By Nihal Zaroug.
Tripoli, 15 September:
A FBI team investigating Tuesday night’s attack on the US mission in Benghazi has postponed its trip until calm is . . .[restrict]restored to the city. The team was due to arrive in Libya today, Saturday.
The attack claimed the lives of four Americans, including US ambassador Chris Stevens.
Contrary to what is being said in Libya, many US officials believe that the assault may not have been premeditated. Speaking on Friday, President Obama’s press secretary Jay Carney suggested that until more information was gathered the US government would hold to the view that the attack was not pre-planned.
Analysts supporting the US government’s stance allude to Libya’s diminished security, the abundance of armed fringe groups and the availability of weapons in the hands of the public as reasons why the attack might have been unplanned.
However, there is evidence that suggests that the second confrontation at the US mission’s safe house could not have happened without insider knowledge or some degree of organisation. This goes against statements that the attacks were not carried out by a single group but by an angry multitude protesting the “Innocence of Muslims” film attacking the Prophet Mohamed.
In an interview on Friday, General National Congress President Mohamed Magariaf stated that he believed Al-Qaeda were behind the occurrences, which he labeled as “a dirty act of revenge that has nothing to do with religion”. He added that only a few Libyans were active members of Al-Qaeda but they had managed to penetrate security forces, profiteering from the country’s lack of security.
Meanwhile, US officials who have been evacuated out of Libya are being interviewed in order to piece together what happened. A team of marines known as Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) was deployed on Wednesday to commence initial investigations and attempt to restore security at American facilities in Libya. The airspace over Benghazi was closed for several hours on 14 September, to enable drones to patrol overhead.
In Libya, 12 arrests have been made, and the authorities have identified 50 suspects according to the spokesman for the Supreme Security Committee (SSC), Abdelmonem Al-Hurr, adding that there could be more. Some suspects, he feared, may have escaped via Benina airport or over the boarder to Egypt. This, he said, was the primary reason why Benghazi’s airport was closed, to evade “any attempts by the perpetrators to flee the country” according to Magariaf.
In a telephone conversation between President Barack Obama and GNC President Magarief, both men agreed that all measure would be used to bring the culprits to justice. A release by the US Office of Press Secretary stated:
“The President (Obama) made it clear that we must work together to do whatever is necessary to identify the perpetrators of this attack and bring them to justice. The two presidents agreed to work closely over the course of this investigation. The President reaffirmed support for Libya’s democratic transition, a cause Ambassador Stevens believed in deeply and did so much to advance.”
On several separate occasions, Magarief has vowed that the attacks would not go unpunished. Yesterday, while meeting with President of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, Magariaf said that Libyans would “not tolerate these groups and that this incident would not pass without legal repercussions for the killers.”
President Marzouki, who arrived in Libya on Wednesday, having decided not to postpone his visit despite Tuesday’s slayings, condemned the assault. He expressed Tunisia’s desire to better coordinate security among the neighboring countries in the light of the attack.
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