By George Grant.
Tripoli, 17 September:
Video footage has emerged of the moment a crowd of Libyans attempted to save Ambassador Christopher Stevens . . .[restrict]from the wreckage of the US Consulate in Benghazi.
The amateur film shows a group of men carrying the ambassador’s motionless body through a window, apparently to a waiting vehicle.
The dramatic scenes confirm reports that Stevens perished inside the consulate, apparently from smoke inhalation having been locked in a safe-room.
The ambassador was killed last Tuesday, together with three other American diplomats, after a mob of militant Islamists, believed to have belonged to the Ansar Al-Sharia brigade, attacked the consulate and a nearby safe house.
Over the course of the chaotic scene, Libyans can be heard shouting at one another to bring the body out of the consulate and attempting to ascertain if he is still alive.
“I swear, he’s dead,” one says.
“Bring him out, man! Bring him out,” says another.
“The man is alive. Move out of the way,” others shout. “Just bring him out, man.”
“Move, move, he is still alive!”
“Alive, alive! God is great!” others shout out as Mr Stevens is carried towards a car.
Already the film has been viewed by tens of thousands of people worldwide, although the lack of an English translation to accompany the footage has led many non-Arabic speakers to conclude that the men are part of the mob, and even celebrating Stevens’s death.
The film has, however, been picked up by much of the international media and translated correctly.
The death of the four American diplomats has shocked both Libya and the international community, and led for fierce calls on the government to act to disarm errant militias and bring them to heel.
Unlike with previous attacks on diplomatic venues in Benghazi, Tuesday’s assault has led to dozens of arrests and a pledge by the government to disband the Ansar Al-Sharia brigade, by force if necessary.
The film can be seen by clicking here. [/restrict]
