Benghazi, Libya–Background to Attack
Purpose of this Blog
You have no doubt read about the Benghazi Attack which occurred at the U. S. State Department Mission in that city, September 11, 2012. Four Americans were killed there and a lot of political activity aimed at then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has transpired.
My goal in writing these blogs is to educate myself and you too if you are interested. I do the research and write my opinions about the topic based on what I find. I don’t get any money or compensation of any kind for these blogs. They are here to educate and to make us all better citizens.
In this Blog, I report a short background on the revolution in Libya and the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi prior to the September 11, 2012 attack. Later I will be trying to sort out some of the disagreements about what really happened. What? Why? Who?
My foundation for the future reports are the 10 Mysteries of Benghazi Attack–unanswered questions which are described below. Thanks for joining me. I am pretty sure we will both be better off for participating in this research.
Benghazi, The City
Benghazi is a city on the Mediterranean coast. It is the second largest city in Libya, about 500,000 people, located between Cairo, Egypt and Tripoli, Libya. The city was founded by Greeks about five hundred years ago.
Benghazi is a major seaport and is the second most important city in Libya after Tripoli. Most Benghazi citizens are Arab descent as opposed to Tripoli whose population is of Berber descent. Competition between Tripoli and Benghazi has been common for hundreds of years.
In February 2011 Benghazi was the point of origin of the Libyan uprising against Omar Gaddafi’s regime. The National Transitional Council (NTC) of Libya was founded here. The city was also the site of the turning point of the 2011 Libyan civil war when the Gaddafi’s Army was forced back by local resistance and intervention from the NATO Air Force.
I want to go into some detail about the 2011 uprising as it provides background information about the so-called Benghazi attack against the U. S. State Department Mission on September 11, 2012.
When the protests erupted in Benghazi in February 2011, Qaddafi’s armed forces suppressed the violence but thanks to NATO and other Libyan protesters, the Gadhafi forces quickly withdrew. At least 200 people were killed in the protests against the government
This led to the First Libyan Civil War, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and death of Qaddafi who remained at large until 20 October 2011, when he was captured and killed attempting to escape from Sirte.
The civil war’s aftermath led to violence and instability across the country. Social and political disorder within Libya was common. The country has been subject to proliferation of weapons, Islamic insurgencies, sectarian violence, and lawlessness.
in October 2011, the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) declared that the country had been liberated and began a process to form a new government, prepare for elections and prosecute former Gaddafi officials.
In the absence of an organized military, armed militias of former rebels continued to assert their role as “guardians of the revolution” around the country, and there were reports of vigilante justice and clashes between rival militias. International organizations voiced concerns over the proliferation of weapons in the region, and the risk that they might fall into the hands of militant Islamists.
In July 2012 the country elected a General National Congress (GNC), which took power a month later. GNC organized a constituent assembly to author Libya’s new constitution. The NTC was formally dissolved, and in November 2012 Ali Zaiden was sworn in as Prime Minister.
The ongoing crisis in Libya has so far resulted in tens of thousands of casualties since the onset of violence in early 2011. During two civil wars, the output of Libya’s economically crucial oil industry collapsed to a small fraction of its usual level, with most facilities blockaded or damaged by rival groups.
The U S State Department Mission in Benghazi
Embassy or Consulate or Special Mission
Often, while the terms embassy and consulate are used together, however, the two are very different. An embassy is the larger and more important of the two and is described as a permanent diplomatic mission which is generally located in a country’s capital city. For example, the United States Embassy in Canada is located in Ottawa, Ontario. Capital cities like Ottawa, Washington D.C., and London are home to nearly 200 embassies each.
The embassy is responsible for representing the home country abroad and handling major diplomatic issues, such as preserving the rights of citizens abroad. The ambassador is the highest official in the embassy and acting as the chief diplomat and spokesperson for the home government.
The Consulate is the second diplomatic office in a country, sometimes located in the same city as an Embassy, sometimes in another major city in the country.
In Benghazi, the U. S. State Department built a Special Mission to serve the needs of Americans in Libya and frankly, in my opinion, to provide a base for intelligence gathering and operations. The physical facility in the special mission included a CIA Annex about a mile away which became the site of the second phase of the Benghazi attack.
Conclusion
The Benghazi diplomatic facility has been called a consulate in the media but it is not really a consulate according to what I have found on the Internet.
Libya has been in turmoil since 2011 with two civil wars and the Benghazi attack on the U. S. Special Mission there, September 11, 2012. Political chaos about the attack has erupted in the United States, aimed at destroying Hillary Clinton in her quest to become President. We’ll talk about those issues in future blogs.
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