According to an article published on Fox News, reports have surfaced that claim the attacks on the US mission, that killed 4 Americans including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, were not spontaneous and may have been preplanned . The Libyan government stated that there were no protests taking place outside the American consulate in Benzaghi before the fatal attacks took place. A week prior to this article, a Libyan security guard who was an eye witness of the attacks claimed that there was absolute silence outside the consulate just before the attacks.
The Obama administration has always maintained that the attacks were the result of a protest gone awry and wrote off these fresh reports as based on inaccurate data. At the same time, officials acknowledged that a protest that took place earlier in the day was very small and ‘no significant or sizeable’ protest was underway at the time of the attack. The Libyan premier, however, insisted on CBS News’ Face the Nation that the attacks which, took place on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terror strike, were definitely preplanned . This statement was again refuted by U.N. Ambassador, Susan Rice.
Despite living in an era where technology has taken communication to an unprecedented level of transparency, the acquisition and sharing of accurate and reliable information in politically ‘sticky’ situations still seems to be a challenge. Despite US claims of having accurate information and intelligence networks, there is always an element of doubt hovering around situations where terrorist involvement is suspected. It seems strange that US officials would question the accuracy of data with the Libyan president, of an incident that took place in Libya. Finally, officials changing their claims and statements as reports surface does not do much in building trust among the citizens of a country.
Works Cited
CBSNews. Face the Nation: Transcripts, September 16, 2012: Libyan Pres. Magariaf, Amb. Rice and Sen. McCain. 16 September 2012. 28 November 2012
Herridge, C., J. Rosen and P. Browne. "No demonstration before attack on US Consulate, source says." 17 September 2012. Foxnews. 20 November 2012
