LAROUCHE PAC INITIATIVE:
The Questions Congress
Must Ask About Benghazi
by William Wertz
Jan. 1—President Obama swore an oath to "support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic," as did every member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Obama has broken that oath by supporting the enemies of the U.S. Constitution. As several members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee pointed out in recent hearings, the issue is the policy of the Obama Administration, which contributed to causing the deaths of Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, and if continued in respect to Syria, threatens to bring the world to the brink of thermonuclear war.
Congressional demands for explanations of the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks, must begin with a thorough airing of the ongoing alliance between the Obama White House and al-Qaeda. Nothing short of a thorough probe will prevent a replay of the first two 9/11 attacks, perhaps on a far grander scale.
What makes this particularly urgent, is that in using al-Qaeda to overthrow Assad in Syria, the British Empire, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and British stooge Obama, are pushing the world to the edge of a thermonuclear war with Russia and China. The crimes of Obama of failing to provide sufficient security to the U.S. mission in Benghazi and not responding after the attack by providing military assistance, are the result of the underlying policy.
The crimes of Obama are not the result of bureaucratic sloppiness. These crimes and the lies of the Obama Administration's "talking points," which were designed to cover them up, are a result of the underlying crime of having allied with known enemies of the United States of America. As Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom testified before the House Oversight Committee in October 2012: "In my view, the Taliban is inside the building."
LaRouche PAC Takes Initiative
The killings of the four Americans in Benghazi were carried out by the very terrorists Obama and his masters intentionally supported to overthrow Qaddafi, and are supporting now to overthrow Assad.
The U.S. designation of al-Nusra in Syria as a terrorist organization is just a fig leaf. As reported in the Sept. 11 memo sent by Ambassador Stevens to Washington, Wisam bin Hamid and al-Garabi told U.S. officials on Sept. 9 that "fluid relationships and blurry lines" define membership in the brigades in Benghazi. "They themselves were members of multiple brigades, they said." The same is true in Syria.
Over the past three weeks, LaRouchePAC has produced a series of updated fact sheets, which conclusively document that the Obama Admministration has been in bed with al-Qaeda in Libya; and, as the Syrian opposition itself has affirmed in respect to Syria (by proclaiming that "we are all al-Nusra"), with the al-Qaeda-dominated Syrian opposition as well. These fact sheets have all been provided to Members of Congress, who, in fact, have access to even more precise information than that available to LaRouchePAC from the public domain.
While the initial questioning of State Department officials in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearings Dec. 20 began to pinpoint some serious issues, Congress has much more to do. To aid in the process, LaRouchePAC has formulated the following policy questions to be asked by Congressional investigators.
The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) was listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department, the UN Security Council, and the U.K. Home Office, before it officially disbanded in February 2011, and merely renamed itself the Libyan Islamic Movement for Change. In 2007, al-Qaeda had announced its merger with the LIFG. There are numerous links between the LIFG and 9/11/2001 known to the U.S. from interrogations in Guantanamo. Thus, Congress must ask:
How does the Obama Administration justify allying with leading members of the LIFG in Libya? Did Obama authorize the decision to work with the LIFG? Given the U.S. State Department designation of the LIFG as an FTO, did anyone in the State Department object to this policy? Why has the Administration not designated the Libyan Islamic Movement for Change as an FTO?
The emir of the LIFG, Abdel Hakim Belhadj, fought alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and then moved with him to Sudan in 1992. He ran training camps for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. He fled Kabul in 2001, and went with bin Laden to Tora Bora. He was listed as a co-conspirator in the 2004 Madrid bombings. In Libya, he received weapons from Qatar, in a transaction approved by Obama. He became the military commander of the Tripoli Military Council in August 2011, and was responsible for security at all foreign embassies. Thus Congress must ask:
Why did we ally with a known terrorist to overthrow Qaddafi? Why did we allow Qatar to provide Belhadj with weapons, bypassing the Transitional National Council (TNC)? Did the Obama Administration protest Belhadj's becoming responsible for security at all foreign embassies?
The February 17 Brigade
Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis, the military commander of the TNC, was assassinated on July 28, 2011. The assassination paved the way for Belhadj to become the military commander of the Tripoli Military Council. A deputy of Younis, Mohammed Agoury, told Associated Press that the February 17 Brigade was behind the assassination. Other sources have said that Ansar al-Sharia was responsible. Thus Congress must ask:
Why did the Obama Administration hire the February 17 Brigade to provide security in Benghazi under these circumstances?
The February 17 Brigade was formed by Ismael al-Sallabi. Belhadj was in Benghazi in April 2011 to help form the Brigade. According to the Senate Homeland Security Committee report, the Brigade was involved in extrajudicial detentions of U.S. diplomatic personnel prior to Sept. 11, 2012. On Sept. 11, according to the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB), the February 17 Brigade guards at the mission failed to notify the Brigade barracks. According to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the Brigade failed to respond to two calls for assistance from the CIA annex. Thus Congress must ask:
Did the Obama Administration know that the February 17 Brigade was created by known LIFG operatives when we hired it? Why did the Obama Administration continue to employ the Brigade after it conducted extrajudicial detentions, and after its loyalties were called into question?
Meeting in Qatar
After Belhadj became head of the Tripoli Military Council, he and Ismael al-Sallabi traveled with TNC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil to Qatar to meet with NATO officials. Thus Congress must ask:
Why did NATO choose to meet with known terrorists? Who authorized this meeting?
Ansar al-Sharia
Abu Sufian bin Qumu is the head of Ansar al-Sharia, which took credit for the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi on its Facebook page. The Senate Homeland Security Committee report says individuals affiliated with Ansar al-Sharia were allegedly involved in storming the Tunisian consulate in Benghazi on June 18, 2012. Bin Qumu is known to be a member of the LIFG and al-Qaeda, and was assessed to be a high risk to U.S. interests. He received a monthly stipend from one of the financiers of the original 9/11 in 2001. He began training rebel forces in Derna in April of 2011. Thus Congress must ask:
What actions did the Obama Administration take against him and Ansar al-Sharia before Sept. 11, 2012? Why is Ansar al-Sharia not listed as an FTO? On what basis did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argue that an entry on Ansar al-Sharia's Facebook page taking credit for the attack is not "evidence"?
Libya Shield
U.S. officials met with Wisam bin Hamid and Muhammad al-Garabi on Sept. 9. The Library of Congress reports that bin Hamid is possibly the leader of al-Qaeda in Libya. He leads Libya Shield, which is the same as Free Libya. He hosted a demonstration in Sirte in 2012 which was attended by the head of al-Qaeda in Magreb. He participated in another rally in Benghazi, sponsored by Ansar al-Sharia with other militias on June 7-8, 2012. The Library of Congress reports that these militias "probably make up the bulk of al-Qaeda's network in Libya." It was Libya Shield which detained U.S. forces sent from Tripoli for three hours at the Benghazi airport before following them to the annex. The attack on the annex commenced shortly after their arrival. Thus Congress must ask:
Why did U.S. officials meet with Wisam bin Hamid? Why did the U.S. rely on Libya Shield for security in Benghazi?
The Blue Mountain Group
The Senate Homeland Security Committee report indicates that a current and a former employee of the Blue Mountain Group were suspects in the bombing of the mission on April 6, 2012. The ARB report says that a Blue Mountain guard may have left the gate to the mission open, and had done so on a previous occasion. Thus Congress must ask:
Why did we continue to employ Blue Mountain?
The Syrian Connection
There are numerous reports indicating support by the Libyan terrorist groups for the Syrian opposition. Thus Congress must ask:
Did Obama know about the trip made by Belhadj to Turkey in November 2011 to meet with the Free Syrian Army and Turkish representatives? Did Obama approve this trip? Did this trip result in an agreement to provide weapons, personnel, and training to the Free Syrian Army?
Six hundred LIFG fighters went to Syria in November 2011, led by al-Harati, the deputy commander of the Tripoli Military Council under Belhadj. Congress must ask:
Who knew about and approved this deployment?
There are reports that Belhadj and the LIFG are now providing weapons to al-Qaeda in Syria and Mali. Congress must ask:
Why has neither the U.S. nor NATO intercepted these weapons, which, in the case of Syria, are transported to Turkey by ship?
Motivation for the 9/11 Attack
It is reported that Ambassador Stevens opposed Belhadj becoming either Minister of Defense or Minister of the Interior in Libya. Thus Congress must ask:
Is this true and if so, why?
The Libyan Interior Ministry official in charge of border control is Abdul Wahhab Hassan Qayad, a leading member of the LIFG, whose brother, al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, was killed in Pakistan in June 2012 by a U.S. drone attack. Thus Congress must ask:
What contact does the Obama Administration have with Qayad about the transport of jihadis and weapons to and from Libya? What is his involvement in the events in Benghazi on Sept. 11, given the killing of his brother on June 2012, which some sources identify as a potential motivation for the attack?
Wisam bin Hamid and Muhammad al-Garabi told U.S. officials on Sept. 9 that they would not continue to provide security for the Benghazi mission, if Mahmoud Jibril became prime minister. Congress must ask:
Did the U.S. and Ambassador Stevens support Jibril for prime minister in the General National Congress elections which took place Sept. 10-12, 2012?
On Sept. 12, one day after the Benghazi attack, Jibril was defeated in his effort to become prime minister. Now the Muslim Brotherhood controls nearly half of the cabinet positions in Libya, and the Brotherhood candidate for prime minister, Ibrahim Awad Barasi, is a deputy prime minister. Congress must ask:
Did the Obama Administration support this ascension of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya?
Ambassador Stevens
Various questions have been raised about Ambassador Stevens' role in Benghazi. Congress must ask:
What was the purpose of Ambassador Stevens' meeting with the Turkish ambassador in Benghazi, just before the attack on Sept. 11?
The ARB report states that U.K. diplomatic personnel were in Benghazi on Sept. 11. The attack began immediately after U.K. security personnel left the U.S. mission. Congress must ask:
What was the purpose of this one-day visit, and did they meet with Ambassador Stevens?
More broadly, on policy, Congress must ask:
What was the purpose of the CIA annex in Benghazi? Why was the mission in Benghazi "never formally notified to the Libyan government," as reported by the ARB? Was it involved in support operations for supplying weapons or personnel to Syria?
