Nearly 14 years later, the the killing of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi in 2012 has resurfaced, on the anniversary of the September 2001 events (9/11), following a terrorist attack on the US consulate. The case has long been a source of controversy between Republicans and Democrats in the United States, to the extent that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump threatened legal action during his campaign for his first term.
On the night of 11 September 2012, armed assailants attacked the gate of the US consulate compound with rifles, rocket launchers, and grenades, setting the buildings on fire. The attack resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the US Ambassador to Libya at the time, Christopher Stevens. The embassy was only a few kilometers away from a US military unit belonging to the Marine Corps in Benghazi, yet it did not take part in repelling the attack or even in rescuing the ambassador. After the attackers fled without verifying the deaths of the ambassador and the others, he was taken to hospital by a Libyan neighbor.
The file was reopened after many years, despite the fact that the leader and mastermind of the attack was captured in 2014 and is now serving a life sentence. The case returned to the spotlight once again after US forces took custody of one of the terrorists accused of participating in the attack on the consulate building, placing the US State Department - responsible for securing American diplomatic missions around the world - in an embarrassing position, and exposing it to accusations of negligence for allowing the US ambassador to visit the Benghazi consulate on the night of the 11 September anniversary without adequate security, relying solely on local guards. At the time, Benghazi was under the control of terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda. This led many to accuse Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State, of dereliction of duty, with some going so far as to accuse her of complicity in the assassination of the ambassador, as was repeatedly claimed by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, who threatened to arrest and prosecute her if he became president; something he never did.
The newly detained suspect, al-Zubayr al-Bakoush, is now behind bars in the United States. He has been described as a “black box,” implying that he holds critical undisclosed information, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that the individual suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi had “fallen into US custody.” Photographs were also published showing him armed and wearing a protective vest inside the US consulate while it was engulfed in flames following the killing of the ambassador and his companions.
What raises many questions is that al-Bakoush had been moving freely in Tripoli and was living at a known address. He was arrested inside his home and was neither in hiding nor in disguise. Why was he arrested only now, despite his identity and whereabouts being known for years? He had been living a normal life in an apartment building on Airport Road in the capital, Tripoli. Al-Bakoush was formerly a resident of Benghazi, but he fled the city after the Libyan army launched Operation Dignity to pursue terrorists.
It is worth noting that al-Bakoush belongs to the so-called Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shura Council, which is ideologically affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Ambassador Stevens was fluent in Arabic and French and had volunteered in North Africa. He served as US ambassador to Libya from May 2012 until his death. He was a supporter and friend of the Libyan people. His killing and the burning of the consulate building in Benghazi are religiously forbidden under Islamic law, as they fall under the prohibition against killing musta’man (those granted a covenant of safety), by virtue of a diplomatic agreement that constitutes an ahd aman, pledged by a Muslim country, Libya, represented by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This constitutes a betrayal.
The ambassador worked in the interests of Libya and its people. He came as a supporter of freedom, believing in the Libyans’ right to democracy and liberation from personalist rule. He repeatedly sought to give Benghazi a prominent place on the US policy agenda, working to expedite the opening of the consulate, beginning with the cultural section, and promising that visas would be issued from Benghazi. He once said, he considers myself fortunate to be participating in "this remarkable period of change and hope in Libya.” Meanwhile, the perpetrators were working to sabotage Libya, turn it into another Afghanistan, push it into a dark tunnel of chaos, and transform it into a failed state.
The friendly ambassador was killed by a deviant faction that believes it alone understands Islam and that all others are unbelievers. Those who killed the ambassador may not have known that he spoke Arabic and had read the Holy Quran. I do not believe there is any justification for killing him, whether by gunfire or by suffocation from smoke, as some claim. Those responsible achieved their objective: eliminating a man who loved Libya and stood as a friend to its people during a difficult chapter of our history.
Reopening the file on the killing of Ambassador Stevens may be a form of political instrumentalization and a reopening of old records to settle internal scores in the United States. In the end, however, the arrest of the perpetrators, under any pretext, achieves justice for the victims. Terrorists and the architects of chaos and crime will not remain safe forever, and the hand of justice will reach them, even if after a long time.
