protest and was led by the Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia (different from the group called Ansar al-Sharia based in Yemen designated by the U.N. and the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization[110]). [30]:58 By the time of the attack, a composite U.S. Special Operations team with two JSOC members was already in Libya working on their mission profile independently of the CIA and State Department operations. [147][148] The ambassador further praised Stevens as a "dear friend" and a "real hero". mahato796 mahato796 23.04.2018 History Secondary School How many libyans died in benghazi attack? 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