U.S. said to mull strikes vs. Benghazi attackers
U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya after Sept. 11 attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans
WASHINGTON The White House, under political pressure to respond forcefully to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, is readying strike forces and drones but first has to find a target.
And if the administration does find a target, officials say it still has to weigh whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on al Qaeda is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group's profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight the group in the future and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.
Details on the administration's position and on its search for a possible target were provided by three current and one former administration official, as well as an analyst who was approached by the White House for help. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the high-level debates publicly.
In another effort to bolster Libyan security, the Pentagon and State Department have been developing a plan to train and equip a special operations force in Libya, a senior defense official tells The Associated Press.
The New York Times, citing internal government documents, says such a unit would be "a commando force to combat Islamic extremists like the ones who killed the American ambassador in Libya last month and to help counter the country's fractious militias."
The efforts show the tension of the White House's need to demonstrate it is responding forcefully to al Qaeda balanced against its long-term plans to develop relationships and trust with local governments and build a permanent U.S. counterterrorist network in the region, the AP says.
Vice President Biden pledged in his debate last week with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to find those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
"We will find and bring to justice the men who did this," Biden said in response to a question about whether intelligence failures led to lax security around Stevens and the consulate. Referring back to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year, Biden said American counterterror policy should be, "If you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell if need be."
The White House declined to comment on the debate over how best to respond to the Benghazi attack.
The attack has become an issue in the U.S. election season, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of being slow to label the assault an act of terrorism and slow to strike back at those responsible.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday night that the security of State Department operations was her responsibility.
The White House is "aiming for a small pop, a flash in the pan, so as to be able to say, 'Hey, we're doing something about it,"' said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudy Attalah, the former Africa counterterrorism director for Defense Department under President George W. Bush.
Attalah noted that, in 1998, after the embassy bombing in Nairobi, the Clinton administration fired cruise missiles to take out a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that may have been producing chemical weapons for al Qaeda.
"It was a way to say, 'Look, we did something,"' he said.
On the subject of developing a special operations unit, U.S. officials received approval from Congress well before the Benghazi attack to reprogram some funding in the budget that could be used for the commando program in Libya. But the details are still being discussed with the Libyans and also must get final approval from Congress, according to the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The initial cost is estimated at about $6.2 million.
The defense official said U.S. leaders have recognized the need to train Libyan commando forces, but details such as the size, mission and composition of the forces are still being finalized.
A Washington-based analyst with extensive experience in Africa said administration officials have approached him for help in connecting the dots to Mali, whose northern half fell to al Qaeda-linked rebels this spring. They wanted to know if he could suggest potential targets, which he says he was not able to do.
"The civilian side is looking into doing something and is running into a lot of pushback from the military side," the analyst said. "The resistance that is coming from the military side is because the military has both worked in the region and trained in the region. So they are more realistic."
Islamists in the region are preparing for a reaction from the U.S.
"If America hits us, I promise you that we will multiply the Sept. 11 attack by 10," said Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for the Islamists in northern Mali, while denying that his group or al Qaeda fighters based in Mali played a role in the Benghazi attack.
Finding the militants who overwhelmed a small security force at the consulate isn't going to be easy.
The key suspects are members of the Libyan militia group Ansar al-Shariah. The group has denied responsibility, but eyewitnesses saw Ansar fighters at the consulate, and U.S. intelligence intercepted phone calls after the attack from Ansar fighters to leaders of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, bragging about it. The affiliate's leaders are known to be mostly in northern Mali, where they have seized a territory as large as Texas following a coup in the country's capital. The Maghreb is a region of northwest Africa that stretches from Libya to Mauritania.
But U.S. investigators have only loosely linked "one or two names" to the attack, and they lack proof that it was planned ahead of time or that the local fighters had any help from the larger al Qaeda affiliate, officials say.
If that proof is found, the White House must decide whether to ask Libyan security forces to arrest the suspects with an eye to extraditing them to the U.S. for trial or to simply target the suspects with U.S. covert action.
U.S. officials say covert action is more likely. The FBI couldn't gain access to the consulate until weeks after the attack, so it is unlikely it will be able to build a strong criminal case. The U.S. is also leery of trusting the arrest and questioning of the suspects to the fledgling Libyan security forces and legal system still building after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The burden of proof for U.S. covert action is far lower, but action by the CIA or special operations forces still requires a body of evidence that shows the suspect either took part in the violence or presents a "continuing and persistent, imminent threat" to U.S. targets, current and former officials said.
"If the people who were targeted were themselves directly complicit in this attack or directly affiliated with a group strongly implicated in the attack, then you can make an argument of imminence of threat," said Robert Grenier, former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.
But if the U.S. acts alone to target them in Africa, "It raises all kinds of sovereignty issues ... and makes people very uncomfortable," said Grenier, who has criticized the CIA's heavy use of drones in Pakistan without that government's support.
Even a strike that happens with permission could prove problematic, especially in Libya or Mali, where al Qaeda supporters are currently based. Both countries have fragile, interim governments that could lose popular support if they are seen allowing the U.S. unfettered access to hunt al Qaeda.
The Libyan government is so wary of the U.S. investigation expanding into unilateral action that it refused requests to arm the drones now being flown over Libya. Libyan officials have complained publicly that they were unaware of how large the U.S. intelligence presence was in Benghazi until a couple of dozen U.S. officials showed up at the airport after the attack, waiting to be evacuated -- roughly twice the number of U.S. staff the Libyans thought were there. A number of those waiting to be evacuated worked for U.S. intelligence, according to two American officials.
In Mali, U.S. officials have urged the government to allow special operations trainers to return, to work with Mali's forces to push al Qaeda out of that country's northern area. AQIM is among the groups that filled the power vacuum after a coup by rebellious Malian forces in March.
U.S. special operations forces trainers left Mali just days after the coup. While such trainers have not been invited to return, the U.S. has expanded its intelligence effort on Mali, focusing satellite and spy flights over the contested northern region to track and map the militant groups vying for control of the territory, officials say.
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During the recent congressional investigation on the events in Libya, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich this truthful statement: "If we want others to stop killing us, we should stop overthrowing foreign governments, " on quote. Let's not turn Libya into a 1970's Lebanon! Nikos Retsos, retired professor
If you want to get out of the Middle East recurring war game then you have to get out of the Middle East completely. The US, particularly under GOP foreign policy, will never allow that. Romney has a host of foreign advisors from Bush who got us into the Iraq war. That's not a recipe for future peace. Esp when they keep talking about all the countries we either should have sent troops to, or will send troop to if Romney wins. How do you think the terrorists view that?!
Hitler's ideology is not even comparable. German's self identity was center, not their beliefs.
Islamists believe they are essentially pawns to Gods. And their hatred comes from the difference of religious ideology itself.
Jews believe they are the "chosen people", shown favor through a promised made to Abraham. Muslims also come from Abraham, but a study of the sons, along with the 3 sons of Noah (several generations before Abraham).
Israel was conquered, initially by Babylon, than taken over by Persia-Meads, than Romans... Romans eventually tired of the rebellions.
Emperor Nero finally had enough (not to mention his insanity), and trashed the whole place. Allowing other inhabitants to move in, after the Roman's lost power and control of the area.
Then, as retribution for what Hitler had done, the United Nations chose to rebuild Israel and return the Jews to the land..
If you take the historical account of Abraham (both sides do), then the Jews do have claim to the land. Just because they were driven out of their homes, does not mean they lose claim to the land.
Much the same as American Indians and tribes have been given far more land, because it was theirs and they still held a legitimate claim.
But at the same time, if we go in guns blazing, then we can expect more retaliations and bombings against U.S. Property, and maybe even over here.
1 - Omar Ali Debub (teacher and the university students participated in the demonstrations in January 1976): executed by hanging on 6 April 1977 in front of the Socialist Union building in Benghazi
2 - Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Tayeb (teacher and the university students participated in the demonstrations in January 1976): executed by hanging on 6 April 1977 in front of the Socialist Union building in Benghazi
3 - Ahmed Fouad Fathallah (an Egyptian): executed by hanging on 6 April 1977 the port of Benghazi Sea
4 - Saleh Ali al-Zarouk Al-Nawal (teacher): April 1982 was executed in prison
5 - Mohammed Muhatthab Ihfaf (college student) (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Hanged on April 7, 1983 in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tripoli
6 - Nimr Khaled Khamis (Palestinian teacher) (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
7 - Nasser Mohammad Sares (Palestinian teacher) - (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
8 - Ali Ahmed Awadallah (Palestinian teacher) - (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
9 - Hasan Bader Al Badi (Palestinian teacher) - (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
11 - Hassan Ahmad al-Kurdi (student) -(due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): April 1984 was executed in prison
12 - Abdullah Abu al-Qasim Msallati (student) - (due to membership of Hizb ut Tahrir): April 1984 executed secretly in prison without trial
13 - Rashid Mansour Kaabar (college student) - it was claimed that he was from the followers of Sheikh Al-Bishti - executed by hanging on 16 April 1984 in Tripoli, Faculty of Pharmacy
14 - Hafidh al-Madani (college student): executed by hanging on 16 April 1984 at the Faculty of Agriculture
15 - Mustafa al-Nouweiri: executed by hanging on 21 April 1984 at the University of Benghazi.
Oh how we miss Muamar...
Yesterday, on cue, the Secretary of State falls on her sword and mouths the meaningless "I'm ultimately responsible". Now there is the memo from the Democrat Campaign that the Administration is going to "get tough". And the Campaign knows each political ad will get printed at exactly the right time by a willing, fanatically partisan press.
Can you imagine an office holder who shapes an entire foreign policy to make points in a debate! Please -- get me President who actually considers administering a government as important.
Wanna bet that Team Obama misses the aspirin factory and hits Romney campaign headquarter by mistake?
Ever see the pictures taken at the strike zones of some of these drone attacks? It's women and children first into the body bags my friend. Then Barack takes copies of the tapes up into his private man cave on the second floor of the White House to watch the tapes over and over and over again while he apparently marvels at how powerful and Godlike he is.
These are some sick and twisted A-holes in this Administration. Sick.