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16 November 2012 By Saeed Qureshi
On
September 11, 2012 a
violent, unruly mob attacked the American Consulate in
the Libyan city of Benghazi and an adjacent location
and burnt these to ashes. It was the most gruesome act
of terrorism in the wake of Arab Spring now spreading
across the Middle East and dismantling the
authoritarian regimes and replacing them with the
popularly elected governments.
The attack came in
retaliation to the blasphemous movie against the
prophet of Islam Hazrat Muhammad. During the attack
there were 7 Americans including the ambassador
present in the Consulate. The brutal attack took a
toll of four Americans including Ambassador
J. Christopher Stevens.
Ambassador Stevens was
quite popular in Libya for his outreach to the people
and plans to rebuild the educational, health and
similar institutions. He was a man with exemplary
dedication and immense merit besides being a
competent, modest and unassuming person.
As ill luck would have it, Ambassador Stevens had come
from
Tripoli
to Benghazi at that time to review plans to establish
a new cultural center and modernize a hospital.
Although the outrage by the
Muslims was universal on the making and screening of
the movie yet it was only in Libya that it turned
bloody and violent entailing the loss of four precious
lives that were in no way connected with the movie.
Besides the American citizens there were Libyans
security staff members and others who were also
injured in that ransacking onslaught.
High level investigations
by various agencies are underway to determine and
discover the identities of the frontline assailants.
However it would be worthwhile to mull over this
terrible incident in order to infer who could have
mounted such daring murderous attacks on two
diplomatic locations on the spur of the moment.
Or was it a pre-planned
insidious plan and patent conspiracy to target the
American diplomatic mission behind the cover of
sacrilegious film about the apostle of Islam?
Elsewhere in the world, there were huge protests and
even the embassies were surrounded as in Egypt. Yet
the rampaging and killing of the staff did not take
place. It was therefore, a very unusual happening in
Libya not to be taken lightly.
On September 28 the
American intelligence reported that "it was a
deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out
by extremists. It remains unclear if any group or
person exercised overall command and control of the
attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their
members to participate."After the end of Gaddafi rule
in Libya, the country has remained in most unstable
situation both politically and administratively.
It might take a few years
before a genuine and stable democratic system can be
established. It would take a considerable longer time
for the government to restore law and order by
subduing the local divergent and disparate tribal
lords, fiefdoms and Gaddafi loyalists.
Most of these tribal chiefs
were given financial aid and were loyal to Gaddafi
regime. Also the neighboring Mali, Chad, Niger and
Mauritania were client and surrogate states of Libya.
During the anti Gaddafi civil war (February to October
2011) the fighters and volunteers from these countries
formed formidable fighting force in favor of the
Gaddafi regime.
Between 125 and 150 gunmen
with masked faces that attacked the consulate in the
darkness looked like Islamic militants, They were
equipped with "rocket-propelled grenades, hand
grenades, AK-47 and FN
F2000 NATO assault
rifles, diesel canisters, mortars, and heavy machine
guns and artillery mounted on gun trucks". The
organized way these assailants closed the access
roads, carried with them the lethal arms and gasoline
canisters provides incontrovertible proof that they
had come to ransack and burn the consulate building.
In all probability there
could be three factions to be presumably held
responsible for this heinous and unwarranted crime. In
the first instance the making of the film, "the
Innocence of the Muslims" produced by one Sam Bacile
was a dirty work of an individual for which the
American administration or any official agency was not
involved.
There could be general
protests but to target the consulate with lethal
assault weapons could not be justified. It could not
be carried out by the ordinary Libyans. The Libyans
national and security staff helped the consulate staff
in rescuing the ambassador and other staff members.
Some of the Libyans were even injured in bracing
against the assailants.
Although the assault was
highly organized and meticulously conducted, yet by
all indications it was spontaneous. Now let us take up
the three factions and sort out which one could be
held accountable for that diabolic crime. Now the al-Qaida
that apparently seems to be main culprit could not
come out so publicly to continue the assault for the
whole night till the day break.
The reason is that this
terrorist group was totally decimated and dismantled
by Gaddafi as it also posed a great danger to his
regime. Al-Qaida has been totally in oblivion and
dysfunctional in Libya for all these years ever since
its inception. For them to assemble a coterie of
hardcore group of anti-American miscreants with
perfect use of the modern weapons was not possible.
They know that by exposing
themselves they would be identified and picked up and
face the wrath of both Libyan and American
administrations. This callous outfit prefers to
operate clandestinely. They could at best resort to
suicide bombing or limited terorrist operations but
not of this magnitude and so openly.
Also for the ordinary
Muslims who have been living under a very oppressive
rule for ages could not become ferocious fighter all
of a sudden and have access or possession of artillery
mounted gun trucks and rocket propelled grenades etc.
If at all the Libyans were venting their anger and
outrage on the denigration of their beloved and most
revered prophet, they could hold huge rallies and
processions in peaceful manners.
To besiege the embassy was
a highly professional and technical task that could
not be attributed to ordinary citizens all the more
during the night. So it should be the third group that
could have carried this prolonged assault and that was
capable of handling the heavy weaponry used solely by
the professional and highly trained soldiers in
traditional military combats.
Now let us recall that
during the civil war, the Libyan Armed Forces, Libyan
Air Force, paramilitary forces, pro-Gaddafi
tribes and foreign mercenaries were fighting
against the national
liberation army, Free Libyan air force, anti-regime
rebel, tribes and militias. Even after the civil war,
a low-level insurgency by Gaddafi loyalists still
continued for some time.
Understandably therefore, the supporters of the
present regime who were erstwhile anti-Gaddafi
fighters could not resort to such an attack as it
would be enormously counterproductive to the incumbent
political set up. It would be out of question that
they could harm and antagonize the Americans by whose
prodigious support Gaddafi was ousted.
The General
National Congress of Libya is
the legislative authority of Libya. Mohamed
Yousaf el-Magariaf
as its president is also the head of the state since
August 2012. The affiliates and adherents of this
party cannot harm Americans although Magariaf has good
relations with the Muslim brotherhood. President
Magariaf was in exile in United States for 30 years.
In
conclusion and after sifting and evaluating all the
aspects, the underground pro Gaddafi elements could
have carried out the attack on American consulate in
Benghazi. The video might have given a rare chance to
them to storm the consulate as a kind of revenge for
the death of Gaddafi and end of his regime.
They
might have conjectured that with such brazen act they
could win the sympathies of the fanatic Muslims and
whip up anti-American sentiment, as it was for the
sake of honor of their prophet. Also with this attack
they could prove the incumbent government as
incompetent to protect the Americans in Libya. But
they failed in achieving any of these objectives as
the government and the Libyans condemned this
barbarity.
The
American administration's response to this wanton act
of sabotage, terrorism and violence was measured,
sagacious and composed. The Obama administration
emphatically declared to punish the culprits but did
not resort to the knee jerk reaction. The American
administration wanted to find out and rightly so as to
how it happened and who was responsible for this
colossal crime.
The pro
Gaddafi members of the Libyan armed forces and the
tribes, militias and
mercenaries loyal to the
ousted regime are present in Libya. They could be in
possession of large caches of all brands of weapons.
They would keep looking for such similar chances of
sabotage, violence and attacks.
With American support, the
new Libyan administration, need to launch a campaign
to search for the weapons and also the pro Gaddafi
mercenaries and militias. The tracing and catching the
perpetrators of attack on US Consulate in Benghazi can
be the first step towards that imperative goal. |
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