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Libya Now Claims that US had 72 Hours Advance Notice of Attack; So Much for Obama’s YouTube Excuse

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American diplomats were warned of possible violent unrest in Benghazi three days before the killings of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three members of his team, Libyan security officials say.

The claim came as the country’s interim President, Mohammed el-Megarif, said his government had information that the attack on the US consulate had been planned by an Islamist group with links to al-Qa’ida and with foreigners taking part.

However, the American ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, insisted that the killings had resulted from a demonstration against a film about the Prophet Mohamed, replicating protests in Cairo, which had been “hijacked” and got out of control.

The Independent has reported diplomatic sources who said that the threat of an attack against US interests in the region was known to the US administration 48 hours before it took place. The alert was issued by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, but not made public. A State Department spokesman maintained: “We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the US Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”

But President Megarif told the American station National Public Radio: “We firmly believe that this was a pre-calculated, pre-planned attack that was carried out specifically to attack the US Consulate. A few of those who joined in were foreigners who had entered Libya from different directions, some of them definitely from Mali and Algeria.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Amateur Footage Shows Libyans Dragging Ambassador From Consulate

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Posted within the last 24 hours, Amateur footage from the US consulate in Benghazi shows Libyans pulling Ambassador Stevens from the building.

Although a number of outlets are asserting that Stevens was already dead, perhaps in an effort to undercut reports that he was sexually assaulted before death, the New York Times offers the following partial transcript of the Arabic speakers in the above video:

“Bring him out, man! Bring him out,” another says.

“The man is alive. Move out of the way,” others shout. “Just bring him out, man.”

“Move, move, he is still alive!”

“Alive, Alive! God is great,” the crowd erupts, while someone calls to bring Mr. Stevens to a car.

But another observer believes that the ambassador was already dead.

The Multiple Personalities of the Muslim Rage

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Photo credit: derek7272

At the height of the latest Islamic rage, one of the Muslim world’s first media-celebrity imams told worshippers they were indeed witnessing a clash of civilizations. But just not the kind you think.

This one also is within Islam, and it helps explain the multiple personalities of the fury.

It’s political: The uncompromising ethos of extremism clawing for any gains against more moderate voices. It’s social: Fed by an explosive blend of economic stagnation, anger over U.S.-led wars and — in some places — frustrations as the soaring hopes of the Arab Spring hit the grinding realities of rebuilding.

And it cuts deeply into questions that have added resonance in a hyper-connected world that moves at the quicksilver pace of the web: How to coexist with the free-speech openness of the West and whether violence is ever a valid response.

“Our manner of protesting should reflect sense and reason,” urged Egyptian-born cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi in his Friday sermon in Qatar’s capital Doha, where he has found a worldwide audience through the web and a show on the pan-Arab network Al-Jazeera.

Read more from this story HERE.

Diplomat Killed in Libya Told Fellow Gamers: Hope I ‘Don’t Die Tonight’

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On Tuesday, Sean Smith, a Foreign Service Information Management Officer assigned to the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, typed a message to the director of his online gaming guild: ”Assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.” The consulate was under siege, and within hours, a mob would attack, killing Smith along with three others, including the U.S. ambassador.

In his professional and personal life, Smith was a husband and father of two, an Air Force veteran, and a 10-year veteran of the Foreign Service who had served in Baghdad, Pretoria, Montreal and The Hague. But when gaming with EVE Online guild Goonswarm, he was a popular figure known as “Vile Rat,” and alternately as “Vilerat” while volunteering as a moderator at the internet community Something Awful. Smith’s death was confirmed on Wednesday morning by the State Department and reported widely in the news media. But the first people to report Smith’s death were his friends. Their reaction was shock and mourning.

“My people, I have greivous [sic] news. Vile Rat has been confirmed to be KIA in Benghazi; his family has been informed and the news is likely to break out on the wire services soon,” wrote Goonswarm director Alex Gianturco in a message mirrored to Something Awful at 11:21 EST. “Needless to say, we are in shock, have no words, and have nothing but sympathy for his family and children. I have known Vile Rat since 2006, he was one of the oldest of old-guard goons and one of the best and most effective diplomats this game has ever seen.”

According to his friends, Smith had emerged as a key leader for the community, and was known as a senior guild diplomat who helped engineer the destruction of Goonswarm’s chief rival, the Band of Brothers. He let his guildmates design his tattoo. On Wednesday, Gianturco posted an obituary for his friend of more than six years. “He was on jabber when it happened, that’s the most fucked up thing,” Gianturco wrote. “In Baghdad the same kind of thing happened – incoming sirens, he’d vanish, we’d freak out and he’d come back ok after a bit. This time he said ‘FUCK’ and ‘GUNFIRE’ and then disconnected and never returned.”

Next, media reports began circulating that the consulate in Benghazi, and the U.S. embassy in Egypt, had come under attack. Gianturco, known in the EVE Online community as The Mittani, “freaked out.” Gianturco wrote that he was “in shock” and felt dead inside.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Obama Had 48 Hours Warning of Libyan Attack & No Marines Were Sent

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In this video, Dick Morris asserts that Obama had 48 hours notice of the Libyan attack, likely planned in retaliation for the death of an Al Qaeda operative, and did nothing.

Morris’ source is a British paper citing senior diplomatic sources.

Lebanon News: US Ambassador Was Raped Before He Was Killed

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[Publisher’s Note: Lebanon News apparently misattributed the rape report to AFP. The Libyan Free Press also reported the rape, but its post is no longer available. The Examiner has recently published two related stories, “Did Hillary Clinton send a gay ambassador to Libya as intentional provocation?” and “Rep. Gohmert nauseated upon hearing reports of what they did to Ambassador Stevens.” Both provide additional information on the ambassador’s death.

Some reports are suggesting that the ambassador died of smoke inhalation in a safe room prior to his capture. However, if you look at the Ambassador’s picture HERE, it appears that the Ambassador could still be alive. Note his left hand being held, without assistance, near his head. His condition in this photo suggests that he has been abused.

Until the autopsy by US authorities is complete (and assuming it’s not scrubbed for political purposes), we may not know with any level of certainty what happened to the ambassador before his murder. Read about this HERE. What follows is the story we originally posted on the ambassador’s murder.]

This report just broke from an Arabic site called “Lebanon News.” The Arabic Lebanon News (Tayyar.org) is the number one Lebanese online news site (ranked number eight of all sites in the nation) and has significant coverage throughout the Arab world.

What follows is the rough Google Translation of the site’s report on the Ambassador’s gruesome murder:

Sources AFP that “the U.S. ambassador to Libya was raped sexually before killing by gunmen who stormed the embassy building in Benghazi last night to protest against the film is offensive to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),” The sources said that “Ambassador was killed and representation of his body in a manner similar to what happened with Gaddafi, such as murder. ” has reported: kill the U.S. ambassador in Libya Christopher Stevens and three Americans in an attack on Tuesday evening 09/11/2012 the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, also announced Wednesday a senior official at the Interior Ministry Libyan told AFP.

The deputy interior minister and Nice Sharef “kill the ambassador and three other staff members,” said Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Hakor killed the U.S. ambassador in its note on his Twitter page.

For his part, President of the Supreme Security Committee in Benghazi Fawzi and Nice that the U.S. ambassador was at the consulate when the attack occurred.

The demonstrators attacked by gunmen on Tuesday evening consulate and fired upon shells by security sources Libyan reported in a first stage for the fall of American lives and wounded during the attack. and condemned U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday 09/12/2012 strongly “attack infamous” that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three Americans others in the U.S. consulate in the city of Benghazi and ordered to tighten security at diplomatic missions around the world.

Obama said in a statement after the murder of the U.S. ambassador and three employees in a rocket attack on their vehicle in Benghazi “I have asked my department to provide all the necessary resources to ensure our employees in Libya and tighten security at diplomatic missions around the world.”

Here is a related story regarding the Koran-burning pastor from Florida and the phone call he received from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff several days ago concerning the video trailer that allegedly sparked the Egyptian and Libyan violence.

Palin: Obama Needs to Grow a “Big Stick” & Respond to Libyan, Egypt Embassy Attacks

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On her Facebook page, Sarah Palin slams Obama’s failure to properly respond to the outrageous attacks on the US embassies in Libya and Egypt:

Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks ever perpetrated on America, our embassy in Cairo and our consulate in Benghazi were attacked by violent Islamic mobs. In Cairo, they scaled the walls of our embassy, destroyed our flag, and replaced it with a black Islamic banner. In Benghazi, the armed gunmen set fire to our consulate and killed an American staff member. The Islamic radicals claim that these attacks are in protest to some film criticizing Islam. In response to this, the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a statement that was so outrageous many of us thought it must be a satire. The embassy actually apologized to the violent mob attacking us, and it even went so far as to chastise those who use free speech to “hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” (Funny, the current administration has no problem hurting the “religious feelings” of Catholics.)

But where is the president’s statement about this? These countries represent his much touted “Arab Spring.” How’s that Arab Spring working out for us now? Have we received an apology yet from our “friends” in the Muslim Brotherhood for the assault on our embassy?

It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. I realize there must be a lot on his mind these days – what with our economy’s abysmal jobless numbers and Moody’s new warning about yet another downgrade to our nation’s credit rating due to the current administration’s failure to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. And, of course, he has a busy schedule – with all those rounds of golf, softball interviews with the “Pimp with the Limp,” and fundraising dinners with his corporate cronies. But our nation’s security should be of utmost importance to our Commander-in-chief. America can’t afford any more “leading from behind” in such a dangerous world. We already know that President Obama likes to “speak softly” to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a “big stick” to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one.

Muslim Brotherhood at Work: US Ambassador to Libya Killed Over Movie

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The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other American staff members were killed Tuesday in an attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, the White House confirmed. President Obama, in a written statement issued Wednesday morning, called the attack “outrageous” and “senseless.”

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed Tuesday night when he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff. The protesters, angry over a film that ridiculed Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, were firing gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades.

“I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens,” President Obama said in a statement Wednesday morning. “Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.”

Obama said he’s directed the administration to provide “all necessary resources” to support security for U.S. personnel in Libya and to increase security at diplomatic offices around the world.

“While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Now we’re Al-Qaeda’s allies?! Obama’s foreign policy idiocy continues

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This video is worth watching as the local Fox News commentator clearly isn’t spewing the typical “Obama talking points.” Instead, he questions, “Who exactly is the US supporting in Syria?”

 

Photo credit: fotosinteresantes

Golfing While the Constitution Burns

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When Barack Obama and John Boehner played golf this weekend, they played on the same team. How appropriate.

Barack Obama has violated the Constitution’s war-making power – reserved by Article I, Section 8, to Congress – from the moment he sent American troops into harm’s way without Congressional approval. He has been violating the War Powers Resolution since at least the 60th day of that campaign. And he has violated the most liberal reading of that act – the one Boehner has adopted as his own – since this weekend. Yet despite the letter Boehner authored last week, which the media presented as an “ultimatum,” Obama has neither obtained Congressional authorization nor removed our troops. Boehner’s letter weakly supplicated “I sincerely hope the Administration will faithfully comply with the War Powers Resolution,” but at least it seemed to set this weekend as a definitive cut-off point.

The “deadline” has come and gone, and Obama has not answered the most burning questions of the mission’s legality to anyone’s satisfaction. Instead, the president has thumbed his nose at Congress in general, Boehner in particular, and the American people at large, and the Speaker-cum-caddy has made no meaningful response whatsoever.

Obama insists the American role in Libya is too diminutive to constitute “hostilities,” so his action is perfectly legal. White House spokesman Jay Carney repeated his boss’s party line at Monday’s press conference, stating, “the War Powers Resolution does not need to be involved because the ‘hostilities’ clause of that resolution is not met.” However, soldiers in Libya are receiving an additional $25 a month in “imminent danger pay.” American drones still rain missiles down upon military targets. NATO is alternately bombing Muammar Qaddafi’s home and killing the innocent Libyan civilians they are purportedly protecting. (We had to kill the civilians in order to save them?) NATO admitted (at least) one of its bombs went off target on Sunday, killing nine civilians in Tripoli, while allied bombs allegedly killed 15 civilians in Sorman on Monday.

Not to worry, though; Defense Secretary Robert Gates said over the weekend, in a confidence-builder worthy of Churchill, “I think this is going to end OK.” Gates, who once opposed the Libyan adventure, has pulled a 180 on the matter.

Read More at Floyd Reports by Ben Johnson, the White House Watch