The assassination of the US ambassador in Benghazi: the father of the Libyan revolution died due to a fatal accident. Green Socialism Ambassador to Tripoli Christopher Stevens

MOSCOW, September 12 - RIA Novosti. The American diplomatic missions in Benghazi and Cairo were attacked on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the victims of one of the attacks were the US ambassador to Libya and three other consular employees. This state of emergency was preceded by the appearance on the Internet of fragments of the film "The Innocence of Muslims" created in the USA, in which the Prophet Muhammad is presented in an extremely unsightly form.

The US authorities are strengthening the security of their diplomatic missions around the world, and they are sending an anti-terrorist unit of the Marines to Libya. Meanwhile, according to experts, attacks on diplomatic missions are a direct consequence of the "Arab Spring", which ended with the coming of Islamists to power in the countries of this region.

Ambassador assassination

US diplomatic missions were attacked on Tuesday.

First, in Cairo, after evening prayers, several thousand people surrounded the embassy complex in a mass protest. The crowd chanted anti-American slogans, demonstrators threw firecrackers on the territory of the diplomatic mission. The protesters burned the US flag in front of the embassy, ​​and a black flag was hoisted on one of the pillars near the diplomatic mission with the words: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." And several people broke into the territory of the diplomatic mission and lowered the American flag on the building.

The indignation of the audience was caused by the information that the film "The Innocence of Muslims" is being prepared for release in the United States, in which the Prophet Muhammad is presented in an extremely unattractive form. Fragments of this film can now be found in the public domain on the Internet. The dissatisfaction of Muslims could have been caused by the very fact of the image of the Prophet Muhammad, which was forbidden according to the norms of Islam. However, the film, in addition, presents some episodes from the biography of the prophet in an unsightly light. An American pastor from Florida, Terry Jones, who became infamous after several public actions of burning the Koran, took an active part in the creation of the film.

A few hours after the incident in Cairo, it became known about the Libyan Benghazi, which a year ago was a stronghold of the rebels who fought against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Unknown people fired at the building of the diplomatic mission with grenade launchers. Presumably, the shelling was carried out from the territory of a nearby farm. Initially, it was reported that only one person died (his name was not called) and another was wounded in the arm. However, on Wednesday afternoon it became known that four people became victims of the incident. And among the dead -.

Libya's Deputy Interior Minister, Wanis Al-Sharif, said two diplomats, including the head of the diplomatic mission, were killed in the attack, Reuters reported. Two more died during an attempt to evacuate them from Benghazi. After a grenade attack, the surviving diplomats were transported to a safe house. They were followed by a special flight from Tripoli, which was supposed to take out diplomatic workers from the territory of Benghazi. However, when the Americans were leaving the safe house, unknown persons opened fire on them, killing two people.

US diplomatic missions in Egypt and Libya have come under attack for the first time since the regimes of Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi were overthrown in 2011.

Strengthening security

Following the news of the attack on the US consulate in Libya, US President Barack Obama issued orders around the world.

"I have directed that all necessary resources and support be provided to ensure the safety of personnel in Libya, as well as to strengthen the security of our diplomatic institutions around the world," Obama said in a statement released by the White House press service.

A unit of American marines specializing in anti-terrorist activities will be sent to Libya, according to Agence France-Presse, citing a source in the Pentagon.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement Wednesday that Ambassador Chris Stevens has been in the diplomatic service for 21 years. He was sworn in as ambassador to Libya a few months ago and became the first US official to visit Benghazi since the ouster of a Libyan president last year.

"The shelling also killed an embassy officer in charge of information matters, Sean Smith," Clinton said in a statement.

Smith, according to Clinton, served in the State Department for about 10 years. Previously, he worked in embassies in Baghdad, Pretoria and The Hague.

"We condemn these horrific attacks that took the lives of diplomats who helped Libyans build a better future," the Secretary of State said.

Allegations of provocation

The attack on the American consulate in Benghazi was condemned by the UN Security Council,. Thus, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance said that "this kind of violence has no justification," and the head of EU diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, called on Libya to "immediately take measures to protect the lives of all diplomats and foreign employees."

In turn, representatives of Islamic countries, although they call on people to restraint, still react extremely negatively to the film "The Innocence of Muslims."

"This film offends the prophet and is immoral," the Egyptian government said in a statement.

The Afghan authorities, according to AFP, blocked access to the YouTube portal, which published excerpts of the film, for an hour and a half.

The backlash also came from the Vatican. Holy See spokesman Father Federico Lombardi called the film "a provocation for Muslims."

Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Terry Jones, an American pastor from Florida, odious to Muslims, had a hand in creating the tape. He acted as a producer of "Innocence of Muslims" and promised to show a fragment of the picture to the parishioners of his church.

Jones gained notoriety worldwide after several public actions of burning the Koran. After the first such action in March 2011, riots broke out in Afghanistan, during which more than 100 people were killed. The actions and statements of Terry Jones are strongly condemned all over the world, especially in Muslim countries.

"After all, the 'Arab spring' turned into the coming to power of political groups of Islamist orientation, individual representatives of these groups, in accordance with their ideas, are spinning the 'wheel of fortune'," Margelov said.

The building of the American consulate, located in the Libyan city of Benghazi, on the night of September 12. The armed people who attacked the embassy fired on the building with grenade launchers, and then entered the territory of the diplomatic department and set fire to it. As a result of the incident, including the American ambassador Christopher Stevens.

The reason for the attack, presumably, was the information that in the United States, fragments of which can currently be found in the public domain on the Internet. The dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Muslim countries could have been caused by the very fact of the image of the Prophet Muhammad, which is prohibited by the norms of Islam.

On August 12, unidentified people fired grenade launchers at the US consulate in Libyan Benghazi.

However, the film, in addition, presents some episodes from the biography of the prophet in an unsightly light. An American pastor from Florida, Terry Jones, who became infamous after several public actions of burning the Koran, took an active part in the creation of the film.

The Secretary of State also recalled that Ambassador Christopher Stevens had been in the diplomatic service for 21 years. He was sworn in as ambassador to Libya a few months ago and became the first US official to visit Benghazi since the ouster of a Libyan president last year.

The government of Libya, represented by the head of the General National Congress of Libya, Mohammed al-Maqrif, for attacks on consulates.

"We ask forgiveness from the United States, from the people and from the whole world for what happened," Al-Maqrif said, speaking live on the Al Jazeera TV channel.

REUTERS, Esam Al-Fetori

The Libyan government apologized to the United States in connection with the death of diplomatic workers

Meanwhile, the reaction of the world community to the incident in Benghazi followed. Italy strongly condemned the attack on the consulate. On Wednesday, September 12, Prime Minister Mario Monti, to all the American people and families of the victims.

For his part, Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Tertzi noted that the latest news from Libya causes "horror and indignation." According to the minister, it is necessary to do everything possible to clarify all the circumstances of this incident as soon as possible.

The attack on the consulate was later condemned by NATO Secretary General Anders von Rasmussen and EU diplomat Catherine Ashton. The latter called on the Libyan government to take immediate action to protect the lives of all diplomats and foreign employees working in the country. Ashton also stressed the need for crime organizers.

The incident with the American embassy in Benghazi also expressed condolences to the relatives of the dead diplomatic staff.

"This is one, but not the only example of the challenges facing the Libyan government and the Libyan in the field of security," said the Deputy Secretary General of the world organization Jeffrey Feltman, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Libya. He also added that the incident was the result of arms trafficking in Libya not controlled by the government.

And the Secretary General of the organization, Ban Ki-moon, noted that the greatest concern of the society "is caused by the ammunition left by the brigades and individual former combatants, and the potential threat they pose to the Libyan society."

His condemnation in connection with what happened in Libya. The ministry's statement noted that Moscow was deeply concerned about the events in Cairo and Benghazi.

"We strongly condemn any attacks on foreign diplomatic missions and their employees as terrorist manifestations that cannot be justified. We call on the authorities of the countries of the region to take all appropriate measures to fulfill their obligations in order to prevent such hostile actions against diplomatic missions located on their territory in the future. and consular missions and their employees," the message of the Russian diplomatic department emphasized.

And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in connection with the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens. In a telegram sent to the US Secretary of State, the Minister of Foreign Affairs asked to convey words of sincere sympathy to the families and loved ones of the victims, and also stressed that the incident once again confirmed the need for joint efforts by the entire world community in the fight against the evil of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the US presidential candidate, ex-governor of Massachusetts, Republican Mitt Romney expressed his attitude to what happened in Benghazi. The politician criticized the government's first reaction to the incident: according to him, the authorities "actually expressed sympathy for those who broke into the American embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions."

AFP, Brendan Smialowski

Mitt Romney condemned the official government's line of conduct, causing a negative reaction from Barack Obama's headquarters: the Republican was accused of using the tragedy for the election campaign

The condemnation of the attacks gave Romney the opportunity for official government. This provoked a backlash from Barack Obama's campaign staff, who tried to accuse the Republican of using the tragedy for campaign purposes:

"We are appalled that as the US grapples with the death of one of our top diplomats in Libya, Governor Romney has decided to launch a political attack," Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement.

September 13 it became known that the staff of the American consulate was evacuated from Benghazi to Germany, and the number of employees of the US embassy in Tripoli was significantly reduced. According to the information department of the embassy, ​​the diplomatic presence in Libya

In addition, it turned out that from Benghazi t. Where exactly they were sent, the Pentagon did not specify, but the department said that there were no military personnel among the dead - all the victims of the attack were employees of the State Department.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the US Department of Justice in Libya, which it intends to conduct jointly with the Libyan side. Preliminary results made by American intelligence showed that the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda was involved in the incident. However, later it turned out that the Libyan government has other information on this matter.

Thus, Libyan Ambassador to Washington Ali Aujali, commenting on the terrorist attack in Benghazi, said that Muammar Gaddafi was behind the attack on the consulate.

"We know that Gaddafi's accomplices are still in Libya. Of course, they used the chance to disappear into the crowd (when attacking the consulate) ... It is not yet clear who exactly the attackers were, but I am sure that they (Gaddafi's supporters) were there "They still have money, they still get support from Tunisia, Mauritania and other countries that finance such attacks," Aujali told reporters in Washington.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti

On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York, Islamists, chanting anti-American slogans, attacked US diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt. As a result of the attack on the Consulate General in Benghazi, four Americans were killed, including the US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. An angry reaction from the Islamists was provoked by an amateur film about to be released in the United States, which, they believe, insults the Prophet Muhammad.

On the night of September 12, hundreds of armed men attacked the American consulate in the center of the eastern province of Cyrenaica, the city of Benghazi, known as the capital of the Libyan revolution. The crowd, shouting anti-American and Islamist slogans, stormed the building and then set it on fire. After that, as representatives of the Libyan Ministry of Internal Affairs reported, the consulate building was fired from grenade launchers.

As a result of the attack, the American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three members of the consulate general, including two marines, were killed. The rest of the employees of the diplomatic mission managed to evacuate. Law enforcement agencies in Benghazi were unable to prevent the attack "due to the significant numerical superiority of the crowd," Libyan Interior Ministry spokesman Wanis al-Sharif said.

The attack on the diplomatic mission in Libya occurred a few hours after the attack on the US embassy in the capital of Egypt. In Cairo, hundreds of demonstrators broke into the territory of the American embassy and, tearing down the US flag, hoisted in its place a black banner with the inscription "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." According to eyewitnesses, the crowd shouted "Let their ambassador get out!" and "We are all Osama!". The Egyptian Ministry of Internal Affairs knew about the impending action, but did not prevent it, as they considered it a peaceful demonstration, law enforcement officers explained.

This is the most serious attack on American diplomatic missions in the Arab Spring countries, where the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi led to a significant increase in Islamists and the radicalization of part of the population.

The fury of the Egyptians and Libyans was caused by a low-budget amateur film, which, in their opinion, insults Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. A 14-minute English-language trailer with Arabic subtitles from the film hit YouTube exactly on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In the film, the prophet is depicted as a swindler and ladies' man who calls for massacres.

One of the filmmakers, Sam Basil, an American of Jewish origin, said he did not expect such an angry reaction, and regretted what happened in Benghazi. According to him, the full version of the two-hour film "Mohammed, the Prophet of Muslims" was to be shown by several American TV channels. Also involved in the making of the film are two Egyptian Copts living in the United States and Florida pastor Terry Jones, notorious for burning the Koran.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the Islamist attack on the US Consulate General in Benghazi and held telephone conversations with the chairman of the Libyan General National Congress, Mohammed Yousef al-Maghref. The interlocutors "coordinated efforts to ensure the protection of the Americans in Libya."

Libyan scandal escalates

The Independent reports that the State Department had intelligence that U.S. diplomatic missions in the Middle East were under attack, but did not take any steps to improve security:

According to senior diplomatic sources, 48 ​​hours before the crowd seized the Benghazi consulate and laid siege to the embassy in Cairo, the US State Department had credible information about the upcoming events, but no warnings of increased danger were sent to diplomats, no instructions to move to a “strict lockdown”, which strictly restricts movement outside the embassies.

It is difficult to get a clear picture of what happened in Benghazi. Chris Stevens has traveled to other countries and only recently returned to Libya. It is not known why he was in Benghazi (and not in the capital - Tripoli) and how many more Americans were there. Apparently the terrorists first attacked the consulate, which in fact was not protected in any way:

According to security sources, the consulate conducted a readiness check for violence and unrest associated with the 9/11 anniversary. But the perimeter was eventually breached within 15 minutes after an angry mob began storming the consulate around 10 p.m. Tuesday. Witnesses say that the local guards, 30 or more, did little to protect the consulate staff. Ali Fetori, a 59-year-old accountant who lives nearby, said: “The security people just ran away, and the youth with guns and grenades remained at the posts.”

Where were the Marines? Stevens and the others went to the supposedly safe "safe house", but the location of this house, someone apparently gave out to the terrorists. The explanation that Stevens died by suffocation in the smoke is bizarre at best:

Consulate officials allegedly did not find Ambassador Stevens, in dense smoke from a fire that engulfed the building

So it turns out they ran out of the building without an ambassador? And where were the terrorists at that time? As far as I understand, they attacked the building, fired at it with RPGs and it caught fire. After that, the terrorists just vanished and let the employees escape?

It is believed that a group of friendly Libyans found Ambassador Stevens lying unconscious in the destroyed safe house and transferred him to the hospital.
Obviously, this is the moment when the photos we saw were taken. The crowd doesn't look particularly friendly to me. But where were the terrorists while all this was happening?

A few hours later, a large group of Americans were apparently rescued from the same safe house. " How can it be? "Yavka" was on fire. They arrived there after another, earlier group had left, friendly Libyans carried away the body of Ambassador Stevens? Maybe so, but such an explanation looks completely ridiculous. Be that as it may, a team was sent from Tripoli to rescue them:

An 8-man American rescue team sent from Tripoli and a group of soldiers under the command of Captain Fati al-Obeidi of the Brigade advanced to a secret safe house on February 17 to take about 40 American consular employees from there. The building at that time was fired from heavy weapons. “I don't know how they found a place to shoot from. It was clearly planned in advance, the accuracy with which the mortars fired at us was too good for ordinary revolutionaries,” said Captain Obeidi. “Mines began to rain down on us, about six, probably fell on the road leading to the villa.”

Thus, it becomes obvious that the terrorists are back, this time with mortars! This is not a crowd, this is a military unit. Despite the mortar attack, the eight Americans were able to rescue 40 American employees from what is believed to be a burned-out safe house. Somewhere around this time, they learned what happened to Stevens, apparently a few hours earlier:

Libyan reinforcements eventually arrived and the attack stopped. Word was received about Mr. Stevens and his body was removed from the hospital and sent to Tripoli along with other dead and survivors.

In short, this story is nonsense; the sequence of events is messed up to say the least and the story of what happened to Stevens doesn't add up. Congress should investigate what actually happened and why appropriate security measures were not taken. A Congressional committee will also want to know how the secret documents ended up in the hands of terrorists, thereby endangering US intelligence sources in Libya:

The US government is facing a crisis in Libya. Very sensitive documents have disappeared from the consulate in Benghazi and, presumably, from the secret "safe house" in the city, from where the employees left during the mortar attack. Other such shelters around the country are no longer considered "safe".

Among the missing papers are said to be lists of people working with the Americans, which means they may be in danger from extremist groups; other documents concern oil contracts.

It's a big deal to find out what happened in Libya and why. The Obama administration will keep everything under wraps as usual, so Congress will have to try to figure out the real story.

Chaos at the State Department?

Sources describe the situation at the State Department in one word: "Chaos." The premise is that several US embassies may have been infiltrated or vulnerable to attack, as many of them recruit local service personnel, and those, if recruited by al-Qaeda, have the ability to breach security. Also, the real story of the attack on the consulate in Benghazi is much worse than we are told (excerpts from the article in The Independent John and I posted here on Thursday).

The consulate in Benghazi was a temporary facility, locked with a standard door lock, worse still, Ambassador Stevens traveled with only a small bodyguard, not the well-armed escort that our diplomats in the region usually travel with. The attack on the consulate in Benghazi was neither accidental nor spontaneous, prompted by a reaction to the movie "Muslim Innocence"; the movie is just a suggestion. The assassination of Ambassador Stevens was a premeditated, planned retaliation for the recent killing of Al Qaeda Operative No. 2 in Afghanistan (he was killed by a drone strike). The weak security of Stevens in the Benghazi consulate was carefully reconnoitered. All other protests near the embassy are just a performance, a cover.

Hillary Clinton sent a gay ambassador to Libya for provocative purposes?

A Serbian diplomat and friend of Christopher Stevens says the State Department deliberately sent a gay ambassador to Libya.

Arab media write that Ambassador Stevens was gang-raped and then his body was put on public display.

Hillary Clinton used American taxpayer money to fund homosexual Pride Parades in foreign countries. Her actions caused a backlash against the United States in Italy, Russia, Pakistan and other countries. Last year, Barack Obama made taxpayer-money funding of gay rights groups abroad official US policy.

In Pakistan, employees of the American embassy in Islamabad were in grave danger when they were ordered to organize a gay pride parade. Pakistanis rioted outside the embassy and burned American flags.

Friends of Christopher Stevens in Chicago say he was gay. A member of a Serbian diplomatic team based in Chicago told HillBuzz.org that the State Department knowingly sent a homosexual as an ambassador to Libya. HillBuzz.org reports that "at least in Chicago diplomatic circles, there is no doubt that Chris Stevens was gay."

The question is, did Hillary Clinton know about this? If so, it means that she deliberately sent him to a country where his presence would be considered a provocation. Hillary Clinton's track record in North Africa is extremely depressing. The US State Department has successfully turned Libya and Egypt upside down and brought militant Islam to power in those countries.

Clinton argued that Libya and Egypt would become Western-style democracies. She even made the ridiculous claim that the Muslim Brotherhood is "committed to democracy." Now Clinton's "democracy activists" are killing Christians in the streets of Egypt, burning American flags and calling for a holy war against Israel. Now Clinton is doing the same thing in Syria with fiendish persistence.

Clinton said Stevens' killers were heavily armed and likely linked to al-Qaeda. She forgot to mention that the Obama administration armed and supported these hardcore jihadists in Libya, some of whom openly boasted of their al-Qaeda ties. Hillary Clinton acts as if it came as a surprise to her that such reckless policies backfired on her.

According to leading Arab news outlets, the assassination of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens was even more horrific than the US media reported. Arab media reports say that Stevens was beaten, raped and killed, and then his body was put on public display, in the same manner as it was once done with Gaddafi.

The Libyan doctor who examined the body said Stevens had severe internal injuries and died from "severe asphyxia."

Three other Americans were also killed, including former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty.

Christopher Stevens is the first US ambassador to be killed abroad since Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan in 1976.

Bold and optimistic, he knew the country to which he was sent like no other diplomat. His tragic death leaves a huge hole in the American foreign service, as well as in Washington's impetuous dealings with the Arab world.

"Salaam Alaikum. My name is Chris Stevens and I am the new US Ambassador to Libya." With these words, Christopher Stevens, a 52-year-old diplomat who died along with three other Americans on September 11 during the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, began his video introduction to the people of Libya. Although he took office in May, the region was nothing new to him. Speaking Arabic and French, Stevens was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, and after working in Washington in international trade, he worked in Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia during his 21 years in the US State Department.
But it was in Libya, where he also served as a second US diplomat from 2007 to 2009, that he achieved success and fame. His experience and authority in Libya proved invaluable during the chaotic Libyan revolution, and his work helped convince the Obama administration to support the besieged rebels. All of this made Stevens' death all the more ironic, as President Barack Obama said after the attacks: "It is especially tragic that he died in Benghazi, the city he helped save in the midst of a revolution."
Significantly, less than three hours after Stevens' death in Benghazi, Libyans launched a Facebook page honoring Stevens in Arabic. On it they exchanged photos of the ambassador. For example, in one of the photos, the ambassador eats local food with Libyans with his hands. They also posted photos of themselves holding lit candles in memory of him.
Apparently, Stevens was not one of those who sit at his desk. He preferred to leave Washington and be on the spot. An avid traveler who grew up in California, he often ran away from the embassy to wander through the Roman ruins of Libya. “We worked together in Syria,” says Deputy Secretary of State Liz Dibble, “and I remember him recounting his trip to Saladin's castle. It was a completely wrong beaten path to arrive in the country.”
But despite these revelations, Stevens was known for his gregariousness. “He could be a social student from time to time,” says Janet Sanderson, who first worked with him in Cairo in the 1990s. “He was extremely popular and very personable. It was a lot of fun with him. He liked to sit and talk about politics until 2 am and drink coffee or tea endlessly.”
He used his human qualities to organize meetings or during his speeches, attracting people to them. "He could hold the attention of his audience," Sanderson recalls. “He could hold the attention of Congress. He excelled at explaining difficult political situations. And he knew the answers to the legislators' questions even before they asked them. Like questions about Libya: who are they - the rebels? Can they unite? He knew all the factions, the world alignment.
It is possible that Stevens knew about Congress because of his participation in the Congressional Foreign Service Exchange Program, where he worked in the office of Senator Richard Lugar, who was the top Republican on the Committee on Foreign Relations.
In Cairo, Stevens made a name for himself as a tennis player. "He was tall and blond," says Sanderson. “He made an unforgettable impression in Cairo. It was his second tour, but he turned into a tennis player when he wanted to impress the visitors.”
Stevens was ambitious without being cruel. "Type A with California roots," says Dibble. He was the first of the diplomatic class to be named head of mission. And he was fearless. When the US evacuated embassy staff in Tripoli in the midst of last year's revolution, Stevens was negotiating in Benghazi about working with opposition leaders to form a new government. He probably knew Benghazi better than any other American diplomat. “Oh yes, we had to go through various scams to get him to Benghazi,” recalls Sanderson, who recently left her post as Assistant Secretary for Middle East Affairs. “But he felt like a fish out of water. There he became part of the whole.
He remained calm in difficult situations. “Even when everything was upside down, he made me laugh,” says Sanderson. “He never ran, never hurried. I never saw him hesitate or fuss,” Dibble recalls.
Stevens was known for nurturing young diplomatic staff. “From our point of view, when people become ambassadors, they become very serious and sometimes lose a little of the life, idealism and optimism that they had in their youth,” says Aaron Snipe, a spokesman for the Bureau of Near East Affairs and friend of Stevens. "Chris always had that optimism."
“He felt he could do something special. He achieved it. I think he may have been confused by what people were saying about him. I guess he wanted to show that he is doing his job and being himself. His life credo was the following: in any situation, hold a half-filled glass, regardless of the complexity. And he has worked in some of the toughest places in the world."
The American diplomatic community will mourn Stevens, who became the first American ambassador to be killed in office since 1979. But the world may miss him more. Libya and other countries that have been transformed by the Arab Spring are in the middle of a historic change. "He dreamed of making a difference in Libya and I think he succeeded," says Dibble. "I think he had high hopes for Libya, given the massive transition the country is going through." The region's new democracies need to rebuild free societies from the ashes of autocracy; the temptations of religious extremism must also be avoided. Stevens may have contributed to this process. As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "The world needs people like Chris Stevens." And he needs them like never before.

Jay Newton-Small, Brian Walsh
« Time”, September 12, 2012
Translation- « InoZpress. kg»