2012 Benghazi attack

This article is about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. For the worldwide protests, see Reactions to 'Innocence of Muslims'.

Attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi
File:2012 Benghazi consulate attack.png Fire burns in the U.S. consulate in Benghazi after the attack there on September 11, 2012
Location	Benghazi, Libya
Date	September 11–12, 2012 22:00 – 02:00 EET (UTC+02:00)
Target	United States consulate and second location (annex)
Attack type	Armed assault, rioting, arson
Weapons	Rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, assault rifles, 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine guns, diesel canisters, gun trucks, mortars
Deaths	4 Americans
Injured	2 Americans, 7 Libyans

On September 11, 2012 in Libya, armed militias executed an attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, heavily armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, anti-aircraft weapons, assault rifles, gun trucks, mortars, and diesel canisters. The sustained 5-hour gunbattle began at night in a U.S. diplomatic compound for the consulate, and ended in the early hours of the next day at another U.S. compound for the "annex" about 2 kilometers away. Killed were U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other members of his diplomatic mission, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith and U.S. embassy security personnel Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Two other Americans were also injured. The Benghazi attack was strongly condemned by the governments of Libya, the United States and other countries around the world.

The U.S. administration under President Barack Obama initially associated the attack with protesters reacting to the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims; U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice appeared on five Sunday political talk shows on September 16 asserting that the attacks were a "spontaneous reaction" to "a hateful and offensive video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world." However, some private analysts and U.S. officials noted that the Benghazi attack appeared to have been planned in advance and professionally executed. According to Libyan President Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, foreigners infiltrated Libya during the months prior to the attack, plotted the attack, and then used Libyans to carry it out.

On September 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the formation of a panel to investigate the attack, separate from the FBI investigation. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also for the first time called the event "a terrorist attack." On September 28, U.S. intelligence confirmed that the "deliberate and organized terrorist attack" was not prompted by the film. Questions about whether the White House should have stated this conclusion earlier and whether the site of the assault was adequately secured before and after the attack created some political controversy in the United States, where the 2012 Presidential election campaign was underway.

Popular opposition against the extremists who carried out the attack was evident in the days and weeks afterwards. On September 21, about 30,000 Libyans protested against armed militias in their country including Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist militia alleged to have played a role in the attack, and stormed several militia headquarters, forcing the occupants to flee. On September 23, the Libyan president declared that all unauthorized militias to either disband or come under government control. Militias across the country began surrendering to the government and submitting to their authority. Hundreds of Libyans gathered in Tripoli and Benghazi to hand over their weapons to the government.

Background

Al-Qaeda had sponsored a series of terrorist attacks on United States facilities over the previous two decades, including the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, and the September 11th attacks of 2001. In April 2012, two former security guards for the consulate threw a homemade IED over the consulate fence; the incident did not cause any casualties. In May 2012 an Al-Qaida affiliate calling itself the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross office in Benghazi. The group later released a video of what it said was its detonation of an explosive device outside the gates of the U.S. consulate on June 5, which caused no casualties reported but damaged the consulate's perimeter wall, described by one individual as "big enough for forty men to go through." The Brigades claimed that the attack was in response to the killing of Abu Yahya al Libi, a Libyan al-Qaeda leader who had just died in an American drone attack, and was also timed to coincide with the imminent arrival of a U.S. diplomat. There were no injuries, but the group left behind leaflets promising more attacks against the U.S.

After the fatal September 11 attack, CNN reported that a Benghazi security official and a battalion commander had met with U.S. diplomats three days before the attack and had warned the Americans about deteriorating security in the area. The official told CNN that the diplomats had been advised that "[t]he situation is frightening, it scares us."

On the day of the attack, Al Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri declared that al Libi's death still needed to be avenged.

On September 14, CNN correspondent Arwa Damon found Ambassador Stevens' diary at the unsecured site of the attack. In it, Stevens expressed his concern about the growing al-Qaeda presence in the area and his worry about being on an al-Qaeda hit list. The U.S. State Department later accused CNN of violating privacy and breaking its promise to Stevens' family that it would not report on the diary.

In an October 2 letter to Secretary of State Clinton, Darrell Issa (R-CA, chairman of the Committee) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT, chairman of the subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense, and Foreign Operations) compiled a list of more than a dozen attacks and events in the 6 months prior to the September 11 attack—including car jackings, kidnappings, assassination attempts, and gun battles—all of which indicated "a clear pattern of security threats that could only be reasonably interpreted to justify increased security for U.S. personnel and facilities in Benghazi."

The attack

The assault on the Benghazi consulate consisted of two separate attacks that forced the Americans from the consulate and then besieged them in a second building in a gunbattle that lasted four and half hours, according to a detailed timeline from a senior administration official. According to the U.S. State Department, at 10:00 p.m. CAT, the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was attacked by gunmen, who in minutes gained entry into the compound. A Libyan security guard who was wounded in the attack said in an interview that the area was quiet "until about 9:35 pm, when as many as 125 armed men descended on the compound from all directions." The attackers lobbed grenades and stormed through the facility’s main gate shouting "Allah Akbar", according to the guard. According to eyewitness Mohammad al Bishari, the property's landlord, assailants moved in from two directions. The attackers set the consulate on fire using diesel canisters. The main building, containing Ambassador Stevens, Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and security officer David Ubben, became engulfed in fire. The three became separated, and the security officer was the only person to make it out alive. At about 10:45, U.S. security personnel tried to retake the main building but were unsuccessful and retreated to the annex.

With the assistance of Libyan forces, the American security personnel were able to evacuate the rest of the main building to the annex. Gunmen attacked the annex at midnight, killing two American security personnel. By 2:00 a.m. CAT on September 12, Libyan and American security forces had "regained control of the situation". However, they could not locate the body of Ambassador Stevens, who had already been taken to a local hospital. At the hospital Stevens was administered CPR for 90 minutes by Dr. Ziad Buzaid. According to Dr. Buzaid, Stevens died from asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalation, although the circumstances of the ambassador's death are still being investigated.

The bodies were taken to Benina International Airport and flown to the capital, Tripoli, and scheduled to fly to a U.S. airbase in Germany. Abdel-Monem Al-Hurr, the spokesman for Libya's Supreme Security Committee, said: "One American staff member has died and a number have been injured in the clashes. There are fierce clashes between the Libyan army and an armed militia outside the U.S. consulate", while adding that roads leading to the compound were sealed off and Libyan state security forces had surrounded the building. From Germany, the four bodies arrived at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, DC, where President Barack Obama and members of his cabinet held a ceremony in honor of those killed.

Soon after the attack, US and Libyan government officials noted that it appeared to have been a complex and professionally executed attack. On September 13, Libya's deputy Interior Minister, Wanis al-Sharef, said that the attacks on the consulate were suspected to be timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and that militants used protests over the anti-Islam film as cover for their assault. He described the attack as a two-phase assault on the consulate and separate annex.

Sensitive documents were missing after the attack, including documents listing the names of Libyans working with the Americans, and documents relating to oil contracts. Mortars attacked the annex, whose location was not generally known to the public, where embassy staff had regrouped. Other locations in Libya of this type are no longer regarded as safe. Afterwards, all staff were moved to the capital, Tripoli, with nonessential personnel to be flown out of Libya.

Recovery of Stevens

A 22-year-old freelance videographer, Fahd al-Bakoush, later published a video showing Libyans trying to rescue U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens from a room filled with smoke at the attacked diplomatic mission where he was found unconscious, which confirms reports that suggested the U.S. envoy died of asphyxiation after the building caught fire. Some of the Libyans who entered the compound tried to rescue Stevens after they found him lying alone on the floor in a dark smoke-filled room with a locked door accessible only by a window. According to U.S. officials, security personnel were separated from Stevens during the attack in the chaos of smoke and gunfire that ensued. A group of men pulled him out of the room through the window, and then placed on the courtyard's stone tile floor. The crowd cheered "God is Greatest" when Stevens was found to be alive. He was then rushed to the hospital in a private car as there were no ambulance to carry him. According to U.S. officials, amid the evacuation, Stevens and foreign service officer Sean Smith were inside the consulate with a regional security officer. They got separated in the smoke. The security officer and others went back in to try to find the two of them and found Smith dead. They pulled him out but flames and gunfire forced them to flee before they could find Stevens.

Seif Eddin Zoghbia was the general surgeon on duty at the Benghazi Medical Center when the ambassador was rushed in by strangers five hours later at around 1 a.m.. For the next half hour, doctors and nurses tried to revive the body to no avail, said Zoghbia, adding that the ambassador died of asphyxiation and that there were no signs of trauma on his body. Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid later told The Associated Press that Stevens was nearly lifeless when he was brought by Libyans, Stevens had severe asphyxia from the smoke and that he tried for 90 minutes to resuscitate him with no success. Only later did security officials confirm he was an American and an ambassador. Stevens' body was later returned to U.S. custody.

Aftermath

Libyan response

Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur's office condemned the attack and extended condolences, saying: "While strongly condemning any attempt to abuse the person of Muhammad, or an insult to our holy places and prejudice against the faith, we reject and strongly condemn the use of force to terrorise innocent people and the killing of innocent people." It also reaffirmed "the depth of relationship between the peoples of Libya and the U.S., which grew closer with the positions taken by the U.S. government in support of the revolution of February 17." Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, the President of the General National Congress of Libya, said: "We apologise to the United States, the people and to the whole world for what happened. We confirm that no-one will escape from punishment and questioning."

Libyans held demonstrations in Benghazi and Tripoli on September 12, condemning the violence and holding signs such as, "Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans", and apologizing to Americans for the actions in their name and in the name of Muslims. The New York Times noted that young Libyans had also flooded Twitter with pro-American messages after the attacks. It was noted that Libyans are typically more positively inclined towards the United States than their neighbors. A 2012 Gallup poll noted that "A majority of Libyans (54%) surveyed in March and April 2012 approve of the leadership of the U.S. -- among the highest approval Gallup has ever recorded in the... region, outside of Israel." 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.

On CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday September 16, el-Magariaf said that there was "no doubt" that the attack was "preplanned, predetermined." He also said that those who had been arrested in connection with the attack were "affiliates and maybe sympathizers" of al Qaeda.

Ali Aujali, the ambassador to the United States, praised Stevens as a "dear friend" and a "real hero" at a reception in Washington, D.C., alongside Hillary Clinton. He also urged the United States to continue supporting Libya this "very difficult time" and that the young Libyan government needed help so that it could "maintain...security and stability in our country."

The Libyan response to the crisis was praised and appreciated in the United States, and President Obama emphasized how the Libyans "helped our diplomats to safety" to an American audience the following day, while a New York Times editorial criticized Egypt's government for not doing "what Libyan leaders did."

Anti-militia demonstrations

On September 21, about 30,000 Libyans marched through Benghazi calling for the support of the rule of law and for an end to armed militias. Carrying signs with slogans such as "We Want Justice For Chris" and "Libya Lost a Friend," the protestors stormed several militia headquarters, including that of Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist militia who some allege played a role in the attack on U.S. diplomatic personnel on September 11. 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." By early the next morning, the protestors had forced militia members to flee and seized control of a number of compounds, releasing four prisoners found inside. Protesters burnt a car and a building of at least one facility, and looted weapons. The militia compounds and many weapons were handed over to Libya's national army in what "appeared to be part of a coordinated sweep of militia bases by police, government troops and activists" following the earlier demonstrations. Some militia members accused the protestors of being Qaddafi loyalists, looking to disarm the militias in the wake of the revolution.

Government campaign to disband militias

On September 23, taking advantage of the growing momentum and rising anger against the militias evinced in the earlier anti-militia demonstrations, the Libyan president declared that all unauthorized militias had 48 hours to either disband or come under government control. The government also mandated that bearing arms in public was now illegal, as were armed checkpoints.

It has been noted that previously, handling the militias had been difficult as the government had been forced to rely on some of them for protection and security. However, according to a Libyan interviewed in Tripoli, the government gained the ability to push back against the militias because of a "mandate of the people".

On the 24th, the government commenced with a raid on a former military base held by a rogue infantry militia.

Across the country, militias began surrendering to the government. The government formed a "National Mobile Force" for the purpose of evicting illegal militias. On the same day as the declaration, various militias in Misrata held meetings, ultimately deciding to submit to the government's authority, and handed over various public facilities they had been holding, including the city's three main jails, which were handed over to the authority of the Ministry of Justice. 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.

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 the 29th of September.

U.S. government response

Some Obama administration officials purportedly described the attack as an off-shoot of the protest over the film, although one U.S. official acknowledged that the attack was likely organized and deliberate. It was announced that the FBI would investigate the possibility of the attack being planned. However, contrary to some assertions, in Obama's first statement on September 12 from the White House on the attacks, he does not mention the controversial film and clearly characterizes the attacks as an act of terror. Secretary of State Clinton also made a statement on September 12, describing the perpetrators as "heavily armed militants" and "a small and savage group - not the people or government of Libya." She did not blame protestors or the video, but 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" to clarify that true or not, that was not a justification for violence.

President Barack Obama, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, delivering a statement at the White House on September 12, 2012 in which he condemned the attack on the U.S. consulate.

U.S. President Barack Obama strongly condemned "this outrageous attack" on U.S. diplomatic facilities while also stating that "[s]ince our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others." He further ordered that security be increased at all such facilities worldwide. A Marine FAST team was sent to Libya to "bolster security". U.S. officials said surveillance over Libya would increase, including the use of unmanned drones, to "hunt for the attackers."

On September 14 the remains of the slain Americans were returned to the U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the ceremony. In her remarks Clinton said, "One young woman, her head covered and her eyes haunted with sadness, held up a handwritten sign that said 'Thugs and killers don’t represent Benghazi nor Islam.' The President of the Palestinian Authority, who worked closely with Chris when he served in Jerusalem, sent me a letter remembering his energy and integrity, and deploring – and I quote – 'an act of ugly terror.' Before the ceremony, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney spoke of the video in relation to the protest in Egypt, not Libya.

Five days after the attack, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice did a "Full Ginsburg" (that is, appeared on five different Sunday political talk shows on the same day). She reiterated that the attacks were a "spontaneous reaction" to "a hateful and offensive video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world."

The United States Navy dispatched two Arleigh Burke class destroyers, the USS McFaul and the USS Laboon, to the Libyan coast. The destroyers are equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. American UAVs were also sent to fly over Libya to search for the perpetrators of the attack.

On September 20, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney stated that the attack was an act of terror, not a spontaneous attack as he and the White House had stated earlier. On the same day, during an appearance on Univision, a Spanish-language television network in the United States, President Obama said that protests linked to the anti-Islamic trailer on YouTube were used by extremists to launch attacks on the consulate. President Obama is quoted as saying, "What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests." Carney was quoted as saying, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack." In the same report CNN noted conflicting reports that U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens "believed he was on an al Qaeda hit list."

In an address before the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, President Obama stated, "The attacks on our civilians in Benghazi were attacks on America...And there should be no doubt that we will be relentless in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice."

On September 26 Clinton acknowledged a possible link between Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the September 11 attack.

To assist the Libyan government in disbanding extremist groups, the Obama administration allocated $8 million to begin building an elite Libyan commando force over the next year.

Criticism of U.S. government response

Republican Party members took issue with the Democratic Party controlled administration, accusing the White House and State Department of overplaying the role of the protests against a trailer for a controversial anti-Islamic movie in the case of Libya and the government's alleged reluctance to label the attack as "terrorist". Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has questioned whether there were any protests at all in Benghazi, saying: "I have seen no information that shows that there was a protest going on as you have seen around any other embassy at the time. It was clearly designed to be an attack." According to critics, the consulate site should have been secured better both before and after the attack.

On the 20th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a classified briefing to U.S. Senators, which several Republican attendees criticized. 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.

GOP legislators also took issue with delays in the investigation, which CNN attributed to "bureaucratic infighting" between the FBI, Justice, and State. On the 26th, Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) said he "cannot believe that the FBI is not on the ground yet."

On CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" on September 30, Senator John McCain (senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee) called President Obama's response to the attack 'inept' and 'ignorant.' McCain said that "there are certain political overtones" in how the Obama administration handled their response to the attack. "[H]ow else could you trot out our U.N. ambassador to say this was a spontaneous demonstration?"

Investigation timeline

September 12	CBS News reported that U.S. officials said it "was not an out-of-control demonstration, but a well-executed assault." The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials and Middle East analysts said that the attack "may have been planned by extremists and inspired by al-Qaeda." In a press release, the Qulliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank based in London, stated that the "military assualt" was not related to the film but was to "avenge the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, al-Qaeda’s second in command killed a few months ago." BBC reported that Libya's deputy ambassador to London, Ahmad Jibril, named Ansar al-Sharia as the perpetrators. They also said a Libyan reporter told them that the attack was executed by as many as 80 militiamen "armed with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine guns." CNN reported that, according to a globalsecurity.org expert, "in all likelihood" the assault rifles used in the attack were the AK-47 and the Belgium-made FN F2000 NATO assault rifles. Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif of the Libyan government told a news conference in Benghazi that it was likely that the perpetrators had been Gaddafi loyalists, suggesting the attack could have been intended as a revenge for the extradition of Abdullah al-Senoussi (Gaddafi's former intelligence chief) from Mauritania the previous month.
September 13	The FBI opened an investigation into the deaths; a team was sent to investigate, with another team for security. The FBI officials were set to arrive by September 21 in Benghazi to work with Libyan officials. In a briefing to congressional staffers, State Department Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy said that the attack appeared planned because it was so extensive and because of the "proliferation" of small and medium weapons. CNN reported that the attackers were part of an Al Qaeda spinoff group. They spoke with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said the killings were possibly linked to the terrorist group blamed for the 9/11 hijackings. According to Sen. Feinstein, “The weapons were somewhat sophisticated, and they blew a big hole in the building and started a big fire.”
September 15	SITE Intelligence Group released a report that said al-Qaeda claimed that the attack was in revenge for the killing of the network's number two Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi.
September 16	In an exclusive interview with NPR in Benghazi, President Mohammed el-Megarif said that foreigners infiltrated Libya over the past few months, planned the attack, and used Libyans to carry it out. According to el-Megarif: "The idea that this criminal and cowardly act was a spontaneous protest that just spun out of control is completely unfounded and preposterous. We firmly believe that this was a precalculated, preplanned attack that was carried out specifically to attack the U.S. Consulate." He said the attackers used the protesters outside the consulate as a cover, and there is evidence showing that elements of Ansar al-Sharia, an extremist group in eastern Benghazi, were used by foreign citizens with ties to al-Qaida to attack the consulate. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice appeared on five Sunday morning political talk shows. On NBC's Meet the Press she said, “What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video.” Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, suspected that the attack was planned in advance and not prompted by the furor over the film. He noted that "[m]ost people don't bring rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weapons to demonstrations. That was an act of terror."
September 17	Fox News reported that an "intelligence source on the ground in Libya" said "there was no demonstration outside the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi" before the attack. The source was quoted as saying, "There was no protest and the attacks were not spontaneous." The source also said that the attack "was planned and had nothing to do with the movie." The source said the assault came with no warning at about 9:35 p.m. local time and included fire from more than two locations. The information for the time and for multiple directions of the attack corroborates an eyewitness report. Representative Mike Rogers (R) Michigan, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview with Real Clear Politics that there were reports that the Consulate sustained "indirect fire, artillery type fire from mortars. They had direct unit action. It was coordinated in a way that was very unusual. They repulsed a quick reaction force that came to the facility...."
September 19	The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matthew Olson, appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During the hearing Olsen said that the Americans killed in Libya died “in the course of a terrorist attack.” But he said that "the facts that we have now indicate that this was an opportunistic attack," one in which heavily armed militants took advantage of an ongoing demonstration at the Consulate. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) disagreed with Olsen’s statement that the attack did not appear pre-planned. She said, "Based on the briefings I have had, I’ve come to the opposite conclusion. I just don’t think that people come to protests equipped with RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and other heavy weapons. And the reports of complicity—and they are many—with Libyan guards who were assigned to guard the consulate also suggest to me that this was premeditated." Olsen told committee members that the U.S. is "looking at indications" that some attackers had connections to al-Qaeda or its North African affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
September 20	Reuters reported that U.S. authorities are investigating collusion between the militants who launched the attack on the consulate and locally hired Libyan personnel guarding the facility. This corroborates earlier statements by U.S. government officials who stated there were multiple accounts of collusion between the attackers and the Libyan security guards. Secretary Clinton announced the formation of a panel to investigate the attack, which is separate from the FBI investigation. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney for the first time called the event "a terrorist attack."
September 21	U.S. officials said that the heavily armed extremists who laid siege to the consulate used "military-style tactics". Intelligence reports also indicate that 50 or more people took part in the attack and used gun trucks and precise mortar fire.
September 26	The Daily Beast reported that three separate U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the attack that it was "planned and the work of al Qaeda affiliates operating in Eastern Libya." Libyan president Mohamed Magariefd, in an interview with NBC News, said that there were no protestors at the site before the attack and that the anti-Islam film had "nothing to do with" the attack. "Reaction should have been, if it was genuine, should have been six months earlier. So it was postponed until the 11th of September," he said. "They chose this date, 11th of September to carry a certain message."
September 28	A statement was released by the Director of Public Affairs for the Director of National Intelligence. The statement said that the intelligence community had revised their "initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists." The statement also said that initial assessments that "the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo" had been "provided ... to Executive Branch officials and members of Congress, who used that information to discuss the attack publicly."
October 2	In a letter to Secretary of State Clinton, Darrell Issa (R-CA, chairman of the Committee) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT, chairman of the subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense, and Foreign Operations) write that "the attack that claimed the Ambassador's life was the latest in a long line of attacks on Western diplomats and officials in Libya in the months leading up to September 11, 2012. It was clearly never, as Administration officials once insisted, the result of a popular protest." The letter goes on to state that the mission in Benghazi was denied increased security they repeatedly requested. Subpoenaed witnesses set to testify before the committee on October 10 are Charlene Lamb, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Department of State; Eric Nordstrom, Regional Security Officer, U.S. Department of State; and Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, Utah National Guard, U.S. Army. According to Lt. Col. Wood, his 16-member team and a six-member State Department elite force called a Mobile Security Deployment team left Libya in August, one month before the assault on the diplomatic mission. Wood says that's despite the fact that U.S. officials in Libya wanted security increased, not decreased.
October 3	The Washington Post reported that the FBI investigation team was in Tripoli and had not reached Benghazi yet. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting its own investigation of the attack.
October 4	The State Department announced an Accountability Review Board "to examine the facts and circumstances of the attacks." The Washington Post reported that the FBI team arrived in Benghazi and left after about 12 hours.
October 9	In an evening briefing to reporters, the State Department said it never concluded that the consulate attack in Libya stemmed from protests over the video. Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Bob Corker, R-Tenn., met with Libyan officials in Tripoli, and said that investigators are examining video from security cameras at the primary Benghazi compound to help them reconstruct what happened in the attack and identify attack participants.
October 10	The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held its hearing, "The Security Failures of Benghazi." In addition to the three witnesses originally named, a fourth witness testified: Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management, U.S. Department of State. In sworn testimony, Mr. Kennedy said, "...if any administration official, including any career official, were on television on Sunday, September 16th, they would have said what Ambassador Rice said. The information she had at that point from the intelligence community is the same that I had at that point." However, in a briefing to congressional staffers on September 13, Mr. Kennedy said that the attack appeared planned. State Department witnesses acknowledged that it rejected appeals for more security at its diplomatic posts in Libya in the months before the attack.
October 12	U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs announces its plan to conduct a bipartisan investigation. Part of their investigation will seek to determine "why the Administration’s initial public assessments of this attack were subsequently proven inaccurate."
October 15	U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton assumed responsibility for the Benghazi attack, saying that she is in charge of her 60,000-plus staff all over the world and "the president and the vice president wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision." Republican Senator John McCain praised her "laudable gesture, especially when the White House is trying to avoid any responsibility whatsoever" but insisted that either there were drastic failures in the national security operation in not keeping the president aware of ongoing threats, or Obama himself knew of the threats and needed to take responsibility for the shortcomings. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the two Libyan militiamen guarding the consulate denied aiding the attackers. The compound was "lazily quiet" in the hours before the assault, they said. Around 9:30 p.m., the guards heard cries of "Allahu akbar!"—"God is great"—three times from outside the walls, then a voice called out in Arabic "You infidels!" and the attackers raced inside. The New York Times reported that witnesses of the attack knowledgeable of the circumstances were very convinced that it was carried out by a group of local Islamic militants in response to the video. According to local militia leaders familiar with the militant group, it was capable of carrying out the attack on short notice with only a few hour's planning.

Fatalities and injuries

Members of U.S. diplomatic mission who died in Benghazi, Libya
J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya	Sean Smith, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer	Glen Doherty, U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service personnel	Tyrone S. Woods, U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service personnel

Four Americans died in the attack: Ambassador Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and two embassy security personnel, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALs. Initial reports indicated that ten Libyan guards died; this was later retracted and reported that seven Libyans were injured. A report in The New York Times has stated that there were two facilities used by the Americans in Benghazi, one for the American mission and an annex a half-mile away and that:

Neither was heavily guarded, and the annex was never intended to be a “safe house,” as initial accounts suggested. Two of the mission’s guards — Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty, former members of the Navy SEALs — were killed just outside the villa’s front gate.

A subsequent report quoted in Bloomberg News states that mortar fire from the attackers was the cause of death: "At about 4 a.m., the two officials said, the annex took mortar fire. Some rounds landed on the roof, killing two agents and severely wounding another. Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty, two former Navy SEALs working as security personnel, were the other Americans killed in Benghazi." There are recent reports that Woods's mother has been pressing officials for an accounting of the circumstances surrounding his death. As reported in Foreign Policy magazine, Hillary Rodham Clinton described the circumstances of Woods's death: "if not for him, the 30 people inside the consulate would not have made it out."

President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton honor the Benghazi victims at the Transfer of Remains Ceremony held at Andrews Air Force Base, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, September 14, 2012.

U. S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens

Main article: J. Christopher Stevens

Information Officer Sean Smith

Main article: Sean Smith (diplomat)

Glen Doherty

Glen Anthony Doherty (c. 1970 – September 11, 2012) was an American security officer. Three other Americans died in the attack: U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, Information Management Officer Sean Smith and security contractor Tyrone Woods, also a former Navy SEAL.

A native of Winchester, Massachusetts, and a 1988 graduate of Winchester High School, Doherty was the second of three children born to Bernard and Barbara Doherty. He trained as a pilot at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University before moving to Snowbird, Utah for several winters and then joining the United States Navy. Doherty served as a Navy SEAL including tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. After leaving the Navy, he worked for a private security company in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kenya and Libya.

Doherty was a member of the advisory board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an organization that opposes proselytizing by religious groups in the United States military. MRFF founder Michael L. Weinstein said that Doherty had "helped me on many MRFF client cases behind the scenes to facilitate assistance to armed forces members abused horribly by fundamentalist Christian proselytizing."

Doherty's funeral was held at Saint Eulalia's parish in his native Winchester on September 19, 2012.

Doherty was coauthor of the book The 21st Century Sniper.

Mentioned in US politics

Doherty's name was invoked by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the United States presidential election, 2012. As reported in the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The New York Times and other news sources, Romney claimed to have previously met Doherty at a gathering in La Jolla, San Diego. Romney stated that "'You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy SEALS killed in Benghazi on September 11'...Romney did not identify Doherty by name, but his campaign later confirmed that Romney was referring to Doherty, 42, who lived in Encinitas, California. Romney said the death of Doherty, who was working as a security contractor in Benghazi, was an example of America's leadership role in the world and why it must be maintained." Soon after, Doherty's mother Barbara requested that the Romney campaign stop making mention of her son for political reasons saying "I don't trust Romney. He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda," she told WHDH. "It's wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama.”

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Tyrone S. Woods

Funeral services for Tyrone S. Woods at Fort Rosecrans Cemetery in San Diego, California September 20, 2012

Tyrone Snowden Woods (January 15, 1971 – September 12, 2012) was an American security officer. From 2010 until his death he worked as a security contractor protecting U.S. American diplomatic personnel from Central America to the Middle East. Glen Doherty was the other former SEAL who was killed providing protection.

Woods was born in Portland, Oregon and was a 1989 graduate of Oregon City High School south of Portland, Oregon. He served as a Navy SEAL until 2010 including tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Middle East and Central America.

Woods also served with distinction at the Naval Medical Center San Diego as a registered nurse and certified paramedic.

Woods was previously awarded a Bronze Star with Combat V. He retired as a senior chief petty officer in 2007. Woods and Doherty were both decorated military veterans who served the United States with honor and distinction.

Mentioned in US politics

Senator Dean Heller of Nevada issued an official statement following the killing of Woods who was a resident of Henderson, Nevada: ″I am deeply saddened by the death of Tyrone Woods who lost his life during the despicable attacks in Libya earlier this week...Tyrone’s dedication to this country epitomized the very best of this nation, and I am grateful for his service."

Woods's actions was invoked together with the name of Glen Doherty by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the United States presidential election, 2012. As reported in the Chicago Tribune, Romney claimed to have previously met Doherty at a gathering in La Jolla, San Diego and praised his bravery. In addition: "Romney said he had read reports that the two former SEALS at the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Doherty and Tyrone Woods, were in a separate building and had rushed to the consulate building under attack. 'They went there. They didn't hunker down where they were in safety,' Romney said. 'They rushed there to go help. This is the American way. We go where there's trouble. We go where we're needed.'"

See also

• Reactions to the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks
• Ambassadors of the United States killed in office

External links

• Interactive Map of Attack at The New York Times
• Map of Consulate grounds
• [1] Background Conference Call With Senior State Department Officials

Washington, DC October 9, 2012