Benghazi failure caused Algeria hostage crisis and more to come

[American_Jihad]

Algeria hostage crisis: Blood in the sand as al-Qaeda seeks a desert lair from which to strike

Bin Laden: Knew a secure base was vital. Picture: AP​

By CHRIS STEPHEN
Published on Friday 18 January 2013

...

Then in September in Benghazi, to the east, they captured the US consulate, killing the ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three officials.

Put together, this is asymmetric warfare at its most challenging. Violence spread across many states, but with a single objective.

The Obama administration has faced criticism for failing to capture those who killed the ambassador, the first to be killed since 1979. But behind the scenes, Washington has been in action: suspects of the Benghazi attack have been targeted in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey, while intelligence has been provided to the French in Mali.

...

Algeria hostage crisis: Blood in the sand as al-Qaeda seeks a desert lair from which to strike - UK - Scotsman.com


Qatar intervening in northern Mali?
Mehdi Lazar 19 December 2012
...
The situation in Mali illustrates how the problematic situation in the Sahel arouses considerable concern because of the weakness of states in the region and the presence of AQIM and other jihadist fighters. In addition, the war in Libya in 2011 has worsened the situation, as evidenced by the recent assassination of the US ambassador in Benghazi, Christopher Stevens. In Mali, the fragmentation of the state is not only due to intrinsic factors (Tuareg rebellion, structural weakness of the state, democratic façade, poor development) but also the direct consequence of a poorly controlled Libyan crisis.
...
Qatar intervening in northern Mali? | openDemocracy


The Arab Spring Descends into Islamist Winter: Implications for U.S. Policy
By James Phillips
December 20, 2012
...
The erosion of state authority has severely undermined border controls in many regions, allowing Islamic militant groups to move men, arms, and money across increasingly porous borders in failed or failing states. Libyan arms seized from the Qadhafi regime’s huge stockpiles have bolstered Islamist insurgents and terrorists in Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Tunisia. Some have turned up in Gaza in the hands of Hamas and other Islamist extremists fighting Israel.
...
The September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi underscored the extent to which Islamist extremists have grown stronger, particularly in eastern Libya, a longtime bastion of Islamic fervor. The radical Islamist group that launched the attack, Ansar al-Sharia, has links to AQIM and shares its violent ideology. Ansar al-Sharia and scores of other Islamist militias have flourished in post-Qadhafi Libya because the weak central government has been unable to tame fractious militias, curb tribal clashes, or dampen rising tensions between Arabs and Berbers in the west and between Arabs and the African Toubou tribe in the south. As one Libyan lawyer put it: “We have a government that exists only on paper.”
...
Arab Spring into Islamist Winter: Implications for U.S. Policy

 

[jwoodie]

I don't know that the Benghazi fiasco "caused" the Algerian situation, but it may have provided a blueprint for these types of attacks. The bigger issue is that it revealed the utter failure of our Muslim pacification policy (which was deliberately concealed from the American people prior to the election). It is now time to take off the rose colored glasses and realize that we are in a war with the terrorists.

 

[American_Jihad]

US Claims Link Between Benghazi Attack and Mali ‘Powder Keg’

Sees Result of Last Year's Intervention as Excuse for More Interventions


by Jason Ditz
October 01, 2012
...

Indeed, lost in all of this is that the Mali situation, with the northern half of Azawad now under the control of Ansar Dine, is itself a direct result of the 2011 US attack on Libya in the first place. The US attacks left massive weapons caches in Tripoli unguarded, looted by Tuareg mercenaries fighting in Libya. The Tuaregs returned to Mali to launch a secessionist war in Azawad, which eventually left Ansar Dine in charge.

...

US Claims Link Between Benghazi Attack and Mali ?Powder Keg? -- News from Antiwar.com

 

[RoadVirus]

Obama has made us look weak with his lack of doing anything to capture those responsible for the Benghazi attack. The administration's flip-flopping on the timeline of that day didn't help either. And then there's treating it like it was a normal crime scene by sending the FBI and not the CIA or the military.

 

[jknowgood]

Yes, the bengazi fiasco has shown we have no leadership in this president, or we have a true muslim supporter. For days his administration blamed it on a video. Has he called it work place violence yet? Anyway after nothing happening the terrorist know they can attack us, with nothing being done about it.

 

[Missourian]

I tend to agree with this.

If we can't defend an Ambassador and a consulate, what can we defend.

 

[Mustang]

Then there's the alternate theory.

Obama's been decimating al Qaeda with drone strikes. And al Qaeda terrorists noticed that the attack on the Benghazi consulate ultimately led to Republicans turning on their own president and undermining his leadership. The terrorists figured that they could count on American conservatives to continue to turn on the leader of their own country which will ultimately help them in the process.

 

[Wicked Jester]

And now it's breaking that one of those hostages was killed.

 

[jwoodie]

Then there's the alternate theory.

Obama's been decimating al Qaeda with drone strikes. And al Qaeda terrorists noticed that the attack on the Benghazi consulate ultimately led to Republicans turning on their own president and undermining his leadership. The terrorists figured that they could count on American conservatives to continue to turn on the leader of their own country which will ultimately help them in the process.

Alternative theory from an alternative universe.

 

[Mustang]

Then there's the alternate theory.

Obama's been decimating al Qaeda with drone strikes. And al Qaeda terrorists noticed that the attack on the Benghazi consulate ultimately led to Republicans turning on their own president and undermining his leadership. The terrorists figured that they could count on American conservatives to continue to turn on the leader of their own country which will ultimately help them in the process.

Alternative theory from an alternative universe.

Because conservatives won't try to undermine President Obama's leadership?

 

[Truthmatters]

The people who did it SAID it was in retaliation for the French in Mali you fucking fools

 

[Missourian]

Then there's the alternate theory.

Obama's been decimating al Qaeda with drone strikes. And al Qaeda terrorists noticed that the attack on the Benghazi consulate ultimately led to Republicans turning on their own president and undermining his leadership. The terrorists figured that they could count on American conservatives to continue to turn on the leader of their own country which will ultimately help them in the process.

Nice try, but the terrorist would have also noticed that the Conservatives turned on Obama for not protecting American lives when he had the opportunity to do so.

Not exactly the outcome terrorists are looking to promote.

 

[waltky]

Sahara standoff...

State Dept: Americans still hostage in Algeria
18 Jan.`13 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Friday it was trying to secure the release of Americans still being held by militants on the third day of a standoff at a natural gas complex in the Sahara, and pressed Algeria's government to ensure that hostages aren't sacrificed in a zealous attempt to free them.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she spoke by telephone with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal to get an update on Americans and others in danger at the sprawling Ain Amenas refinery 800 miles south of Algiers. She said the "utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life." Clinton spoke after the State Department confirmed that Americans were still being held hostage, even as some Americans were being flown out of the country for recovery in Europe. The Algerian state news agency reported that 12 hostages had been killed since Wednesday's start of an Algerian rescue operation, and world leaders steadily increased their criticism of the North African country's handling of the attack.

Clinton, however, defended Algeria's action. "Let's not forget: This is an act of terror," she told reporters in Washington. "The perpetrators are the terrorists. They are the ones who have assaulted this facility, have taken hostage Algerians and others from around the world as they were going about their daily business." Earlier Friday, Algeria's state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants were free. That number of hostages at the remote desert facility was significantly higher than any previous report, but questions remained about the fate of more than 30 other foreign energy workers.

BP evacuated one American, along with other foreign workers, to Mallorca, Spain, and then to London. And an American official said a U.S. military C-130 flew a group of people, including some lightly wounded or injured, from Algiers to a U.S. facility in Europe on Friday. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity. In London, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta met with British Prime Minister David Cameron at No. 10 Downing St. to assess their governments' understandings of the situation. At King's College, Panetta said the U.S. is "working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens" and that terrorists should be on notice they will find no sanctuary in Algeria or North Africa.

The White House said President Barack Obama was being briefed Friday by his national security team. His top aides were in touch with Algerian officials as well as BP's security office in London. BP jointly operates the natural gas plant. U.S. officials have refused to confirm the number of Americans still captive or unaccounted for because they say that might compromise their safety.

More State Dept: Americans still hostage in Algeria - Yahoo! News

See also:

Islamists want Algeria hostage swap, end to Mali ops
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 | Islamist hostage-takers at a remote Algerian gas field on Friday demanded a prisoner swap and an end to the French military campaign in Mali, a report said, as 30 foreigners were reported still missing in the worst international hostage drama for years.

Amid foreign criticism over the haste of an Algerian military assault on the remote desert site, the APS news agency said special forces had freed more than 670 hostages, among them 573 Algerians and around 100 foreigners. The army was still trying to free those foreigners still held by Al-Qaeda-linked militants across the complex deep in the Sahara near the Libyan border, APS said. It "is trying to reach a peaceful solution before neutralising the terrorist group that is holed up in the plant and freeing a group a group of hostages still being held there."

British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the In Amenas plant was a "large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages in other areas of the site." Some of those who escaped or spoke of their ordeals said they had had explosives wrapped around their necks. Others said they hid, petrified, under beds, in gaps above ceilings or wherever they could. The kidnappers said 34 captives were killed in the army assault, but an Algerian security source called that "fantasy," saying 18 of more than 30 Islamist gunmen were killed.

Cameron, who said he was "disappointed" not to have been told by the Algerians in advance, said "significantly" fewer than 30 British citizens remained at risk at the field, operated jointly by Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil and Sonatrach of Algeria. BP said a "small number" of its staff were unaccounted for on Friday, adding that it had evacuated hundreds of workers from the complex and other fields.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said in London US officials were "working around the clock" to secure the safe return of an unknown number of American hostages. "Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge. Not in Algeria, not in north Africa, not anywhere," he said. A senior US official said Washington "strongly encouraged" the Algerian authorities to make the hostages' safety their top priority.

MORE Islamists want Algeria hostage swap, end to Mali ops - Latest news around the world and developments close to home - MSN Philippines News

 

[jwoodie]

Then there's the alternate theory.

Obama's been decimating al Qaeda with drone strikes. And al Qaeda terrorists noticed that the attack on the Benghazi consulate ultimately led to Republicans turning on their own president and undermining his leadership. The terrorists figured that they could count on American conservatives to continue to turn on the leader of their own country which will ultimately help them in the process.

Alternative theory from an alternative universe.

Because conservatives won't try to undermine President Obama's leadership?

In case you have forgotten, Obama won the election and Benghazi is a non-issue to his supporters. How are conservatives undermining his foreign policy leadership?

 

[jknowgood]

Then there's the alternate theory.

Obama's been decimating al Qaeda with drone strikes. And al Qaeda terrorists noticed that the attack on the Benghazi consulate ultimately led to Republicans turning on their own president and undermining his leadership. The terrorists figured that they could count on American conservatives to continue to turn on the leader of their own country which will ultimately help them in the process.

Alternative theory from an alternative universe.

Because conservatives won't try to undermine President Obama's leadership?

No, actually he did it all himself, he hasn't showed leadership since he was first elected. I mean he blames anyone, but himself on anything that goes wrong.

 

[Sunni Man]

The people who did it SAID it was in retaliation for the French in Mali you fucking fools

For once TM is correct.

The Algerian hostage has zero to do with Benghazi, Obama, Republicans, or Democrats.

Both Algeria and Mali were French colonies and the people of these countries want France out of their nation's politics and business.

 

[lukelk]

hey, I have an idea, lets invade them, lets invade Iran as well, and while we are at it, lets attack North Korea. Republicans and cons in this country are VERY fucking slow.

 

[American_Jihad]

Direct line from Libya to Mali to hostages in Algeria: Opinion

By Jonathan Dobrer
01/18/2013

There is a straight line from Libya to Mali to having some Americans taken hostage in Algeria.

The law of unintended consequences is in full force. We wanted to protect Benghazi in Libya from being destroyed by Gaddafi. Our motives were pure and our hearts in the right place. Yet the people whom we supported in Benghazi have taken their weapons and training and become Jihadis, going first to Syria and now to Mali.

They have now crossed the desert border between Libya and Algeria, just north of Mali. They want to punish Algeria for allowing the French the use of their airspace to attack their fellow Islamist radicals in Mali.

...

Direct line from Libya to Mali to hostages in Algeria: Opinion - LA Daily News

 

[Oldguy]

Naturally, when the Nutter's can't successfully peddle the lie that Benghazi and Algeria are linked in one thread, why they just simply start another one with the same lie and drive on as if nothing has happened!

So...I guess I'll have to let the terrorists refute it again here in this thread:


No matter how much FOX and other Nutter media outlets try to link this to Benghazi, the terrorist's themselves say the attack was about Mali...not Libya.

"...The gunmen say the attack is in retaliation for Algeria's support for French airstrikes and for its tough line on jihadists, calling for the release of radical Islamists being held in neighbouring Mali.

"This operation is a strong political message to Algeria regarding its intransigent stances towards the jihadists, and a message to other neighbouring countries," one of the kidnappers, identified as Abu al-Baraa, told Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

"Our detainees for theirs," he said, adding that his group has "contacted our leadership in Mali."

"We demand the Algerian army pull out from the area to allow negotiations to begin," Abu al-Baraa told the Doha-based satellite channel, speaking with a strong Algerian accent..."


Reluctant Algeria dragged into Mali conflict - Region - World - Ahram Online


I can do this as many times as y'all can start another thread pitching the same FOX generated bullshit.

 

[Vel]

Then there's the alternate theory.

Obama's been decimating al Qaeda with drone strikes. And al Qaeda terrorists noticed that the attack on the Benghazi consulate ultimately led to Republicans turning on their own president and undermining his leadership. The terrorists figured that they could count on American conservatives to continue to turn on the leader of their own country which will ultimately help them in the process.

Alternative theory from an alternative universe.

Because conservatives won't try to undermine President Obama's leadership?

What leadership?