Dangerous effort may
explain reason for U.S. post in Benghazi, by Aaron Klein, 10/21/15,
WND, with additional
research by Joshua Klein. JERUSALEM
– In a revealing statement largely overlooked by the media covering
Thursday’s House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing, former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton essentially implied that Ambassador Chris Stevens was
engaged in securing shoulder-fired missiles in Libya.
The dangerous weapons
effort may shed light on why the U.S. special mission in Benghazi was attacked
Sept. 11, 2012.
The largest terrorist
looting of Man-Portable-Air-Defense-Systems, or MANPADS, took place immediately
after the U.S.-NATO military campaign strongly pushed by Clinton that helped to
end Moammar Gadhafi’s rule in Libya.
Gadhafi had hoarded
Africa’s biggest-known reserve of MANPADS, with a stock said to number between
15,000 and 20,000. Many of the missiles were stolen by militias fighting in Libya,
including those backed by the U.S. in their anti-Gadhafi efforts. There were
reports of a Western effort to secure the MANPADS, including collecting some
from rebels in Libya.
In her opening remarks
Thursday, Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential
nomination, surprisingly referenced Stevens and the threat of missiles reaching
extremists.
Stated Clinton: “Nobody
knew the dangers of Libya better. A weak government, extremist groups, rampant
instability. But Chris chose to go to Benghazi because he understood America
had to be represented there at that pivotal time.”
Clinton said Stevens
“also knew how urgent it was to ensure that the weapons Gadhafi had left strewn
across the country, including shoulder-fired missiles that could knock an
airplane out of the sky, did not fall into the wrong hands.”
Clinton did not further
comment on any role Stevens himself may have had in securing the MANPADS.
Later in her testimony,
however, Clinton appeared to have addressed the sensitive nature of Stevens’
work, admitting, “Americans representing different agencies” later came into
Libya and carried out “the same work” as Stevens but not overtly.
Clinton apparently was
referring to the CIA annex located near the U.S. special mission. She seemed to
imply Stevens was involved in efforts beyond the normal diplomatic activities
of an ambassador without specifying the nature of the “same work” that both he
and other agencies carried out.
Clinton said the State
Department relied heavily on “Chris to guide us and give us the information
from the ground.”
“We had no other
sources. You know, there was no American outpost,” she said.
She continued: “There
was no, you know, American military presence. Eventually, other Americans
representing different agencies were able to get into Benghazi and begin to do
the same work, but they, of course, couldn’t do that work overtly, which is why
we wanted a diplomat who could be publicly meeting with people to try to get
the best assessment.”
Benghazi attackers had
MANPADS?
As WND reported, a Department of Defense document declassified in May as part of
a Judicial Watch lawsuit and dated one day after the attack said the group
thought by the Pentagon to have been behind the Benghazi attack was in
possession of a large cache of “SA-7 and SA-23/4 MANPADS” as well as other
missiles “over two meters in length.”
The five-page document
stated the “attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01
September 2012.”
“The intention was to
attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge
for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye (ALALIBY) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11
September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings.”
The document said the
Defense Department possessed information the Benghazi attack was “planned and
executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR).”
The intelligence memo
said the leader of the group, named as Abul Baset, established a headquarters
and training facility in the mountains of Derna, Libya. The facility possessed
weapons caches, with some being disguised by livestock feeds, the document
says.
The document stated the
BCOAR headquarters in Derna had “SA-7 and SA-23/4 MANPADS as well as
unidentified missiles over two meters in length.”
While the document was
dated one day after the attack, it made clear the Defense Department was likely
monitoring the BCOAR group and its missile caches prior to the attacks.
Revealed: State’s MANPAD
collection in Benghazi
Shapiro conceded that
the Western-backed rebels did not want to give up the weapons, particularly
MANPADS, which were the focus of the weapons collection efforts.
Speaking to WND, Middle
Eastern security officials previously stated that after Gadhafi’s downfall,
Stevens was heavily involved in a State Department effort to collect weapons
from the Libyan rebels.
The weapons were then
transferred in part to the rebels fighting in Syria, the officials stated.
Sen. Lindsey Graham,
R-S.C., in March 2013 disclosed in an interview with Fox News that Stevens was
in Benghazi to keep weapons caches, particularly MANPADS, from falling into the
hands of terrorists.
Fox News host Bret Baier
asked Graham why Stevens was in the Benghazi mission amid the many known
security threats to the facility.
Graham replied, “Because
that’s where the action was regarding the rising Islamic extremists who were
trying to get their hands on weapons that are flowing freely in Libya.”
The senator stated, “We
were desperately trying to control the anti-aircraft missiles, the MANPADS that
were all over Libya, that are now all over the Mideast.”
‘Biggest MANPADS
collection effort in U.S. history’
Shapiro’s largely
unnoticed remarks Feb. 2, 2012, may shed further light on the activities taking
place inside the attacked Benghazi facility.
Of note is that the U.S.
facility itself was protected by the February 17 Brigades, which is part of the
al-Qaida-allied Ansar Al-Sharia group. The group also was in possession of
significant quantities of MANPADs and was reluctant to give them up, Middle
Eastern security officials told WND.
In his speech seven months before the Benghazi attack, Shapiro stated that “currently in Libya we are
engaged in the most extensive effort to combat the proliferation of MANPADS in
U.S. history.”
Shapiro was addressing a
forum at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit think tank that describes itself as
seeking “pragmatic solutions for some of the most important peace and security
challenges around the world.”
Shapiro explained Libya
had “accumulated the largest stockpile of MANPADS of any non-MANPADS producing
country in the world.”
Shapiro related how
then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed to providing $40 million to
assist Libya’s efforts to secure and recover its weapons stockpiles.
Of that funding, $3
million went to unspecified nongovernmental organizations that specialize in
conventional weapons destruction and stockpile security.
Inside Benghazi facility
The NGOs and a U.S. team
coordinated all efforts with Libya’s Transitional National Council, or TNC,
said Shapiro. The U.S. team was led by Mark Adams, a State Department expert
from the MANPADS Task Force.
Tellingly, Shapiro
stated Adams was deployed in August 2011, not to Tripoli where the U.S.
maintained an embassy, but to Benghazi.
The only U.S. diplomatic
presence in Benghazi consisted of the CIA annex and nearby facility that were
the targets of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.
Shapiro expounded on the
coordination with the TNC.
“A fact often overlooked
in our response to events in Libya, is that – unlike in Iraq and Afghanistan –
we did not have tens of thousands of U.S. forces on the ground, nor did we
control movement and access,” he said. “This meant we did not have complete
freedom of movement around the country. Our efforts on the ground therefore had
to be carefully coordinated and fully supported by the TNC.”
He said the rebels were
reluctant to relinquish their weapons.
“Many of these weapons
were taken by militias and anti-Gadhafi forces during the fighting,” he said.
“Furthermore, because many militias believe MANPADS have some utility in ground
combat, many militia groups remain reluctant to relinquish them.”
Shapiro said the U.S.
efforts consisted of three phases.
Phase 1 entailed an
effort to rapidly survey, secure and disable loose MANPADS across the country.
“To accomplish this, we immediately
deployed our Quick Reaction Force, which are teams made up of civilian
technical specialists,” he said.
Phase 2 efforts were to
help aid the Libyan government to integrate militias and veterans of the
fighting, including consolidating weapons into secure facilities and assisting
in the destruction of items that the Libyans deemed in excess of their security
requirements.
Such actions were likely
not supported by the jihadist rebels.
The third phase would
have seen the U.S. helping to ensure the Libyan met modern standards, including
updating storage facilities, improving security and implementing safety
management practices.
The U.S. efforts clearly
failed.
In March 2013, the United Nations released a report revealing that weapons from Libya to extremists
were proliferating at an “alarming rate,” fueling conflicts in Mali, Syria,
Gaza and elsewhere.
http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/oops-clinton-hints-at-murdered-ambassadors-secret-activities/
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