(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday strongly condemned the killing of the United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, in a rocket attack on the U.S. Consulate in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday. He called the attack "outrageous," and confirmed that four Americans, including Stevens, were killed.
"Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States," Obama said. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979.
Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya
Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls
Libya's Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib apologized "to the American people and the government, and also to the rest of the world" for the "cowardly criminal act."
An "angry crowd" marched on the consulate on Tuesday, furious about an online film considered offensive to Islam, Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said Wednesday. The U.S. mission in Egypt was also attacked Tuesday in response to the film.
Al-Sharif said that consulate security staff opened fire when they heard gunfire outside the mission. "This led to more anger and this is when the consulate was stormed," he said, suggesting that there were elements loyal to the regime of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi aiming to create chaos among the protesters.
"Criminals managed to get in and they burned and ransacked the consulate," he said. The U.S. mission is very badly damaged and was being looted on Wednesday, said a contractor working at the mission, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
He said he saw the bodies of all four Americans on the street Wednesday morning.
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur said Stevens was "a friend of Libya, and we are shocked at the the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi." "I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere," Abushagur said on Twitter.
A US ambassador getting killed over a movie that the libyan people did not like. That's pretty extreme. It's true what they say the world are full of idiots. It just takes one person to start the fire of stupidity.
ReplyDeleteP2 P.Kevin Bouphasavanh
I agree with Kevin because it was not a good idea to kill those people.The Libyans must hate us to kill our people. I would not feel safe going to Libya.
ReplyDeleteAshley Otto p2
I also agree with Kevin because it's just like that movie shooting in Colorado, people got killed for no reason. Libya does have a great amount of hate on us too as Ashley said. I also dislike how they never did anything wrong to the Libyans they were only there for help and to represent our country.
ReplyDeleteDavid Hoang p3
THIS IS HORRIBLE!!! So a coordinated terrorist group of about two dozen men, go into a US embassy and assassinate a US ambassador. And the only thing President Obama does is say it was an "accident" by the riots going on. However, eyewitness near by said that the riots didn't start till the terrorist group assembled outside the embassy.
ReplyDeleteTHAT IS AN ACT OF WAR! Someone died! And Obama just covers it up. For all he cares, they could shoot his wife and he wouldn't think the least of it offensive...
Jonas Fisher P2
that was chelsey jensen in the last 1.p7.
ReplyDeletethis is horrible.having a terrorist attack is bad.people shouldn't do it.they are just being idiots for that,they have nooooo comon sense when they are doing that.they are just to busy ruinning everything that they don't think what they r doing to the environment around them.that shows that they have no respect for other people,& they don't care at all that is bad....really bad.
ReplyDeleteWhat I said earlier was a little too extreme when I said that. Obama does care, and what I said was offensive and immature of me.
ReplyDelete~forgive my vulgar typing~
I do still think the Libyan riot was not an accident.
Jonas Fisher P2
that was cheley jensen p7 in that last one.
ReplyDeleteOur people getting killed by a movie that Libyan didn't like? Sounds like murder to me.4 people only died, how many more would there be the next time? 10? 25? 100? hmmm. I think Obama should think little bit more about this.
ReplyDeleteRyan Tappe p7
Isn't an American Embassy supposed to be a safe place?! Why on earth did 4 people get killed there? Libya's prime minister better have apologized! Did the Libyans even have a reason to attack them? Obama should think, if this has happened once what about the next time? Will they kill more? What is going to happen? --Andrea Warkentin Period 2
ReplyDeleteI do feel that the Libyans' actions were a little extreme and the killing was horrible, but we should maybe look at the situation from their point of view. If the Libyans upsetted or offended Americans in any way, how would we react?
ReplyDeleteBridget E. p7
i agree with Ryan on the hole thing. Obama should think a lot harder on stuff like this. i no for a fact we should not be putting more of our military over there. what i really think is we shouldn't even have consulates anymore cause they did it once don't you think they do it again.
ReplyDeleteBryanna B 7th hour
I agree with Jonas this was an act of war. It also seems like coordinated attack, because I don't think that an unplanned attack would involve RPGs and automatic weapons. Not to mention once inside the embassy they removed the U.S. flag and tried to burn it then ripped it to shreds. Then they hoisted a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith.
ReplyDeleteI think that this video is just an excuse to attack America. It is a tragedy that four people lost their lives in this attack and our president seems to have done so little about it.
Keegan O. hour 3
"It was an accident"
ReplyDeleteThats something you say when you accidentally spill a pot full of boiling macaroni noodles on the freshly vacuumed carpet.
Not when someone representing America gets killed in Libya.
Poor dead guy!!!:(
I don't understand why everybody seems to be blaming the Libyan government. From what I understood, it was a group of protesters, like a mob maybe. Not soldiers or government officials. Still, it is a little ridiculous for them to blame an entire nation for one idiot making a stupid video. It's like a battle of the idiots... one uses stupid words/actions, another uses stupid actions. And all it really does is escalates into a hate-fest. Which could eventually lead to war. I believe people really need to use their heads before doing things.
ReplyDeleteAbby Johnson
Period 3
Pardon me for my overuse of the words "stupid" and "idiot". Maybe "most extremely silly persons" is more fitting.
ReplyDeleteAbby Johnson
Period 3
The attack wasn't at random because there have been attacks at American embassies around the world, including at Germany and England since then, not to mention the Egyptian American embassy was attacked on the same day. This is too vast to be just about an insulting video that had only 10 people at its opening, Keegan was right in that aspect. Many Muslims hate America for what we are, because we let women have choices to do things such as driving, deciding who to marry and voting, but that just one reason they hate us. I know that there are good Muslims in the world but there are extreme Muslims as well, just like with the Germans and Japanese in WW2. Obama has spread our troops extremely thin and in places given them nothing to defend themselves except for 'rubber bullets' leaving them as sitting ducks for whoever decides to attack even in countries considered danger zones.
ReplyDeleteOur president apparently either is to paranoid to understand what's going on or just plain doesn't care. The attack wasn't on one man but on a country who cares about the freedom of all of its citizens; male, female, African, European, Asian, Native American, but all of them full-blooded American no matter their ancestry.
Alyssa Crowe
Period 3