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U.S. ambassador to Libya killed after consulate in Benghazi stormed.

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

The death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, has been reported. (Photo courtesy White House)

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US envoy dies in Benghazi consulate attack – Africa – Al Jazeera English.

The US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, has died from smoke inhalation in an attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, the country’s interior ministry and security sources have said. An armed mob attacked and set fire to the building in a protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, after similar protests in Egypt’s capital. The ambassador was paying a short visit to Benghazi when the consulate came under attack on Tuesday night, Al Jazeera’s Suleiman El-Dressi reported from the eastern Libyan city. He died of suffocation during the attack, along with two US security personnel who were accompanying him, security sources told Al Jazeera. Another consulate employee, whose nationality could not immediately be confirmed, was also killed. Christopher Stevens had served as ambassador since earlier this year, and had twice served in Libya previously [US State Dept] Two other staffers were injured, Idrissi reported. The deaths were confirmed by Wanis al-Sharif, the Libyan deputy interior minister, to the AFP news agency. Mustafa Abu Shagur, the Libyan deputy prime minister, condemned the “cowardly act of attacking the US consulate and the killing of [the ambassador] and the other diplomats”. The bodies of the dead were transported to the Benghazi international airport, to be flown to Tripoli and then onwards to a major US airbase in Germany. Abdel-Monem al-Hurr, a spokesman for Libya’s Supreme Security Committee, said on Wednesday that rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at the consulate from a nearby farm. “There [were] fierce clashes between the Libyan army and an armed militia outside the US consulate,” he said. He also said roads had been closed off and security forces surrounded the building. A group calling themselves the ‘Islamic law supporters’ carried out the attack in response to the relaese of the film, Al Jazeera’s El-Dressi reported. Stevens, a career member of the US foreign service, arrived in Tripoli to take up the post of ambassador in May 2012, having previously served twice previously in Libya. He had also served as the US government’s representative to the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) during the 2011 uprising against the government of Muammar Gaddafi. Cairo attack Just hours earlier on Tuesday, thousands of Egyptian demonstrators apparently angry over the same film – a video produced by expatriate members of Egypt’s Coptic community resident in the US – tore down the Stars and Stripes at the US embassy in Cairo and replaced it with a black Islamic flag. The two incidents came on the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US. “Some have sought to justify this vicious behaviour as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet,” said a statement by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, who also confirmed the death of the consulate employee. “The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others,” she said. In the day’s first such incident, nearly 3,000 demonstrators, most of them Islamist supporters of the Salafist movement or football fans, gathered at the US embassy in Cairo in protest against the amateur film. A dozen men scaled the embassy walls and one of them tore down the US flag, replacing it with a black one inscribed with the Muslim profession of faith: “There is no God but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” Demonstrators also scrawled the first part of the statement “There is no God but God” on the walls of the embassy compound. Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros, reporting from outside the US embassy in Cairo, said that the protesters want the film – portions of which can be found online – “out of circulation”. “Most of the people I’ve spoken to here, a lot of them from the ultra-conservative Salafi movement, say that they’ve seen the trailer to this film and that they’re here outside the American embassy to stay until the film is pulled,” she said. “There’s also a situation with the police, where there are thousands of riot police guarding the American embassy because there of the breach earlier on, when a lot of people stormed into the inner wall of the embassy and put a black flag up.” Egyptian police intervened without resorting to force and persuaded the trespassers to come down. The crowd then largely dispersed, leaving just a few hundred protesters outside the US mission. Embassy reaction When asked whether the flag the protesters hoisted was an al-Qaeda flag, on the anniversary of the killing of nearly 3,000 people in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania, a US state department official said she thought not. “We had some people breach the wall, take the flag down and replace it. What I heard was that it was replaced with a plain black flag. But I may be not be correct in that,” she said. “In Cairo, we can confirm that Egyptian police have now removed the demonstrators who had entered our embassy grounds earlier today,” said a senior State Department official, who added that he could not confirm any connection with the incident in Libya. Egyptian activist Wael Ghoneim wrote on his Facebook page that “attacking the US embassy on September 11 and raising flags linked to al-Qaeda will not be understood by the American public as a protest over the film about the prophet. “Instead, it will be received as a celebration of the crime that took place on September 11,” he said. Americans on Tuesday marked the 11th anniversary of the September 11, attacks in which nearly thousands were killed when hijacked airliners crashed into the Pentagon and New York’s World Trade Center, and another was brought down in Pennsylvania. ‘Sorry for the embassy’ The film was made by an Israeli filmmaker, Sam Bacile, who has gone into hiding. The film was promoted by Morris Sadek, an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner who lives in California. Speaking by phone to the Associated Press from an undisclosed location, writer and director Bacile remained defiant, maintaining his stance on Islam as “a cancer” and that he intended his film to be a provocative political statement. Bacile admitted he had not anticipated such a furious reaction to his film and said: “I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad”. The 56-year-old filmmaker said he believed the movie will help his native land by exposing Islam’s flaws to the world. “My plan is to make a series of 200 hours” about the same subject. He also said the film was produced in English and that he did not know who had dubbed it in Arabic. The full film has not been shown yet, he said, and he said he has declined distribution offers for now. The two-hour movie, “Innocence of Muslims”, cost $5m to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors, said Bacile. Sadek said that he had promoted the video on his website and on certain TV stations, which he did not identify.

American ambassador to Libya killed by protesters, Al Arabiya reports | The Times of Israel.

( My GOD!  Radical Islam strikes again… – JW )

Violent mob spurred by outrage over a film ridiculing Muhammad, produced by an Israeli filmmaker living in California

US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stephens (photo credit: Youtube screen capture)

One of four Americans killed when an angry mob stormed the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was the American ambassador, Chris Stevens, Al Arabiya reported on Wednesday. Earlier reports had indicated that only one American national — a consular official — had died in the riot.

Violent protesters also stormed the US Embassy in Cairo Tuesday night, scaling the walls of the compound and replacing an American flag with an Islamic banner.

The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over a film ridiculing the prophet Muhammad, produced by an Israeli filmmaker living in California and being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States.

A 14-minute trailer of the movie that sparked the protests, posted on the website YouTube in an original English version and another dubbed into Egyptian Arabic, depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.

These were the first such assaults on US diplomatic facilities in either country, at a time when both Libya and Egypt are struggling to overcome the turmoil following the ouster of their longtime leaders, Muammar Gadhafi and Hosni Mubarak, in uprisings last year.

Sam Bacile, the writer, director and producer of the movie, which he says showcases his view of Islam as a hateful religion, was funded by $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors who he declined to identify, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

In Benghazi, a large mob stormed the US Consulate, with gunmen firing their weapons, said Wanis al-Sharef, an Interior Ministry official in Bengazi. A witness said attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate as they clashed with Libyans hired to guard the facility.

The Associated Press: White House: No rift with Israel over Iran.

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is denying reports of a U.S. rift with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he and President Barack Obama have reaffirmed the two countries’ commitment to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Obama and Netanyahu spoke for an hour Tuesday night. The White House said in a statement later that the two men agreed to continue “close consultations going forward” regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The White House denied published reports that Obama had rejected Netanyahu’s request to meet with Obama in Washington next week. No such request was made or rejected, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

The unusual, late-night announcement from the White House comes after Netanyahu criticized what he called the world’s failure to spell out what would provoke a U.S.-led military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Netanyahu has urged the U.S. to set “red lines” for Tehran. The Obama administration has refused.

“Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” Netanyahu said Tuesday.

Netanyahu says peaceful methods against Iran are not working, and he has warned repeatedly that Iran is getting perilously close to acquiring a nuclear bomb. His remarks have generated speculation Israel is readying to strike on its own to prevent that from happening.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. Although the United States has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapon capability under the cover of a peaceful program, the Obama administration has said it does not believe Iran has yet decided whether to build an atomic bomb — if it in fact develops the ability to do so.

Netanyahu’s strong words risk antagonizing Obama in the midst of a closely fought a re-election campaign and could strain relations with the U.S., Israel’s closest and most important ally. Relations between the two leaders have often been tense in the past.

Differences between the two counties over how to deal with Iran have boiled over into palpable tensions in recent weeks.

On Monday State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said “it is not useful” to set deadlines or declare “red lines.” She and White House press secretary Jay Carney also noted that Obama has stated unequivocally that the United States will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

On Tuesday, Nuland said the Iranian situation is a matter of “intense discussion” with Israel. She declined to elaborate, saying she did not want to conduct diplomacy in public.

Some U.S. officials have bristled at what they see is Netanyahu’s attempts to exploit the U.S. campaign season to push Obama into a difficult position. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a sensitive diplomatic matter.

The U.S. officials stopped short of accusing Netanyahu of taking sides in the election, but the Israeli prime minister has a longtime relationship with Republican candidate Mitt Romney and with Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate and top donor to the Republican Party. Romney, who visited Israel in July, has repeatedly criticized Obama’s handling of the nuclear issue.

Obama and Netanyahu have long had a rocky relationship because of policy differences and a lack of personal chemistry. In one notable incident, a frustrated Obama left a White House meeting with Netanyahu to go eat dinner with his family.

U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed Tuesday that Obama would not meet with Netanyahu when the Israeli leader goes to New York for the U.N. General Assembly later this month. Both sides cited scheduling issues and rejected suggestions that Netanyahu had been snubbed.

Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Washington, George Jahn in Vienna and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Obama, Netanyahu reaffirm ‘united… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.

U.S. rejects Netanyahu meeting request: Israel official | Reuters.

(Reuters) – The White House has rejected a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet President Barack Obama in the United States this month, an Israeli official said on Tuesday, after a row erupted between the allies over Iran’s nuclear programme.

An Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu’s aides had asked for a meeting when he visits the United Nations this month, and “the White House has got back to us and said it appears a meeting is not possible. It said that the president’s schedule will not permit that”.

Netanyahu, who has met Obama on all his U.S. trips since 2009, has been pushing him to adopt a tougher line against Iran.

He argues that setting a clear boundary for Iran’s uranium enrichment activities and imposing stronger economic sanctions could deter Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and mitigate the need for military action.

In comments that appeared to bring the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran closer, Netanyahu had earlier taken Washington to task for rebuffing his call to set a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear programme, which has already prompted four rounds of U.N. sanctions.

“The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?'” said Netanyahu, speaking in English.

“Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” he added, addressing a news conference with Bulgaria’s prime minister.

“UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK”

The website of Israel’s daily newspaper Haaretz called his words “an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S. government”.

Iran makes no secret of its hostility to Israel, widely assumed to be the region’s only nuclear-armed power, but says its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.

Netanyahu’s relations with Obama have been strained over Iran and other issues, such as Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

But he has never framed his differences with Obama – who has pledged he will “always have Israel’s back” and is deep in a re-election campaign – in moral terms.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney has accused Obama of throwing Israel “under the bus”.

Netanyahu’s comments followed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks on Monday that the United States would not set a deadline in further talks with Iran, and that there was still time for diplomacy to work.

Diplomats have also said six world powers – including the United States – are poised to voice “serious concern” about Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and to urge it to open up access to nuclear sites.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that Washington would have little more than a year to act to stop Iran if it decided to produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf if it is attacked, and any such conflict could throw Obama’s re-election bid off course.

DEADLINE

Netanyahu did not mention Clinton by name but pointedly parroted her use of the word “deadline”, saying:

“If Iran knows that there is no ‘deadline’, what will it do? Exactly what it’s doing. It’s continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining a nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs …

“So far we can say with certainty that diplomacy and sanctions haven’t worked. The sanctions have hurt the Iranian economy but they haven’t stopped the Iranian nuclear programme. That’s a fact. And the fact is that every day that passes, Iran gets closer and closer to nuclear bombs.”

Recent tougher Israeli rhetoric has stoked speculation that Israel might attack Iran before the U.S. election in November, believing that Obama would be forced to give it military help to avoid alienating pro-Israeli voters.

But over the past week, Netanyahu, in calling for a “red line”, had appeared to be backing away from military action and preparing the ground for a possible meeting with Obama.

Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Israelis do not want their military to strike Iran without U.S. support.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak seemed to criticize Netanyahu’s assault on the Jewish state’s biggest ally.

“Despite the differences and importance of maintaining Israel’s independence of action, we must remember the importance of partnership with the United States and try as much as possible not to hurt that,” a statement from his office said.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Michael Roddy)

Obama doesn’t have time to meet later this month, PM says in closed-door meeting | The Times of Israel.

Officials had previously said the US president would sit down with Benjamin Netanyahu during UN confab to talk Iranian red lines

President Barack Obama with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, DC in March (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely not meet with US President Barack Obama during an upcoming trip to New York, Israeli media reported Tuesday.

In closed meetings, Netanyahu reportedly told advisers that Obama no longer had the time to meet the Israeli premier during the United Nations General Assembly later this month.

In the past several weeks, unnamed Jerusalem officials had said the two would plan to meet in late September; at the top of the agenda would be coordination regarding military action against Iran over its nuclear program.

“I want to meet with Obama the day after Yom Kippur and am even ready to travel to Washington for it,” Netanyahu said in closed-door meetings Tuesday, according to Channel 10. “Obama says there is no time, that it doesn’t fit in with his schedule.”

Relations between Jerusalem and Washington soured in the last few days as the State Department rebuffed lobbying by Netanyahu to set a clear ultimatum for Iran.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu struck back, telling reporters that the US had no business telling Israel to hold off on military action when it would not back it up in creating a credible military threat.

“The world tells Israel to wait because there is still time. And I ask: Wait for what? Until when? Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” Netanyahu said. “If Iran knows that there is no red line or deadline, what will it do? Exactly what it is doing today, i.e., continuing to work unhindered toward achieving a nuclear weapon.”

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington still considers sanctions the best way to get Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. “We’re not setting deadlines,” she said.

A day later, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated Clinton’s statement, saying setting red lines was “not useful.” She added: “So, you know, we are absolutely firm about the president’s commitment here, but it is not useful to be parsing it, to be setting deadlines one way or the other, red lines.”

Jerusalem officials had said Foggy Bottom’s stance served to calm Iran.

Netanyahu’s recent calls for the international community to set clear red lines regarding the Iranian threat was understood by many analysts as a way to signal Israel’s willingness to hold back on a unilateral and uncoordinated strike on Iran, after growing international opposition to such a move became apparent in recent weeks.

The US believes time exists for diplomacy and sanctions to work against Iran’s nuclear program, while Israel says it is on a different timetable. However, Jerusalem would like US backing in any military action, which could set off a regional war.

Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.

U.S. rejects Netanyahu meeting request: Israel official – chicagotribune.com.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks during a joint news conference with his Bulgarian counterpart Borisov in Jerusalem (POOL New Reuters, REUTERS / September 11, 2012)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The White House has rejected a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet President Barack Obama in the United States this month, an Israeli official said on Tuesday, after a row erupted between the allies over Iran’s nuclear programme.

An Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu’s aides had asked for a meeting when he visits the United Nations this month, and “the White House has got back to us and said it appears a meeting is not possible. It said that the president’s schedule will not permit that”.

Netanyahu, who has met Obama on all his U.S. trips since 2009, has been pushing him to adopt a tougher line against Iran.

He argues that setting a clear boundary for Iran’s uranium enrichment activities and imposing stronger economic sanctions could deter Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and mitigate the need for military action.

In comments that appeared to bring the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran closer, Netanyahu had earlier taken Washington to task for rebuffing his call to set a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear programme, which has already prompted four rounds of U.N. sanctions.

“The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?'” said Netanyahu, speaking in English.

“Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” he added, addressing a news conference with Bulgaria’s prime minister.

“UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK”

The website of Israel’s daily newspaper Haaretz called his words “an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S. government”.

Iran makes no secret of its hostility to Israel, widely assumed to be the region’s only nuclear-armed power, but says its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.

Netanyahu’s relations with Obama have been strained over Iran and other issues, such as Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

But he has never framed his differences with Obama – who has pledged he will “always have Israel’s back” and is deep in a re-election campaign – in moral terms.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney has accused Obama of throwing Israel “under the bus”.

Netanyahu’s comments followed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks on Monday that the United States would not set a deadline in further talks with Iran, and that there was still time for diplomacy to work.

Diplomats have also said six world powers – including the United States – are poised to voice “serious concern” about Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and to urge it to open up access to nuclear sites.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that Washington would have little more than a year to act to stop Iran if it decided to produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf if it is attacked, and any such conflict could throw Obama’s re-election bid off course.

DEADLINE

Netanyahu did not mention Clinton by name but pointedly parroted her use of the word “deadline”, saying:

“If Iran knows that there is no ‘deadline’, what will it do? Exactly what it’s doing. It’s continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining a nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs …

“So far we can say with certainty that diplomacy and sanctions haven’t worked. The sanctions have hurt the Iranian economy but they haven’t stopped the Iranian nuclear programme. That’s a fact. And the fact is that every day that passes, Iran gets closer and closer to nuclear bombs.”

Recent tougher Israeli rhetoric has stoked speculation that Israel might attack Iran before the U.S. election in November, believing that Obama would be forced to give it military help to avoid alienating pro-Israeli voters.

But over the past week, Netanyahu, in calling for a “red line”, had appeared to be backing away from military action and preparing the ground for a possible meeting with Obama.

Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Israelis do not want their military to strike Iran without U.S. support.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak seemed to criticize Netanyahu’s assault on the Jewish state’s biggest ally.

“Despite the differences and importance of maintaining Israel’s independence of action, we must remember the importance of partnership with the United States and try as much as possible not to hurt that,” a statement from his office said.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Michael Roddy)

Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.

( We’ll do everything we can for the sake of our relationship, until…. – JW )