US envoy to Libya killed in attack over Prophet film

US envoy to Libya killed in attack over Prophet film

Mission Stormed,Arson Claims 3 Other Staffers Too

Chidanand Rajghatta TNN

Washington: The US ambassador to Libya and three other American personnel were killed on Tuesday when fundamentalist mobs,purportedly enraged by a film mocking the Prophet Mohammed,attacked the US consulate in Benghazi on a day that marked the 11th anniversary of 9/11.
Angry crowds swept over US missions in Libya and Egypt after excerpts of the film,derisively titled Innocence of Muslims,and ridiculing the Prophet,surfaced on the internet.
US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens,52,who was visiting the consulate at the time of the violence,is said to have died after he was injured in a rocket attack from a nearby farm.Some reports said he died of asphyxiation after he and some others went into the burning consulate to rescue people.
A US foreign service officer and two US marines assigned to protect them were also reported killed in the arson which left the consulate in an upscale residential neighbourhood completely gutted.
Witnesses said the attackers included tribesmen,militia and members of a group called the Ansar al-Sharia,an Qaida-style outfit said to be active in Benghazi.Many of the men were reportedly firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

NIGHTMARE IN LIBYA,ALERT ACROSS THE GLOBE


Film ridiculing Prophet Mohammad,made by US-based Israeli Sam Bacile and promoted by a US pastor,sparks protests.Clips from the film posted on YouTube
Islamist gunmen armed with rocketpropelled grenades attack and set fire to US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.Another assault took place hours before at US embassy in Cairo US ambassador Christopher Stevens killed when he reached consulate to evacuate staff.Some of them were moved to a safe house but attacked there too.Three others killed at consular building,around 20 injured Security upgrade at US diplomatic posts worldwide ordered.Bacile in hiding
Five US ambassadors have been killed in line of duty: Adolph Dubs (Afghanistan,1979); John Gordon Mein (Guatemala,1968); Cleo A Noel Jr (Sudan,1973); Rodger P Davies (Cyprus,1974) & Francis E Meloy Jr (Lebanon,1976) US ambassador to Pak Arnie Raphel killed in mysterious 1988 air crash that also claimed Paks military dictator Zia-ul-Haq

US IN CROSSHAIRS

EMBASSIES UNDER ATTACK



2011

Taliban attack US embassy in Afghanistan.The siege ends after 19 hours.It leaves 16 dead,including nine attackers

1998

Hundreds killed in a series of attacks along with simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the US embassies in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Nairobi (Kenya).The attacks bring Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri into American publics notice for the fi rst time

1979

Students burn to ground the US embassy in Islamabad following a misleading radio report that the US has bombed Islams holy site at Mecca,the Masjid al-Haram.A marine and another American killed in the embassy attack

1979

52 Americans held hostage for 444 days after a group of Islamist students and militants take over the US embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian Revolution.8 US servicemen and one Iranian civilian killed during a rescue bid

1983

US embassy in Beirut bombed following intervention of a US-led multinational force in the Lebanese civil war.63 people,including CIA staff,marines and soldiers,killed

UNHOLY ROW



PROPHET TOON |

Publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 1985 unleashes attacks against Danish missions in Syria,Iran,Afghanistan and Lebanon;dozens killed

VAN GOGH FILM |

Dutch fi lmmaker Theo van Gogh shot dead in Amsterdam in 2004 over his film 'Submission',which criticized the treatment of Muslim women

PASTOR PROBLEM |

A 2010 call by Florida pastor Terry Jones to burn Qurans on 9/11 anniversary alarms the US.Jones later calls off the programme.But his congregation goes ahead with Quran burning in 2011,triggering violent protests in Afghanistan

QURAN BURNING |

In 2012,US soldiers in Afghanistan burn copies of Quran.Protests leave over 30 Afghans and six Americans dead.US hands out punishment to six soldiers

London: A documentary on Britains Channel 4 on the origins of Islam has sparked off a furious row,leading to over 1,000 complaints and security fears that prompted the cancellation of a planned repeat screening in London on Thursday.The documentary,titled Islam: The Untold Story,was telecast on Channel 4 on August 28.
Its presenter,historian Tom Holland,soon became the target of criticism and abuse,prompting security fears and complaints to the channel and broadcast regulator Ofcom.

Holland has been accused of making baseless assumption and engaging in selective scholarship for making the claim in the poorly researched documentary.

Holland said,The origins of Islam are a legitimate subject of historical enquiry and this film is in keeping with other series and programmes on Channel 4 where the historical context of world religions has been examined.He added,An accusation laid against the film is one of bias and,although I believe that absolute objectivity is a chimera,what was incumbent upon us,in making the film,was to be up-front about my own ideological background and presumptions,and to acknowledge the different perspective that Muslim faith provides.PTI

Sanaa/Cairo: Demonstrators attacked the US embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protest against a film allegedly mocking Islam.

The Yemeni police shot dead a protester and injured five others after a mob tried to storm the US embassy in the capital city of Sanaa.The firing came as protesters launched a second charge on the complex after they were pushed back by the security forces.Yemen President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi apologized to Barack Obama and the American people for the acts of the mob and ordered a probe.Those behind this are part of a mob,not aware of the plots of Zionist forces,especially those who made a film insulting the Prophet, said Hadi.

In Egypt,protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the US embassy in central Cairo.There were reports of protests in Tehran too.
Meanwhile,the US suspects the Libyan attack which killed its envoy Chris Stevens was pre-planned.AGENCIES

Google asked to block film excerpts

F earing trouble over the film on the Prophet,the Centre has asked Google to block 11 URLs of YouTube containing objectionable excerpts from the film.Google is likely to ban the URLs soon.P 13

Leave J&K: Mufti tells Americans

Grand mufti of Jammu and Kashmir Bashiruddin Ahmad on Thursday asked all US citizens in the Valley to immediately leave the state in wake of the film that has hurt the sentiment of Muslims.PTI

Worried govt moves to block anti-Islam movie

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Apprehending disturbances over a controversial anti-Islam movie that sparked massive anti-US protests in Libya,Egypt and Yemen,the government on Thursday asked Google to block 11 URLs of the popular video site YouTube containing objectionable excerpts from the film.The US-based Google,which owns YouTube,is likely to ban these URLs soon.

A request to Google was made acting on the request of the J&K government which forwarded a court order for getting those web pages removed as soon as possible, said a home ministry official.

As reports of Afghanistan and Pakistan blocking access to these sites came in,Google in a statement said,We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions.This can be a challenge because whats OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere.
This video which is widely available on the web is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube.However,given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt we have temporarily restricted access in both countries.

Government has beefed up security at the US embassy here and four of its consulates Mumbai,Kolkata,Chennai and Hyderabad.The five US diplomatic missions are being provided round-the-clock security.

Times View: Websites must be more responsible

Internet search engines and social media platforms need to exhibit a greater awareness of varying cultural sensibilities given the fact that their reach extends to the whole world.Sticking to the letter of the law may be a tenable legal position,but they must take into account the consequences of doing so.Where waiting for the legal process to unfold or for governments to ask them to take something off the net can mean several lives getting lost or communities and nations getting pitted against each other,they must show more common sense and act before they are asked to do so.

fter Libya,American Missions Targeted In Other Parts Of Muslim World

Nasser Arrabyee & Alan Cowell

Sana (Yemen): Turmoil in the Arab world linked to an American-made video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad spread on Thursday to Yemen,where hundreds of protesters attacked the American embassy,two days after assailants killed four Americans in Libya,including the ambassador,and crowds tried to overrun the embassy compound in Cairo.

Yemeni police on Thursday shot dead a protester and wounded five others when they opened fire on a crowd attempting to storm the US embassy in Sanaa.
Reports also spoke of protests in Tehran,where around 500 Iranians chanting Death to America tried to converge on the Swiss embassy,which handles US interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Washington.

Hundreds of police officers held the crowds back from the diplomatic compound,witnesses said.For a third consecutive day at the American embassy in Cairo,protesters scuffled with police officers firing tear gas,witnesses said,and the state news agency reported that 13 people were injured.

In Iraq,a militant Shia group,Asaib Ahl al-Haq,once known for its violent attacks on Americans and other Westerners,reportedly said the video will put all American interests in danger.Protests were also reported at American missions in Morocco,Sudan and Tunisia,where the police also fired tear gas to disperse crowds.There were also news reports that the authorities in Afghanistan had suppressed internet access to prevent users from viewing the offending video online in order to forestall protests there.

In Bangladesh,about 1,000 members of the Khelafat Andolon group demonstrated in the capital and threatened to step up their protests after they were blocked from approaching the US embassy.There were no reports of violence.

The new violence came as news reports from Libya said the authorities there had made an unspecified number of arrests in connection with the killings of the four Americans in the mayhem that engulfed the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday.

In Sana,the capital of Yemen,witnesses said government security forces tried to disperse a crowd at the fortified American embassy compound in the eastern part of the city.But protesters succeeded in breaking through an outer perimeter protecting the embassy,clambering over a high wall and setting fire to a building.They were forced to retreat after trying to plunder furniture and computers,the witnesses said.

Security forces guarding the embassy fired into the air as protesters set two vehicles alight and burned tires.Protesters tore down and burned an American flag,replacing it with their own banner proclaiming the Islamic faith,witnesses said.

The protests came hours after a Muslim cleric,Abdul Majid al- Zindani,urged followers to emulate the protests in Libya and Egypt,Sana residents said.Zindani,a onetime mentor to Osama bin Laden,was named a specially designated global terrorist by the US treasury department in 2004.NYT NEWS SERVICE & AGENCIES

Washington: US President Barack Obama directed warships,drones,and marines towards the troubled Arab regions amid a developing US assessment that the Islamist assault on the consulate in Benghazi that killed the American ambassador to Libya was a pre-planned assault to mark 9/11,and not a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam film.

Amid growing pressure from hard-line critics at home and politicization of the handling of thecrisis in an election-season,Obama promised to bring the killers to justice.The pledge,ominous for the killers in the light of Washingtons relentless pursuit and success in nailing Osama bin Laden and the Lockerbie bombers,came even as more protests erupted in Yemen,where the US embassy was also stormed.

US officials refrained from outright claiming that the Benghazi attack was linked to 9/11,but there were searching questions as to how the protestors came armed with rocket propelled guns and other lethal weaponry that enabled them to gut the consulate,where the ambassador and an aide were killed even though they had taken shelter in a safe room,and protected by two marines,who were also killed.

At home,Wednesdays bloody episode rapidly became politicized after Republicans pilloried Obama for what they saw as an apologetic and weak-kneed first response.

The perception arose because the US embassy in Cairo,scene of the first reported mob violence,had put out statements before the protests condemning the anti-Islam film and suggesting there was an over-reach in the right to free expression.

The man at the center of the controversy was Larry Schwartz,a state department public affairs specialist who went to Cairo recently after three years each in New Delhi and Islamabad.

It turned out though that Schwartz had tweeted his disapproval of the anti-Islam film before the embassy ground was breached by protestors and before the news of the death of the US ambassador in neighbouring Libya had trickled out.

For the full report log on to www.timesofindia.com

Mystery deepens: Coptic Christian behind anti-Prophet film

Chidanand Rajghatta TNN

Washington: The man described by the Israeli government as an unspeakable idiot who made what critics say is an unwatchable anti-Islam film is now trying to be untraceable.Media hounds initially turned up with zilch in a search of public records for Sam Bacile,whose crude celluloid caricature of the Prophet sparked off violence in the Libya and Egypt.

But the AP zeroed in on a man named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula,who,while denying he was Sam Bacile,acknowledged a role in managing and providing logistics for the production of the film Innocence of Muslims which has agitated Islamists for ridiculing the Prophet and Islam.
While Baciles associates said he variously spelled his last name as Basil,Basilee etc,federal court papers showed Nakoulas aliases included Nicola Bacily,Erwin Salameh and other names that sounded like Bacile.Tthe cellphone number where it found Bacile for his first interview had the same address in Los Angeles where Nakaoula was traced.

It turns out that while Bacile was initially portrayed as a Jewish Israeli-American ( the Israeli government disavowed any association with him,calling him an unspeakable idiot ),Nakaoula is a Coptic Christian settled in the US.He also has a criminal conviction for financial shenanigans in the country.

From all accounts,Bacile teamed up with Morris Sadek,a fellow Coptic Christian in the US,and a fundamental American Christian pastor Terry Jones,to promote the mediocre and offensive film.In fact,few people have seen more than a few minutes of the film,and there are doubts if it was even completed.But the little that is online is so crude and contrived that it wasnt even taken seriously till Islamist mobs made it world-famous.

Meanwhile,actors in the film said they were misled about the project and some of their dialogue was dubbed during post-production.

The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer.We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose.We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved, the LA Times quoted the actors as saying.
One of the actresses who identified herself as Cindy Lee Garcia of California,said she answered a casting call last year to appear in a movie titled Desert Warrior.But somewhere along the way,it was changed to Innocence of Muslims,apparently to beguile Muslims into seeing it,and offensive references to the Prophet were overlaid on the soundtrack.

The killing of the US ambassador to Libya has underscored the adverse repercussions for Washington from its policy on the Middle East.The American resolve to achieve regime change in Tripoli last year,glossed over crucial issues of the post-Gaddafi period,including the rise of militant Islam,the widening gap between Benghazi and Tripoli and growing tribal cleavages.These are factors which now haunt the US.

Likewise,the leading role the US is playing to try and topple the Assad administration in Syria carries serious risks for Washington.The longer the civil war drags out in Syria,the greater is the influence of the Islamists vis-vis the secularists within the countrys opposition.This is not of immediate concern to the US,but could become a source of worry in the future.This is not unlike the help the US extended to the Mujahideen to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.In time,however,this rebounded on the US in the form of the Taliban and al Qaida.

The USs stand towards the newly installed Islamist administrations in Egypt and Tunisia is also beset with challenges.Not adequately supporting these governments runs the risk of encouraging the more radical Salafist forces which are strong in these nations and lending the US open to the criticism that it would rather back undemocratic governments which toe its line.On the other hand,helping these governments could boost similar grassroots movements in other Arab countries with the consequent undermining of Washingtons interests.

Khartoum: Anti-US protests by crowds whipped into fury by a film that mocks Islam erupted across the Muslim world on Friday,as violence exploded in Sudan,Lebanon,Tunisia and Yemen leaving three dead and dozens hurt.

The protests broke out when Muslims emerged from mosques following the weekly Friday main prayers to voice their anger at the film made in the US,which ridicules the Prophet Muhammed and belittles the religion he founded.

In Khartoum,Sudan,guards on the roof of the US embassy fired warning shots as a security perimeter was breached by dozens of Islamic flag-waving protesters,part of a crowd of thousands who had earlier stormed the British embassy and set fire to the German mission.

Violence also erupted in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli,where a crowd of 300 Islamists attacked and set fire to a KFC restaurant,sparking clashes with police in which one person died and 25 were injured,sources said.

In Tunisia,furious protesters broke through into the compound of the US embassy in the capital.The announcement of Pentagon sending marines to Yemen came as tension spiralled again in Yemens capital Sanaa,with security forces firing warning shots and water cannon to disperse protesters trying to reach US embassy.
In Cairo protesters again clashed with police outside the US embassy.In Iran,thousands of people yelling Death to America and Death to Israel rallied in central Tehran.Protests have spread across to Bangladesh,Indonesia,Malaysia,Pakistan,Iraq,Israel and the Gaza Strip,Morocco,Syria,Kuwait,Nigeria and Kenya.

In Kabul,hundreds of Afghan protesters took to the streets,setting fire to an effigy of US President Barack Obama.In Pakistan,hundreds of members of hardline groups like JuD joined protests calling for severe punishment for the films makers and demanding the expulsion of US diplomats.AGENCIES[

US to send Marines to beef up security of missions in Mid-East
Washington, Sep 15, 2012, (PTI)

As the fury over an anti-Islam video mounted in the Muslim world, the US today told the nations across the globe that it was their responsibility to ensure security of its diplomatic personnel and facilities as it repositioned military forces to respond to the unrest.

Blaming the tide of anti-American and anti-Western protests sweeping the Middle East, North Africa and South and East Asia on the inflammatory video, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the Obama administration anticipates that the protests "would continue for some time".

Concerned over protesters having breached security perimetre around some of its missions, Carney said the US has asked the governments of the region to deploy enough resources to protect the diplomatic personnel and facilities.

Washington is now asking some of the countries where widespread riots have been witnessed in last three days to ensure that buffer zones, fences, walls, access control, screening doors and other security measures are not breached, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

She said that the governments maintain at all cost the "hard line" of security that we have erected and inside we will protect our missions in a variety of ways.

Nuland said: "under the Vienna Convention, the primary responsibility for the protection of US diplomatic personnel and facilities abroad rests with the government of those countries."

The comments on maintaining security rings around its missions by top US officials came as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said US is repositioning military forces in as many as 17 to 18 places in the Muslim world to better respond to the unrest.

"We have to be prepared in the event that these demonstrations get out of control," Panetta told the Foreign Policy magazine.

Though Panetta did not elaborate, officials said Washington was considering sending more specially-trained Marines to the worst affected US embassy in Sudan.

If approved, this deployment would follow the ramped Marine deployment in Libya and Yemen.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama vowed to bring to justice those who were responsible for the killing of four Americans including the US Ambassador to Libya in a violent attack on its mission in Benghazi this week.

"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten. We will bring to justice those who took them from us. We will stand fast against the violence on our diplomatic missions," he said at the Transfer of Remains Ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, where the bodies of the four Americans were brought from Libya.

"We will continue to do everything in our power to protect Americans serving overseas, whether that means increasing security at our diplomatic posts, working with host countries, which have an obligation to provide security, and making it clear that justice will come to those who harm Americans," Obama said in his remarks at the ceremony where he was joined by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.

"I know that this awful loss, the terrible images of recent days, the pictures we're seeing again today, have caused some to question this work. And there is no doubt these are difficult days. In moments such as this -- so much anger and violence -- even the most hopeful among us must wonder.

"But amid all of the images of this week, I also think of the Libyans who took to the streets with homemade signs expressing their gratitude to an American who believed in what we could achieve together. I think of the man in Benghazi with his sign in English, a message he wanted all of us to hear that said, 'Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans. Chris Stevens was a friend'. That's the message these four patriots sent," he added.

"America is a friend and we care not just about our own country, not just about our own interests, but about theirs; that even as voices of suspicion and mistrust seek to divide countries and cultures from one another, the United States of America will never retreat from the world," Obama said.

In her remarks, Clinton said such a senseless act of violence is totally unacceptable.

"The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob. Reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts. And we will, under the President’s leadership, keep taking steps to protect our personnel around the world," she said.

"We've seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We've seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with. It is hard for the American people to make sense of that because it is senseless, and it is totally unacceptable," Clinton said, noting that there would be more difficult days ahead

US on high alert after Qaida threat

Asks Mission Staff To Exit Tunisia,Sudan Over Anti-Film Attacks

Dubai: Washington ordered all non-essential staff to leave Tunisia and Sudan after its embassies were stormed by Muslims protesting an anti-Islam movie and as al-Qaida called for more attacks on American targets.

US has already deployed counter-terrorism marine units to Libya and Yemen and stationed two destroyers off the North African coast.

But Sudanese foreign minister,Ali Karti,on Saturday flatly rejected a US request to send special forces to protect the Khartoum embassy,the official SUNA news
agency said,quoting his office.

Hours later,US officials announced Washington would evacuate all non-essential staff and family members from Sudan and Tunisia and warned US citizens against travel to the two countries.

In cities across the Muslim world protesters have vented their fury at the Innocence of Muslims an amateur film produced in the United States by targeting symbols of US influence ranging from embassies and schools to fast food chains.

Protests erupted again on Sunday,with hundreds of students pouring into the streets of Kabul shouting anti-US slogans,while the Bangladesh government
condemned the film as reprehensible.

With Muslim anger boiling,the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Saturday issued a call for more violence against US diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa,and urged attacks on US interests in the West,the SITE Intelligence Group said.

The US ambassador to Libya,Chris Stevens,and three other Americans were killed late on Tuesday when suspected Islamic militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the US consulate in Benghazi.
AQAPdid not claim