Libya witness: Stevens was alive when found

(CBS/AP) BENGHAZI, LIBYA - Ambassador Chris Stevens was wounded but still alive when Libyans stumbled across him inside a room in the American Consulate in Benghazi, pulled him out and drove him to a hospital after last week's deadly attack in the eastern Libyan city, witnesses said.

Fahd al-Bakoush, a freelance videographer, was among the Libyan civilians searching through the consulate after gunmen and protesters rampaged through it last Tuesday night.

CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports cell phone footage taken by al-Bakoush shows Libyans removing the body of Stevens from the scene that night.

Several men pulled the seemingly lifeless form from the room. They saw he was alive and breathing, his eyelids flickering. Though they took him to be a foreigner, no one recognized him as Stevens, al-Bakoush said.

One man touched his neck to feel for a pulse, and several cried out, "God is great," though it is unclear if that was in response to Stevens being found alive. There were calls for anybody who knows first aid.

Abdel-Qader Fadl, a freelance photographer who was with al-Bakoush at the scene, told the Associated Press that Stevens was unconscious and "maybe moved his head, but only once."

"We were happy to see him alive," Ahmed Shams, a 22-year-old arts student, told the AP. "The youth tried to rescue him. But there was no security, no ambulances, nothing to help."

The men carried Stevens to a private car to drive him to the hospital since there was no ambulance, all three witnesses said.

Al-Bakoush told D'Agata that Stevens was rushed to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack on the consulate, part of a wave of assaults on U.S. diplomatic missions in Muslim countries over a low-budget movie made in the United States that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.

To watch D'Agata's report for "CBS This Morning" click on the video player below.

A closer look at U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens
Ambassador killed in Libya served U.S. for 20 years

Last week, the doctor who treated Stevens told The Associated Press that the ambassador was nearly lifeless when he was brought by Libyans, with no other Americans around, to the Benghazi hospital where he worked. He said Stevens had severe asphyxia from the smoke and that he tried to resuscitate him with no success. Only later did security officials confirm it was the ambassador.

There have been disagreements about the attack on the consulate's offices in Libya and whether they were spontaneous expressions of rage over a blasphemous video, or a pre-planned assault that may have taken advantage of the tumult brought about by the demonstrators.

• no previous page
• next

1/2

[usad]

What kind of deception is this? Did anybody listen to that audio that can speak the language? Nothing here says he was alive when they brought him out. What I hear is they were glad he was dead! Nothing on the audio indicates anything else. No mention of him being alive or calling for a doctor...nothing like it. They are shouting "Allah is Great" as they often do after a successful mission. They are happy Stevens is dead. All trying to get a picture on their cell cameras to show their friends and family...look what we did!

This is a complete spin of the news 180 degrees from the truth. Read other news agencies from outside the US if you want your news unfiltered.

[codarnall]

"Stevens is taken to the hospital". Actually dragged through the streets in the hard to find photos. A reminder of" Blackhawk Down". Initially a gnash on his forehead.

[ksmit2]

This was a terrible attack and even worse, was the idea that you could
have an ambassador and critical staff, staying at what was essentially,
just a house in a neighborhood with a minimal wall around it. Common sense would suggest that on an important date like 9/11, any number of
militant groups would want to seize on the opportunity to further humiliate US interests by attacking and killing anyone or anything that they could. These people should have been removed to a secure location days before 9/11, any sensitive data should have well been
off premises. Key figures should not be designated to one location.
In any community their presence should be known about two days after they left. Too many times America is looking for honey in a hornets'
nest only to realize the mistake too late.

[Super-Delegate]

There is a lot more to this story than we're being told. Why was the ambassador in BenGahzi, on 9-11 of all days, and the guys killed with him were looking for shoulder rockets and arms lost in the overthrow of Kadaffi. They were obviously CIA, and the Ambassador walked into an Al Queda trap.

[bigmacster1]

This Rice is a UN Ambassador. She's a desk jockey and a parrot. Shame she's not related to Condie Rice who brains and more balls than this twirp or her boss. They either don't know about Libya or they're lying. Guess which!! They flog the cover story: "It's the movie, dammit! ...It's about those normally "peaceful Muslims. They just lost their heads briefly....really Obama's got it all under control" and blah, blah.

We hoped CBS took news seriously. I believed, when Charlie Rose began doing hard news and acted unbiased...briefly. When Obama went to Charlotte old Charlie fell off the wagon again. Charlie was the best hope CBS was unbiased, fair and not a democratic prop-machine.

This is our country here. The Muslims hate our guts and Iran wants violent over-throw of the USA. They say it loud and often. Do we wait until it's all over to believe the truth before our eyes? Obama is not convincing. This is a time we'd better act like Americans again. We are America and were attacked on mutiple fronts in our embassies. What's it take to protect ourselves? We will not stand by and loose this land. And for heaven's sake, CBS...tell the whole story!

[ottoharkaman]

Wow, I can't help but wonder with the recent well planed attack on the U.S. base in Afghanistan if there isn't a higher organization than some sort of Al Qaeda group involved. Iran has confessed to having special forces in Syria and now that we know how much Pakistan supports the Haqqani network there might be a nation state involved and not just terrorists.

I am starting to realize that we are already involved in World War 3. Things are really going to escalate when either Israel or the U.S. has to attempt to take out Iran's nuclear capability. Which now really makes me wonder about Pakistan since they already have them.

[EmtFF10]

Come on now!!! The aniv. of Sept 11th, these people rioting over some backwoods made movie insulting their God?? Sorry I can not believe that for 1 minute. These attacks were planned in advance for this day. These riots were insighted to cover the attacks & make it look as if the people rioting were the ones whom killed the Ambassador & the other 3 Americans. I am not going to believe otherwise.

[saipanfriend]

If John McCain were president, and his administration was contradicting the President of the Libyan National Council, the media would crucify him. They would be, and probably rightly so, saying he was trying to keep his re-election chances alive instead of telling the truth, that his foreign policy stinks. But, that would only happen if John McCain had won...

[Martha12345]

Tell me again, why the US embassies in the middle east on high alert on this anniversary of 9/11 ? I forgot the government answer.

[duzmafuzt]

Are you asking, "Why were not our embassies on high alert, unprepared, and where were the severe protective measures that were not in place"? Because Americans have Pokeman for our protection. We got Pokemans, and they have Jihadists, I mean spontaneous combustion, I mean spontaneous terrorism. Uhhrg, I mean spontaneous overzealous extremely peaceful demonstrators. You don't need a war on terror to figure that out, silly. Just say world peas. The government is sure world peas, is the answer. If everyone would stop accusing the current State Department, of being complacent and naive, there would be no harassing our embassies. It is our overzealous movie makers that cause extreme violence. You know? Just like the movie the Exorcist. It caused attacks by Christians that murdered trillions of non Christians because the movie used Christian symbols. LOL

[wfw3536]

First this story leaves out why there were no troop protecting these four brave Americans on 9/11. This story doesn't explain what happened to the body of our Ambassador for 8 hours and the terrible things that happened to him. And then we have Obama trying to cover up their incompetence by saying this attack wasn't planned, when even the top Libyans say it was after interviewing a number of these criminals who were arrested. It sad that again the national media will report almost anything to cover up the administrations incompetence.