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Libya Attack Brings Challenges for U.S. Libya Attack Brings Challenges for U.S.
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — The violent deaths of four American diplomatic personnel in Libya during a heavily armed and possibly planned assault on a flimsily protected consulate facility on the Sept. 11 anniversary provoked an uproar in Washington on Wednesday, presenting new challenges in the volatile Middle East less than two months before the American presidential election. CAIRO — Islamist militants armed with antiaircraft weapons and rocket-propelled grenades stormed a lightly defended United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi late Tuesday, killing the American ambassador and three members of his staff and raising fresh questions about the radicalization of countries swept up in the Arab Spring.
The killings of the four Americans on Tuesday, including the ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, also raised basic questions about security and intelligence in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, where the assault took place, as well as other American diplomatic facilities elsewhere in the region, where deep-seated anti-American sentiment remains a potent force despite United States support for the Arab Spring uprisings that have transfixed the region for nearly two years. The ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, was missing almost immediately after the start of an intense, four-hour firefight for control of the mission, and his body was not located until Wednesday morning at dawn, when he was found dead at a Benghazi hospital, American and Libyan officials said. It was the first time since 1979 that an American ambassador died in a violent assault.
President Obama denounced the attack, promised to avenge the killings and ordered tighter security at all American diplomatic installations. The administration also dispatched 50 Marines to Libya for greater diplomatic protection, ordered all nonemergency personnel to leave Libya and warned Americans not to travel there, suggesting further attacks were possible. A senior defense official said Wednesday night that the Pentagon was moving two warships toward the Libyan coast as a precaution. American and European officials said that while many details about the attack remained unclear, the assailants seemed organized, well trained and heavily armed and appeared to have at least some level of advanced planning.  But the officials cautioned that it was too soon to tell whether the attack was guided or influenced by Al Qaeda, or timed to the anniversary 9/11 attacks.
"These four Americans stood up for freedom and human dignity,” Mr. Obama said in a televised statement from the White House Rose Garden, where he stood with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Make no mistake: we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.” Fighters involved in the assault, which was spearheaded by a Islamist brigade formed during last year’s uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, said in interviews during the battle that they were moved to attack the mission by anger over a 14-minute, American-made video that depicted the Prophet Muhammad, Islam’s founder, as a villainous, homosexual and child-molesting buffoon. Their attack followed by just a few hours the storming of the compound surrounding the United States Embassy in Cairo by an unarmed mob protesting the same video. On Wednesday, new crowds of protesters gathered outside the United States Embassies in Tunis and in Cairo.
But the killings also led to heated exchanges between the Obama administration and the Republican presidential challenger, Mitt Romney, who criticized Mr. Obama’s handling of the killings in what Mr. Romney’s critics, including a few Republicans, called an unwarranted politicization of an American foreign policy tragedy. The wave of unrest set off by the video, posted online in the United States two months ago and dubbed into Arabic for the first time eight days ago, has further underscored the instability of the countries that cast off their longtime dictators in the Arab Spring revolts. It also cast doubt on the adequacy of security preparations at American diplomatic outposts in the volatile region.
There were unconfirmed reports that Ambassador Stevens, a highly regarded diplomat who was well liked by officials in the new Libyan government, had been pursued by Islamic militants to his death in a safe house, where he may have died of asphyxiation from smoke in a grenade explosion. He was the first American ambassador killed abroad in more than three decades. Benghazi, awash in guns, has recently witnessed string of assassinations as well as attacks on international missions, including a bomb said to be planted by another Islamist group that exploded near the United States Consulate there as recently as June. But a Libyan politician who had breakfast with Mr. Stevens at the mission the morning before he was killed described security as sorely inadequate for an American ambassador in such a tumultuous environment, consisting primarily of four video cameras and as few as four Libyan guards.
Initial accounts of the assault in Benghazi were attributed to popular anger over what was described as an American-made video that lampooned the Prophet Muhammad, which had been publicized by Egyptian media and led to a mob protest at the United States Embassy protest in Cairo on Tuesday. But administration officials in Washington said the attack in Libya may have been plotted in advance. “This country is still in transition, and everybody knows the extremists are out there,” said Fathi Baja, the Libyan politician.
While the protesters in Cairo appeared to be genuinely outraged over the anti-Islam video, the attackers in Benghazi were armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. Officials said it was possible that an organized group had either been waiting for an opportunity to exploit like the protests over the video or perhaps even generated the protests as a cover for their attack. Obama Vows Justice
Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a former FBI agent, agreed. “Clearly the event in Libya was a planned, targeted attack and I believe they selected the date probably for a reason,” he said. “As an old investigator, I can tell you, you can’t have that many coincidences on the same day. I don’t believe it.” President Obama condemned the killings, promised to bring the assailants to justice, and ordered tighter security at all American diplomatic installations. The administration also dispatched 50 Marines to Libya for greater diplomatic protection, ordered all nonemergency personnel to leave Libya and warned Americans not to travel there.
  Mr. Obama offered praise for the Libyan government, noting that Libyan security forces fought back against the attacking mob, helped protect American diplomats and took Mr. Stevens’s body to the hospital. “This attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya,” he said. Top Libyan officials, including the interim leader, quickly apologized and vowed to help find the killers. “These four Americans stood up for freedom and human dignity,” Mr. Obama said in a televised statement from the White House Rose Garden, where he stood with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.”
But the Benghazi attack also put an enormous new strain on Washington’s relations with the new Libyan government that took over after the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi last year and has struggled to gain control over a litany of armed groups that still roam the country with impunity. In Tripoli, Libyans leaders also vowed to track down the attackers and stressed their unity with Washington.
It seemed clear that the events in Benghazi far outpaced the ability of the Americans or Libyan officials to fully grasp them. The attack at the compound, which lasted for hours, turned out to be much deadlier than administration officials first announced on Tuesday night, when Mrs. Clinton said one American had been killed and one injured. Yussef Magariaf, president of the newly elected Libyan National Congress, offered “an apology to the United States and the Arab people, if not the whole world, for what happened.” He pledged new measures to ensure the security of foreign diplomats and companies. “We together with the United States government are on the same side, standing in a united front in the face of these murderous outlaws.”
Another of those killed was Sean Smith, an information management officer who joined the Foreign Service 10 years ago. The State Department did not identify the other two, pending notification of relatives, but they were both thought to be security officers. Mr. Smith, a husband and father of two, previously served in Iraq, Canada and the Netherlands. Obama administration officials and regional officials scrambled to sort out conflicting reports about the nature of the attack and the motivation of the attackers on Wednesday. A senior Obama administration officials told reporters during a conference call that “it was clearly a complex attack,” but offered no details.
In a dispatch from Benghazi, Reuters quoted witnesses as saying the attackers included tribesmen, militia and other gunmen, and that Libyan security officers guarding the facility were overrun and some retreated. It quoted one witness as saying he saw one of the Americans die in front of him and the body had been covered in ash. Col. Wolfgang Pusztai, who until early August was Austria’s defense attaché to Libya and visited the country every month, said in an e-mail that he believed the attack was “deliberately planned and executed” by about a core group of 30 to 40 assailants who were “well trained and organized.”  But he said the reports from some terrorism experts that the attack may be linked to the recent death in drone strikes of senior Qaeda leaders, including Abu Yahya al Libi, were so far unsupported.
Officials in Washington said no warning had been distributed inside the United States government in the days before the assault on the consulate, either on the possibility of an attack to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary or more specifically that a plot might be afoot in Libya. That suggests that American intelligence was not picking up unusual communications or other evidence pointing to a planned attack. A translated version of the video that set off the uprising arrived first in Egypt before reaching the rest of the Islamic world. Its author, whose identity is now a mystery, devoted the video’s prologue to caricatured depictions of Egyptian Muslims abusing Egyptian Coptic Christians while Egyptian police officers stood by. It was publicized last week by an American Coptic Christian activist, Morris Sadek, well known here for his scathing attacks on Islam.
About 24 hours before the consulate attack, however, Al Qaeda posted to militant forums on the Web a video in which its leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, acknowledged the death in an American  drone strike in June of his Libyan deputy, Abu Yahya al-Libi, and called on Libyans to avenge the death. Mr. Sadek promoted the video in tandem with a declaration by Terry Jones — a Florida pastor best known for burning the Koran on “International Judge Mohamed Day” on Sept. 11.
If it were established that the deaths of the American diplomats resulted not from the spontaneous anger of a crowd about an insult to Islam but from a long-planned Qaeda plot, that might sharply shift perceptions of the events. But officials cautioned that the issue was still under urgent study. The video began attracting attention in the Egyptian media, including the broadcast of offensive scenes on Egyptian television last week. At that point, American diplomats in Cairo informed the State Department of the festering outrage in the days before the Sept. 11 anniversary, said a person briefed on their concerns. But officials in Washington declined to address or disavow the video, this person said.
  By the end of the day, the administration was still sorting through the information and the National Counterterrorism Center had yet to offer a formal assessment. While the attack looked organized, one official said it was too early to assign responsibility to a militant group like Ansar al-Sharia, the focus of much attention on Wednesday. The official likewise said it was not known whether the attack had been intended to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. “Motivation remains a mystery,” the official said. By late afternoon, hundreds had gathered in mostly peaceful protest outside the United States Embassy here under the oversight of a large contingent of Egyptian security forces. But around 6 p.m., after the end of the work day and television news coverage of the event, the crowd began to swell, including a group of rowdy young soccer fans.
 Moreover, the official pointed out that weapons are commonplace in that part of Libya and it was possible that as anger over the video mushroomed, radicals armed themselves and rushed to the consulate on their own. “This is Benghazi,” the official said. “This is the wild west.” Gaining Entrance
The White House would not comment. “At this stage, it would be premature to ascribe any motive to this reprehensible act,” said Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman. Then, at about 6:30 p.m., a small group of protesters — one official briefed on the events put it at about 20 — brought a ladder to the wall of the compound and quickly scaled it, gaining entrance to the ground. Embassy officials asked the Egyptian government to remove the infiltrators without using weapons or force, in order to avoid inflaming the situation, this official said.
Mr. Stevens assumed his ambassador post in May after having served as an envoy to the Libyan rebels who overthrew Colonel Qaddafi. He was widely admired by the Libyan rebels for his support of their struggle, and others who knew Mr. Stevens described him as an extraordinarily talented and insightful diplomat. But it then took the Egyptian security officers five hours to remove the intruders, leaving them ample time to run around the grounds, deface American flags, and hoist the black flag favored by Islamic ultraconservatives and labeled with Islam’s most basic expression of faith, “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.”
Mr. Obama called Mr. Stevens “a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States” who had “selflessly served our country and the Libyan people at our mission in Benghazi” and, as ambassador, “supported Libya’s transition to democracy.” It is unclear if television footage of Islamist protesters may have inspired the attack on the embassy in Benghazi, a Libyan city near Egypt that had been a hotbed of opposition to Colonel Qaddafi, and that remains unruly since the uprising in that country resulted in his death. But Tuesday night, a group of armed assailants mixed with unarmed demonstrators gathered at the small compound that housed a temporary American diplomatic mission there.
The news of the deaths emerged on Wednesday after violence spilled over the American Consulate in Benghazi and demonstrators stormed the fortified walls of the American Embassy in Cairo. Anti-American protests also were reported in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring revolution, and in Gaza. The Taliban called on Afghans to “take revenge” on American targets in Afghanistan. The ambassador, Mr. Stevens, was visiting the city Tuesday from the United States Embassy compound in Tripoli to attend the planned opening of an American cultural center in Benghazi, and was staying at the mission. It is not clear if the assailants knew that the ambassador was staying at the mission temporarily.
Interviewed at the scene Tuesday night, many of the attackers and those who backed them said they were determined to defend their faith from the insults in the video. Some recalled an earlier episode when protesters in Benghazi had burned down the Italian consulate after an Italian minister had worn a T-shirt emblazoned with cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. Ten people were reportedly killed in clashes with Colonel Qaddafi’s police.
The assault was led by a brigade of Islamist fighters known as Ansar al-Sharia, or the Supporters of Islamic Law. Members of the brigade stressed at the time that they were not acting alone, however, and on Wednesday, perhaps apprehensive over the death of the American ambassador, said in a statement that its supporters “were not officially involved or were not ordered to be involved” in the attack.
At the same time, however, the brigade praised those who protested as “the best of the best” of the Libyan people and supported their response to video “in the strongest possible terms.”
Conflicting Accounts
There were conflicting accounts of how Mr. Stevens had died. One witness to the mayhem around the compound on Tuesday said militants chased him to a safe house and lobbed grenades at the location, where he was later found unconscious, apparently from smoke inhalation, and could not be revived by rescuers who took him to a hospital.There were conflicting accounts of how Mr. Stevens had died. One witness to the mayhem around the compound on Tuesday said militants chased him to a safe house and lobbed grenades at the location, where he was later found unconscious, apparently from smoke inhalation, and could not be revived by rescuers who took him to a hospital.
An unidentified Libyan official in Benghazi told Reuters that Mr. Stevens and three staff members were killed in Benghazi “when gunmen fired rockets at them.” The Libyan official said the ambassador was being driven from the consulate building to a safer location when gunmen opened fire, Reuters said.An unidentified Libyan official in Benghazi told Reuters that Mr. Stevens and three staff members were killed in Benghazi “when gunmen fired rockets at them.” The Libyan official said the ambassador was being driven from the consulate building to a safer location when gunmen opened fire, Reuters said.
In Italy, the Web site of the newspaper Corriere della Sera showed images of what it said was the American Consulate in Benghazi ablaze with men carrying automatic rifles and waving V-for-victory signs, silhouetted against the burning buildings. One photograph showed a man closely resembling Mr. Stevens apparently unconscious, his face seeming to be smudged with smoke and his eyes closed.In Italy, the Web site of the newspaper Corriere della Sera showed images of what it said was the American Consulate in Benghazi ablaze with men carrying automatic rifles and waving V-for-victory signs, silhouetted against the burning buildings. One photograph showed a man closely resembling Mr. Stevens apparently unconscious, his face seeming to be smudged with smoke and his eyes closed.
Mr. Stevens, conversant in Arabic and French, had worked at the State Department since 1991 after a spell as an international trade lawyer in Washington. He taught English as a Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco from 1983 to 1985, the State Department Web site said.Mr. Stevens, conversant in Arabic and French, had worked at the State Department since 1991 after a spell as an international trade lawyer in Washington. He taught English as a Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco from 1983 to 1985, the State Department Web site said.
According to the State Department, five American ambassadors had been killed by terrorists before the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. The most recent was Adolph Dubs, killed after being kidnapped in Afghanistan in 1979. The others were John Gordon Mein, in Guatemala in 1968; Cleo A. Noel Jr., in Sudan in 1973; Rodger P. Davies, in Cyprus in 1974; and Francis E. Meloy Jr., in Lebanon in 1976. According to the State Department, five American ambassadors had been killed by terrorists before the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi. The most recent was Adolph Dubs, killed after being kidnapped in Afghanistan in 1979. The others were John Gordon Mein, in Guatemala in 1968; Cleo A. Noel Jr., in Sudan in 1973; Rodger P. Davies, in Cyprus in 1974; and Francis E. Meloy Jr., in Lebanon in 1976.

Peter Baker reported from Washington, David D. Kirkpatrick from Cairo and Alan Cowell from London. Reporting was contributed by Suliman Ali Zway from Tripoli, Libya; Steven Lee Myers, John H. Cushman Jr. and Elisabeth Bumiller from Washington; Rachel Donadio from Rome; Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem; and Christine Hauser and Rick Gladstone from New York.

David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Cairo, and Steven Lee Myers from Washington. Reporting was contributed by Osama al-Fitory and Suleiman Ali Zway from Benghazi, Libya; Mai Ayyad from Cairo; and Eric Schmitt from Washington.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: September 12, 2012Correction: September 12, 2012

An earlier version of this article misstated Mohammed Magarief’s position. He is the president of Libya’s National Assembly, not Libya’s interim president.

An earlier version of this article misstated Mohammed Magarief’s position. He is the president of Libya’s National Assembly, not Libya’s interim president.