Arrests Made After Attack on American Consulate in Libya

Arrests have been made following the deaths of four Americans during the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, earlier this week.

Host Marco Werman gets an update from the BBC’s Rana Jawad in the Libyan capital Tripoli about the progress of the investigation.

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Marco Werman: The bodies of the four Americans killed in Libya on Tuesday arrived back in the U.S. today. President Obama spoke at the ceremony in their honor at a military base outside Washington. The President has vowed those who killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his staff in Libya will be brought to justice. And, as the BBC’s Rana Jawad tells us from Tripoli, Libyan authorities say they’ve arrested a number of suspects.

Rana Jawad: There have been reports floating around of four being arrested; however, we haven’t been able to verify this. We know that a number of arrests have been made. We’ve heard from the Prime Minister saying there will be further arrests and that they are being interrogated. That’s all we’ve been given so far.

Werman: Right. So, the White House said today that there was no actionable intelligence, in advance, about the Libya attack. That would seem to decrease the likelihood of it being coordinated, this attack. What are the Libyans saying about that right now?

Jawad: We have heard from the head of the General National Congress, the newly elected 200-member council, that’s Mr. Mohamed (El-Magariaf ???), and he has unequivocally stated his belief that this was a pre-planned attack. The problem, so far, is that we’ve heard many different accounts from Libyan officials. The more officials you talk to here, the more the story varies. That’s been one of the problems in establishing what happened or the reasons behind it.

Werman: The U.S. has parked warships off the Libyan coast and we’ve also heard about drones – U.S. drones flying over Libya. What have you heard about that?

Jawad: Well, yes and today made it very clear that there are drones operating in Libyan airspace. The airport in Benghazi was shut down for under 24 hours but it has now been reopened. Residents there heard drones flying over. It was then understood and explained that they were gathering intel. The warships you’re referring to, the destroyers that were sent to within the vicinity of Libyan waters as U.S. officials have put it so far, they say that it’s for a precautionary measure.

Werman: You know, despite the various theories and story-lines from the Libyan government, they say they are making good progress. How much pressure are they under to get a result here?

Jawad: They’re under a lot of pressure. It’s still a new government and they don’t have a proper security force in place. Libya still has no army. They still use local militias and local brigades to help them in times of any flare ups of violence. That has lessened in recent months but there is still that issue of no central authority when it comes to its defenses here in terms of security. So, I think that will make it all the more harder for them to really establish who exactly took part in what when the attack took place against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

Werman: That was the BBC’s Rana Jawad speaking with us from Libya’s capital Tripoli.

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