David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times reported that 20-year-old neighbor Mohamed Bishari witnessed the attack. According to Bishari, it was launched without warning or protest and was led by the Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia (different from the group called Ansar al-Sharia based in Yemen designated by the U.N. and the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization[123]). Kirkpatrick reported that Ansar al-Sharia said they were launching the assault in retaliation for the release of the anti-Islamic video, Innocence of Muslims.[124][125] It was further reported that Ahmed Abu Khattala was called a ringleader of the attack by both witnesses and authorities, though he insisted he did not play a part in the aggression at the American compound. Witnesses, Benghazi residents, and Western news reports have described him as a leader of Ansar al-Sharia, though he stated he was close to the group but not an official part of it. He further stated he was the commander of an Islamist brigade, Abu Obaida ibn al-Jarrah, some of whose members had joined Ansar al-Sharia.
[126]
The imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades, a pro-al-Qaeda militia calling for the release of
The Blind Sheik, was implicated in the attack by
Noman Benotman of the
Quilliam Foundation.
[1][127][128] CNN,
[1] the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
[129] Commentary Magazine[128] and
The Daily Telegraph[127] have listed this group as a chief suspect. USA Today reported that protests in Cairo which preceded the attack on Benghazi were intended to protest the imprisonment of Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman and announced as early as August 30.
[130][131] Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi had called for release of the Blind Sheikh in his inaugural address.
[131]
In the days and weeks following the attack, President Obama and other administration officials noted that the video had sparked
violent incidents at a number of U.S. diplomatic facilities and stated it was also a prime catalyst for the Benghazi attack. Two days after the attack, CNN reporter Sarah Aarthun quoted an anonymous senior U.S. administration official:
"It was not an innocent mob. The video or 9/11 made a handy excuse and could be fortuitous from their perspective but this was a clearly planned military-type attack."[132] In his September 18 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman,
President Obama said that "extremists and terrorists used (the anti-Muslim YouTube video) as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies."[133] In his Univision Town Hall appearance on September 20, President Obama said that the
"natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests."[134] 2012 Benghazi attack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
