since I have no way of knowing any of the evidence against these people that suggests they may have been complicit in the planned attack, I cannot speak to whether they are being offered up as a conciliatory gesture or if they are guilty.
however, I certainly must take issue with Susan Wright's assessment:
1] we know for a fact that people in Libya arrived in trucks carrying shoulder-mounted missile launchers. people do not take such weaponry to a simple protest.
even taking a difference in culture into account - if Libya's attack was spontaneous, why didn't people in Egypt, Yemen, Niger, et al arrive with such weapons? no one else did so but we are to believe that THESE people and these alone took heavy armament to a spontaneous uprising? seriously?
2] the date of the attack is certainly suggestive. only the fact that the attack coincided with the protests over the film makes the issue even debatable. that the people in the US who released the film played into the terrorists hands was simply the terrorists' good fortune - - it does not suggest that the Libyan attack was similar to the uprisings in the other countries in any way whatsoever.
aamof, in no country other than Libya did people rush to the aid of our diplomats. that, in itself, suggests that the Libyan incident was different in fundamental ways from the others.
Libya 'arrests 50' over Benghazi US consulate deaths: Fair or Foul?
JMCC
2012/09/16 20:35:37
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In recent days many have expressed disbelief that the Libyans would investigate the deaths at the American consulate, but does this action show that they are serious in bringing those responsible to justice?
Libyan authorities have arrested some 50 people in connection with last week's deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, the president of Libya's interim assembly says.
Mohamed Magarief told CBS News he had "no doubt" the attack was pre-planned.
That appears to contradict US envoy to the UN Susan Rice who told ABC that the evidence suggested it had been part of "spontaneous" protests.
US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US consulate staff were killed.
They died when the consulate in Benghazi was set ablaze, in protests apparently inspired by demonstrations at the US embassy in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
It was part of a wave of violent protests in the Muslim world over an anti-Islam film made in the US.
'Planned by foreigners'
Some of the suspects in last Tuesday's violence in Benghazi were from outside Libya, Mr Magarief told CBS News.
"It was planned, definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this criminal act since their arrival," he said.
He said the suspects were connected to al-Qaeda, or its "affiliates and maybe sympathisers".
"We don't know what are the real intentions of these perpetrators," he said. "They entered Libya from different directions. Some of them definitely from Mali and Algeria."
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has said in a statement the attack avenged the killing of Abu Yahya al-Libi - a Libyan-born al-Qaeda commander killed in June by a US drone strike in the North Waziristan-Afghan borderlands.
Ms Rice, meanwhile, told ABC that the the US's "current best assessment" was that "this began as a spontaneous not a pre-meditated response" to the protests in Cairo.
"As that unfolded it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons, weapons that as you know in the wake of the revolution in Libya are quite common and accessible and then it evolved from there," she added.
Libyan authorities have arrested some 50 people in connection with last week's deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, the president of Libya's interim assembly says.
Mohamed Magarief told CBS News he had "no doubt" the attack was pre-planned.
That appears to contradict US envoy to the UN Susan Rice who told ABC that the evidence suggested it had been part of "spontaneous" protests.
US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US consulate staff were killed.
They died when the consulate in Benghazi was set ablaze, in protests apparently inspired by demonstrations at the US embassy in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
It was part of a wave of violent protests in the Muslim world over an anti-Islam film made in the US.
'Planned by foreigners'
Some of the suspects in last Tuesday's violence in Benghazi were from outside Libya, Mr Magarief told CBS News.
"It was planned, definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this criminal act since their arrival," he said.
He said the suspects were connected to al-Qaeda, or its "affiliates and maybe sympathisers".
"We don't know what are the real intentions of these perpetrators," he said. "They entered Libya from different directions. Some of them definitely from Mali and Algeria."
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has said in a statement the attack avenged the killing of Abu Yahya al-Libi - a Libyan-born al-Qaeda commander killed in June by a US drone strike in the North Waziristan-Afghan borderlands.
Ms Rice, meanwhile, told ABC that the the US's "current best assessment" was that "this began as a spontaneous not a pre-meditated response" to the protests in Cairo.
"As that unfolded it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons, weapons that as you know in the wake of the revolution in Libya are quite common and accessible and then it evolved from there," she added.
Top Opinion
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twocrows 2012/09/16 21:29:29
(AFP) – 10 hours ago
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Four Palestinian hardliners were jailed, two for life, on Monday after a Gaza military court found them guilty of the kidnap and murder of an Italian peace activist.
Mahmud al-Salfiti, 24, and Tamer al-Husasna, 26, were found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Vittorio Arrigoni in 2011 and each sentenced by the court in the Hamas-ruled enclave to life imprisonment."
I am glad the Libyan government has made some arrests and is trying to bring those who committed these murderers to justice. I hope that those who incited these folks to riot are held accountable, too. They are all responsible.
however, I certainly must take issue with Susan Wright's assessment:
1] we know for a fact that people in Libya arrived in trucks carrying shoulder-mounted missile launchers. people do not take such weaponry to a simple protest.
even taking a difference in culture into account - if Libya's attack was spontaneous, why didn't people in Egypt, Yemen, Niger, et al arrive with such weapons? no one else did so but we are to believe that THESE people and these alone took heavy armament to a spontaneous uprising? seriously?
2] the date of the attack is certainly suggestive. only the fact that the attack coincided with the protests over the film makes the issue even debatable. that the people in the US who released the film played into the terrorists hands was simply the terrorists' good fortune - - it does not suggest that the Libyan attack was similar to the uprisings in the other countries in any way whatsoever.
aamof, in no country other than Libya did people rush to the aid of our diplomats. that, in itself, suggests that the Libyan incident was different in fundamental ways from the others.
They may round up a few that were complicit with the rape, torture and murder of Stevens and the others but those who made it all possible were in their way - out of country before the Sun came up.