Libyan doctor: U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens died of "severe asphyxia"

U.S. envoy Chris Stevens speaks to local media at the Tibesty Hotel where an African Union delegation was meeting with opposition leaders in Benghazi, Libya on April 11, 2011. / AP Photo/Ben Curtis

(CBS/AP) TRIPOLI, Libya - The Libyan doctor who treated U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens says the diplomat died of severe asphyxiation and that he tried for 90 minutes to revive him.

Ziad Abu Zeid told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Stevens was brought to the Benghazi Medical Center by Libyans the night before, with no other Americans and that initially no one realized he was the ambassador.

Abu Zeid said Stevens had "severe asphyxia," apparently from smoke inhalation, causing stomach bleeding, but had no other injuries.

Assault on U.S. consulate in Benghazi leaves 4 dead, including U.S. ambassador

Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service officer Sean Smith and two other Americans died when a mob attacked the consulate in the port city of Benghazi. The crowd fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades and set fire to the consulate.

While the deadly assault was initially blamed on an anti-Islamic YouTube video, U.S. officials say the Obama administration is also investigating whether it was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of 9/11.

Stevens, who had represented U.S. interests in the nation under two presidents and worked as a diplomat for more than 20 years, became the sixth ambassador in U.S. history to die in an attack, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports. He is the first U.S. ambassador to be killed since 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan.

"It's especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in Benghazi because it is a city that he helped to save," President Obama said at the White House.

[rdmff]

moon in the libia in the day of deat of american ambassador is full moon and last quarter... signifies that we have crazies originals

[Molly-Pchr]

"Unruly mob". Now that's an understatement if I ever heard one. Let's stop coddling these murders in the name of Allah.

[petesis]

FOX news, right now, has a picture on their front page, of the apparently dead ambassador being carried out of the building.... there is no limit to the depths of their depravity at FOX

[PnyWise]

It's a picture the rest of the world is seeing. Is it that you believe Americans can't handle the true brutality of this attack or is it that you don't believe Americans should be exposed to the reality of terrorism? It was pictures like that one which finally woke America up to the true horror of war during the Vietnam era.

[jo9y]

I agree with PnyWise, if it truly is a picture of them carrying out the dead ambassador then why not show it. People need to see what these barbarians are doing to other people in the name of there religon. Some people will use any excuse to bash fox news i guess.

[johngalt_as]

The first diplomat killed since 1979 - gee, who was the President back then? Carter. Far be it from me to compare this administration to Carter's, but I'm just sayin'. This administration has a worse foreign policy record than did Carter's.

[AOCGUY]

Gee John, work hard at connecting those dots. Must be a conspiracy.

[johngalt_as]

No AOC just a hefty combination of malpractice, hubris, stupidity coupled with naivite on the part of the current failure of a president.

[netjunkie1]

Representative Office of Libya in Washington, United States

2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 705
Washington
D.C. 20037
United States
Phone:
[phone]
Fax:
[phone]

[AOCGUY]

People like cred are more interested in fomenting more hatred. They thrive on it. These are people, with no personal stake, are anxious to see American servicemembers placed at risk and dead foreigners on the front pages of the world's newspapers. Toss in a few dead Americans to keep stoking that fire of hatred - its always the other guy's fault. Folks this is true evil incarnate. Anyone who works to expand or bring hatred to a situation is doing satan's work.

[AOCGUY]

kinda depends on why the troops are there. We dont have any troops in Syria, our troops in Uganda as part of AFRICOM are conducting training, not aware we have any troops in the PI anymore except in supporting coalition exercises, the few forces we have in Colombia are there working with the Colombian government to catch narco terrorits (or do you think that is a bad thing), and the only troops we have in Pakistan are either attached to the US embassy or attending the Pakistani War College as part of an exchange program. So ????

[creeper00]

So to recap...

We put our ambassador's butt on the line, contracted out security to the Libyans and then the _resident and SOS issued 9/11 statements apologizing for the "hurt" Americans have inflicted on Muslims.

Whatthehell did they think would happen?

[tmittelstaed]

Every embassy in the world operates like this, security is always contracted to the local government. Why would you put an embassy in a country that was so hostile you couldn't trust them to secure you?

This is a severe miscalculation on the behalf of the Libyans. They should have had 10 times the amount of security forces there than they did. This should make it completely obvious to the Libyan government how very dangerous it is to trust fanatics.

[BeeDee666]

I've heard that U.S. Marines and/or other troops are stationed at every U.S. Embassy as guards. The local security helps out. Same with other embassies. We don't guard other country's embassies here. They guard themselves. We're backup.

[RobinGrace]

Why in the world, do CBS and et al.. insist on not giving the whole story? Do you have so much power, you are willing to lie to the American people? I cannot fathom that. Do you have children? Families?

[crazebstrd]

Which part did they leave out?

[RobinGrace]

The ARAB newspapers are releasing the pics of Stevens in the streets..they are celebrating.

the Lybian Govt did remove Stevens and others to a secure location and then told the Mob where they were.

So . Because the Libyan govt gave them up, this is WAR. You can bet Obama will cower.

[crazebstrd]

They are celebrating because he was found alive.

[AllottaFagina]

"According to al-Sharef, members of the Libyan security team seem to have indicated to the protesters the building to which the American officials had been relocated, and that building then came under attack."

"Security team" sure seems misapplied in this situation...

[crazebstrd]

There were no protesters. This was a preplanned attack. Get your story right.