Ambassador killed in Libya served U.S. for 20 years

(CBS/AP) The American ambassador who was killed Tuesday in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya had represented U.S. interests in the nation under two presidents and worked as a diplomat for more than 20 years.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service officer Sean Smith and two other Americans died when an unruly mob attacked the consulate in the port city of Benghazi.

Stevens 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.

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As deputy chief of mission in Libya, Stevens wrote several confidential cables back to Washington, describing the bizarre behavior of Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi. During the 2011 revolt against Qaddafi, he was one of the last American diplomats to stay in the capital city of Tripoli and after the embassy was closed, he was appointed to head the U.S. liaison office to the National Transitional Council.

"He risked his life to stop a tyrant, then gave his life trying to help build a better Libya," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters at a Wednesday news conference. "The world needs more Chris Stevenses."

Stevens joined the Foreign Service in 1991 and spent his early State Department career at posts in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Israel.

(Watch: A video created by the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli to introduce Stevens to the Libyan people)

"Chris Stevens fell in love with the Middle East as a young Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Morocco," Clinton told reporters.

After working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff for Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Stevens was posted to Libya in 2007.

CBS San Francisco station KPIX-TV reports Stevens grew up in the northern California city of Piedmont. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1982 and received a law degree from the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1989, according to the State Department.

Stevens is survived by a sister, Clinton said.

[armeedutwelve]

Wow, a lot of good it did him to support the liyan people. libyans are looked down upon by the rest of the arab peoples-I'm not surprised one bit by this treachery. There is a lesson to be learned here.

[bbarnes5557]

forget all the BS, a good man was murdered in probably a most cowardly and despecable way...too many rotten people in the world whereever they live....

[RealiteBites]

Wow, that's really scary and sad.

Libya's a really awful post to have been assigned to after 20 years of service. Too bad all the plum posts go to those big donors :/

[TLUnrine]

Where are the Marine Embassy guards? Where was the Ambassador's Diplomatic Security Agents - or have we just downsized so badly, that we outsourced the Ambassador's life to local's with guns?

Locals with only 'months' of loyalty to the new regime? Locals who have no dog in the fight to save an American if they come over the war?

Well, at LEAST, it isn't Tehran all over again.

Now Marines get it right, or hang up your weapons.
DS Agents - it's a rough job, but you weren't drafted, you volunteered to be Rambo.

Use of locals - haven't we learned nothing in Afghan with Green on Blue shootings?

[jewell47]

The rights that this country are built on, including religious freedom, are given to all citizens, including those that are of the Muslim faith. We must take a step back from irresponsible rethoric that fans the flames of hatred and hostility. Ambassador Stevens lived a life dedicated to conflict resolutiion and a belief that conflicts should be resolved through diplomacy. We need to support our government to bring the terriorist to justice and continue to provide an example to the world for religious tolerance and freedom. My deepest sympathy for Ambassador Stevens' family and friends in their time of grief.

[tsdiller]

These Muslims! They have just killed one of our people and we can not stand for this any longer. Shut down the mosques here and deport them all. Get our people out of those countries and then help Israel
build a bomb that wipes them all of the face of the earth! How long are we going to stand for this crap!!!
This poor man and his workers are dead for nothing. Do not put down the guy who made the film either, praise him because Mohammed is a joke!! The movie has it right that whole religion is a huge shame and does nothing but start violence. Mohammed is a joke. A huge JOKE

[helpfulcounselor]

Seriously? How old are you? Do you realize how many millions of people have been killed in the name of Christianity? Using your logic, everyone who is Christian would deserve to die. I certainly wouldn't want to be murdered because of some else's actions.