Blog Entry #7

This week’s blog entry is an update concerning the Libya attack that a few of my previous entries have been about. As we already know the attack happened on September 11^th, and has resulted in the death of four Americans. U.S Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, State Department computer expert Sean Smith and security contractors and former U.S. Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Coincidently a request had recently been put in by the State Department’s top security official in Libya for additional security measures to be put in place to insure the consulate’s safety in Benghazi. It seems that Chris Stevens had his own worries about security threats and the recent rise in Islamic extremism. A security officer in Libya had also expressed his concerns about whether the Libyan government provided efficient protection for American diplomats.

The attack was first suspected to be generated by an “inflammatory online video”. I also spoke of this video in a previous blog entry. The video, which expressed a very negative view of the Prophet Mohammed, sparked many protests. It was because of these outward expressions of anger, and a protest outside of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo that took place earlier that day, that this particular attack was assumed to be caused by this as well. Shawn Turner, a spokesman for Director of National Intelligence said that the occurrence seemed to be one that “was not spontaneous, but rather deliberate and organized, perpetrated by extremists.” Later when asked about “the assault taking advantage of a demonstration” a senior State Department official said that they had not reached that conclusion, though the Obama administration had previously stated so.

As of now, a pro- al Qaeda group is the main suspect in the investigation. This has much to do with the fact that they have attempted an armed attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi once before.

 

10/11/12 11:28 PM

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/10/what-we-know-about-the-libya-attack/?hpt=wo_c2