Did Al Qaeda Trick Their Way In To the U.S. Consulate In Libya?

There are reports that the gates to the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya were literally opened by U.S. and Libyan security people and that is how the assassins got in.

From the report at The Telegraph:

The militiamen who attacked the Libyan consulate in Benghazi may have tricked their way in behind unarmed protestors demanding to deliver a letter complaining about a US-made film mocking Islam, according to a senior Libyan official.

Sources on the ground told the official that security guards opened the gate to petitioners during the demonstration on Tuesday evening and were then overwhelmed by dozens of combatants.

Separately, a Libyan deputy interior minister said that the attackers may have had inside help from members of the Libyan security forces working on the site.

I find it believe that American military personnel would freely open that gate to anyone considering the growing crowd of protesters but then again, I'm not sure who all was at that gate handling security - chances are that some Libyans were there to translate and may have even opened the gate.

Either way, we are now seeing how the plan unfolded.

Militiamen in Benghazi attack 'may have tricked their way inside'


Sources on the ground told the official that security guards opened the gate to petitioners during the demonstration on Tuesday evening and were then overwhelmed by dozens of combatants.

Separately, a Libyan deputy interior minister said that the attackers may have had inside help from members of the Libyan security forces working on the site.

Wanis el-Sharef said that the heavily armed militants used the protest against the obscure internet feature as "cover" for what was a carefully planned, large scale attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens.

The attackers raided a safe house in the compound just as US and Libyan security arrived to evacuate staff in the middle of a gun battle, suggesting they may have possessed information about its location.

The senior official concurred with other accounts that the demonstrators and armed attackers formed a crowd of 200 or more people.

"There were people who said we have a letter to deliver to the ambassador and got in like that. As far as I understand they were part of the plan. I have heard that's how they got in," he said.

"I am not saying the Americans were responsible, but did they take the necessary measures or calculate properly what was happening? Because we have seen many, many signs that something was going to happen in Benghazi," he added, referring to several attacks on Western targets by Islamist groups in Libya's second city earlier in the summer.

The official, who had worked closely with Mr Stevens and regarded him as a friend, said: "Chris was too optimistic".

He admitted that the Libyans and Americans could have worked together to strengthen security after the previous incidents. The consulate was an "interim facility" with no bullet proof glass or reinforced doors.

He however denied reports that US officials in Libya had received intelligence of an assault 48 hours earlier. The White House said it had no "actionable intelligence" before the assault. Mr Obama was last night due to receive the bodies of the four Americans killed.

The official said he had spoken to a Libyan who was with Mr Stevens an hour and a half hour before the attack. Neither of them had "any fear or a feeling something was going to happen", he said.

Every account of what happened after the protest commenced portrays a terrifying our-hour saga.

While some assailants stormed the main gates, one witness said that others jumped over the compound's long breeze-block wall.

By some accounts, the first shots were fired from inside the compound, provoking retaliation from outside.

Libyan security officers guarding the site pulled back because they were so out-manned, some people said. Between 10 and 15 Libyan guards are believed to have been killed later during the assault.

The attack left behind a scene of devastation. The main building was gutted, with chandeliers fallen on to a blackened floor covered in plaster and debris. Other rooms were ransacked, prompting fears that documents containing the names of Libyans who are working for the Americans, as well as information on oil contracts, could have been lost. One witness said that bloodstains left on a pillar belonged to an American employee who had been clinging on while he waited to be evacuated.

With Libyan officials vowing to catch the perpetrators, Mr Sharef announced that four arrests had been made and that the hunt would continue.

Airspace was closed over Benghazi for ten hours from late on Thursday evening, amid reports that a contingent of US marines was due to arrive to guard the property.

The senior Libyan official insisted that the culprit for the attack was Ansar al-Sharia, one of numerous Islamist groups that have prospered following the collapse of the Col Muammar Gaddafi regime.

"These people are saying they are not responsible but it is not true," he said. "There might have some elements from other groups, or they might have used some ordinary protestors, but it was well planned and their members were there."

He agreed with analysts who said the attack was planned to coincide with the eleventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and was probably designed to avenge the killing by a US drone of Abu Yahya al-Libi, the Libyan second-in-command of al-Qaeda.

Mr Stevens, 52, was asphyxiated by smoke from a fire lit by the raiders along with Sean Smith, 34, an information management officer.

The two other deceased Americans have been identified as Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, former navy SEALs working for a private security contractor.