Photos of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens Dragged Through the Streets- Fiction!
Embassy Attack Was an Act Of Terrorism – Truth!
Senate Report Singled Out State Department for Failing to Bolster Security- Truth!
Summary of the eRumor:
Two photographs taken of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens during the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate Outpost in Benghazi, Libya are circulating in forwarded emails.
They allege that Ambassador Stevens was dragged through the streets in a preplanned attack while the Obama Administration has called it a protest over an Anti-Muslim video.
The Truth:
The photos are real and were taken on September 11, 2012 from a video after Ambassador Stevens was found in the wreckage of the sacked Benghazi Outpost. The photos and video have been misinterpreted into something other than what they documented, a rescue.
According to a September 18, 2012 article by the Associated Press, “Libyans tried to rescue Ambassador Chris Stevens, cheering ‘God is great’ and rushing him to a hospital after they discovered him still clinging to life inside the U.S. Consulate, according to witnesses and a new video that emerged Monday from last week’s attack in the city of Benghazi.”
Eleven years after the terrorist attack of the World Trade Center in New York, there was an attack on the U.S. Consulate Outpost in Benghazi, Libya where U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens along with three members of his U.S. embassy staff were killed. Shortly after that violence erupted around the world at the sites of various U.S. Embassies.
Senate Hearing Report Released January 15, 2014
On January 15, 2014 the official report from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearings was released.
Click here for the report.
Analysis of the Senate report by the New York Times said in a January 15, 2014 article that the September 11, 2012 attack “that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, could have been prevented, singling out the State Department for criticism for its failure to bolster security in response to intelligence warnings about a growing security crisis around the city.” Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State during the incident.
Was this a Preplanned Attack or a Protest of an Anti-Muslim Video on YouTube?
At first, there were questions asking if this was a preplanned act of terrorism or a protest to an anti-Muslim video on the Internet. President Obama issued a statement about the deaths of Stevens and members of his staff and told the American public that an increase in security measures would be taken to protect U.S. Embassies and members serving in the U.S. diplomatic corps. Three days later Press Secretary Jay Carney, a briefing to reporters, denied any act of planned terrorism saying that the protests were in reaction to an anti-Muslim video.
Press Secretary Carney at White House Briefing on YouTube
A poorly produced video called Muhammad Movie Trailer that depicted the life of founder of Islam was posted last July on the popular video sharing website, YouTube.com,. We found other samples of the same video titled Innocence of Muslims. It portrayed the Islamic prophet in a satirical sense focusing on his sexual promiscuity and violent past. The video also showed the persecutions Jews by Muhammad as was as persecution of Christians in modern times. With all the negative videos and commentaries on the World Wide Web about Islam, could a fourteen minute video actually spark Muslims to react violently at U.S. Embassies around the world?
Reports conflicting to the White House press statement allege that the attack was a strategically planned operation by Al Qaeda who called for the killing of American diplomats and used the protest of the video as a cover for their mission.
In a September 16, 2016 article by Fox News, Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif told NPR in an interview that his country had been infiltrated by foreigners over the past few months and said, “We firmly believe that this was a precalculated, preplanned attack that was carried out specifically to attack the U.S. Consulate.”
In a September 19, 2012 article Fox News reported that Intelligence sources told them that the the news network that they were convinced that the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate Outpost in Benghazi, Libya, was directly tied to Al Qaeda and was led by a former Guantanamo detainee. The article also said, “in the face of these conflicting accounts, Carney on Tuesday deferred to the ongoing investigation and opened the door to the possibility of other explanations.”
It took just over a week after the incident for the White House to finally admit that Americans and been attacked by terrorists.
In a September 20, 2012 article Fox News reported that the White House “conceded Thursday that it was ‘self evident’ that it was an act of terror — an admission that took eight days for any administration official to make.” Press Secretary Carney told reporters, “”It is, I think, self evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Our embassy was attacked violently and the result was four deaths of American officials. That is self evident.” The White House announcement came after National Counterterrorism Center Director Matt Olsen confirmed the act of terrorism during a Senate hearing on September 19th saying, “Yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy.”
Posted 09/12/12
Updated 01/17/14