![mar-see-ah:
Arrests made in the killing of U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, Libya’s state-run news agency reports.
Breaking news from CNN, so take it with a grain of salt.
At least one of the arrests was cited from a direct quote by Libya’s Prime Minister, so it’s a little stronger than that:
[Updated at 3:28 p.m. ET] At least one person has been arrested in the killings of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Libya’s prime minister said Thursday.
One person was arrested early Thursday in Benghazi, Mustafa Abushagur said on CNNI’s “Amanpour.” “Three or four are currently being pursued,” he said.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maazqh1LMo1qzvrm1o1_500.png)
Breaking news from CNN, so take it with a grain of salt.
At least one of the arrests was cited from a direct quote by Libya’s Prime Minister, so it’s a little stronger than that:
[Updated at 3:28 p.m. ET] At least one person has been arrested in the killings of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Libya’s prime minister said Thursday.
One person was arrested early Thursday in Benghazi, Mustafa Abushagur said on CNNI’s “Amanpour.” “Three or four are currently being pursued,” he said.
In an effort to draw attention to the controversial YouTube video that has sparked major protests in the Middle East and may have led to the death of a U.S. ambassador, protesters have taken to a number of major news and celebrity Facebook pages to spam a variation of the above message — no matter on which post. The message here is from the Sky News page; other pages that have been hit include Reuters, The Washington Post, Barack Obama and Michael Phelps. The New York Times has more info on the controversial video that sparked these protests.
Meet Libya’s new Prime Minister: Mustafa Abu Shagour, picked on a close vote during a particularly difficult period for the country, is referred to as a technocrat that both sides see as a bit of a compromise candidate to run the country. A member of the National Front Party, a longtime anti-Gaddafi party, he worked directly under outgoing interim prime minister Abdurrahim El-Keib as his deputy. His appointment comes one day after a deadly attack that led to the death of a U.S. ambassador — leading the U.S. to vow retaliation. (photo via Al Arabiya)
America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: there is no justification for this. None. Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith.U.S. Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTON, remarking on the killings in Libya. (via inothernews)
The violence took a domestic political turn, in part thanks to a statement released early Tuesday by the staff of the Cairo embassy, which condemned the film and the “continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”
The Romney campaign’s statement seemed to be an attempt to capitalize on the appearance that the Obama administration — which has overseen the Arab Spring, and the rise of Islamist governments in both Egypt and Libya — was capitulating to the sensitivities of an unruly Muslim crowd, rather than backing the right of an American citizen to release a disrespectful film.
But the statement criticized by the Romney campaign came early in the day, before the attacks on the two embassies, and was put out not by the White House, but by the Cairo embassy itself.
The White House later disavowed the statement as not approved by Washington, according to a senior administration official speaking to Politico.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt also commented on the statement from the Romney campaign. “We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack,” LaBolt said in a statement. [more]
One has to wonder if Terry Jones will feel the smallest amount of regret over what his hate has wrought.
A poorly-timed attempt by Romney’s camp to find a leg up on the president during a tough campaign. Frustrating in more ways than one.
His influence over the grand game and the affairs of Nullsec cannot be overstated. If you were an alliance leader of any consequence, you spoke to Vile Rat. You knew him. You may have been a friend or an enemy or a pawn in a greater game, but he touched every aspect of EVE in ways that 99% of the population will never understand.EVE Online player The_Mittani • Regarding the death of State Department official Sean Smith, who was well-known to that community as the player Vile Rat. “Obviously, given the combined attacks in Egypt and in Libya, this was a coordinated act designed for maximum media exposure; rile up a mob, point them at an embassy or consulate on 9/11 in particular, aim for the press,” The_Mittani wrote. ”Many were injured in these pointless, reprehensible acts, and one of my closest friends was killed as a result.” A sad note that puts a real-life spin on a difficult situation — through virtual means. (ht Hacker News)
![breakingnews:
US Ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi consulate attack
Al Jazeera English: The US Ambassador to Libya and 3 other embassy staff have been killed during an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, following fierce clashes at the compound, Libyan security sources say.
An armed mob attacked and set fire to the building in a protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, after similar protests in Egypt’s capital.
Photo: Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens (US State Department)
Libyan deputy interior minister Wanis al-Sharif placed the blame on American shoulders: “They are to blame simply for not withdrawing their personnel from the premises, despite the fact that there was a similar incident when [al-Qaeda second-in-command and Libyan citizen] Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed. It was necessary that they take precauations. It was their fault that they did not take the necessary precautions,” he said. Stevens, who was visiting the city, died of smoke inhalation.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma8gmfyPWF1qj5rqko1_400.jpg)
US Ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi consulate attack
Al Jazeera English: The US Ambassador to Libya and 3 other embassy staff have been killed during an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, following fierce clashes at the compound, Libyan security sources say.
An armed mob attacked and set fire to the building in a protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, after similar protests in Egypt’s capital.
Photo: Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens (US State Department)
Libyan deputy interior minister Wanis al-Sharif placed the blame on American shoulders: “They are to blame simply for not withdrawing their personnel from the premises, despite the fact that there was a similar incident when [al-Qaeda second-in-command and Libyan citizen] Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed. It was necessary that they take precauations. It was their fault that they did not take the necessary precautions,” he said. Stevens, who was visiting the city, died of smoke inhalation.
BREAKING: Secretary of State Clinton confirms State Dept. officer killed in Benghazi
(Photo: Esam Omran Al-Fetori / Reuters)
Updated at 10:20 p.m. ET: A U.S. State Department officer was killed in Benghazi, Libya after armed protesters stormed the U.S. consulate there, furious about an amateur video allegedly produced in the U.S. that has been viewed as insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.
The State Department has a statement on their Tumblr page from Hillary Clinton. Excerpt: “This evening, I called Libyan President Magariaf to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya. President Magariaf expressed his condemnation and condolences and pledged his government’s full cooperation.”
Days after the Justice Department closed out its criminal investigation of the deaths of two detainees while in the custody of the C.I.A., new information has surfaced calling into question official accounts of the extent of waterboarding by American interrogators.
A new report by the nonprofit group Human Rights Watch, based on documents and interviews in Libya after the fall of its dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, includes a detailed description of what appears to be a previously unknown instance of waterboarding by the C.I.A. in Afghanistan nine years ago.
That claim clashes with repeated assertions by current and former agency officials that only three high-level terrorism suspects — none of them Libyans — were waterboarded.
The account documented by Human Rights Watch could not be independently corroborated. But the report’s description of interrogation methods, based on individual interviews with former prisoners who had not sought out the human rights workers, match up with official documents on C.I.A. techniques. It underscores how much is still not known about the United States’ treatment of terrorist suspects during the early years of the Bush administration.
While the report has yet to be independently verified, this is one story you’re going to want to keep an eye on in the days/weeks ahead.
I can’t add much to what’s already been (and will be) ...
One of the perks of being an early employee...
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
1. I think...
Two Months Ago I set out to interview the principal cast...
I was shocked. There is nothing you are told that can prepare you for what you see. The state of the Sunni Muslims there - their state of mind, their fate — all of those things have been slowly corroded over time by the regime.Hussam “Sam” Najjar, a former Libyan freedom fighter now on the front lines in Syria • Recalling how shocked he was when he first arrived in Syria, at the request of his former battalion commander from the Libyan resistance, and was taken to see the Syrian rebels’ current state of affairs. While laying most of the blame on the lack of a no-fly zone over Syria, which Najjar says allowed Libyan rebels to assemble as many as 1,500 fighters in a single location, he also said that opposition forces need to learn how to cooperate better with one another. “One of the biggest factors delaying the revolution is the lack of unity among the rebels,” said Hassam, adding,” Unfortunately, it is only when their back is up against the wall that they start to realize they should (unite).” An incredibly fascinating story. source (via • follow)
Origins: Colonel Qaddafi’s Napalm Stocks.
The East takes most of the blame for arming Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s Libya. By volume, this is as it should be.
But the West was deeply involved, too. A post today on the At War blog examines some of the history of the American role in arming and training — essentially creating — the military that gave rise to the Brother Leader and the coup he led in 1969.
That post touched upon something the photographs above hint at, too. The short of it? Look at the photographs. They show that Spain provided Qaddafi’s Libya with more than mortar-delivered cluster munitions. It helped him with his burning jellies, too.
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Packaging for the igniters, and the igniters themselves. Spanish-made EMBI impact fuzes for free-fall BIN napalm bombs. By the author. Libya. 2011.
For fans of napalm and analysis of dictatorships after the fact.
Capturing Libya: Through a Hipstamatic Lens
To photojournalism purists, it was pure blasphemy: a prestigious prize, third place for photo of the year, granted to a New York Times photographer who’d used not a 35mm to document U.S. soldiers in Iraq, but simply, his iPhone — and an app called Hipstamatic. Immediately, traditionalists went berserk: “What we knew as photojournalism at its purest form is over,” one photojournalist lamented. Using Hipstamatic in a news report, another commentator proclaimed, was “cheating us all.”
And yet, to Ben Lowy, a conflict photographer who has made a career out of a certain brand of iPhonography — and will debut the first ever photojournalism-inspired Hipstamatic lens with his namesake later this year — the award was a well-needed wake-up call for photojournalism fundamentalists. Last February, Lowy set out to capture the uprising in Libya from his iPhone (alongside millions of protesters who’d document the Arab Spring on their mobile devices) in photos that would fuel reporting from the region in outlets around the globe. In October, Lowy’s Hipstamatic images of everyday life in wartime Kabul were published in the New York Times Magazine, prompting the magazine’s photo editor, Kathy Ryan, to defend their use on the paper’s 6th Floor blog. And since then, Lowy has published an iPhone photo a day — from dramatic images of war to mundane life in Brooklyn — on his Tumblr, captured under the title, iSee.
That he’s found a home on Tumblr suggests that Tumblr is a place for new approaches.
Zintan, Libya | July 14, 2012 Omar, 26, sits in the car he drove to the front lines during last year’s Libyan uprising. He refuses to fix his windshield “the sniper’s round went past my head… This car took care of me, so I can’t change it.” But more than anything the windshield is a constant reminder to Omar of the life he took and the friends he lost. “The first time I killed … It was him or me. For three days after I cried and mumbled and thought I went crazy. ” #iLibya #photography #photojournalism #documentary #hipstamatic #magnumfoundation #emergencyfund #libya #Zintan (Taken with Instagram)
Photo of the day. Easy.
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
