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Benghazi Attack Ringleader Captured By U.S. Special Forces

Benghazi Attack Ringleader Captured By U.S. Special Forces

The question now is — what happens next?

News broke this morning that U.S. Special Forces over the weekend captured the key terrorist figure in the September 11, 2012 attack at the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Abu Khattalah will be brought to the United States to face charges “in the coming days,” said Edward Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
Abu Khattalah, who faces three federal criminal charges, will be tried in U.S. courts, said Attorney General Eric Holder.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. citizens died in the September 11, 2012, attack, which became a political flashpoint.

“We retain the option of adding additional charges in the coming days,” Holder said. “Even as we begin the process of putting Khatallah on trial and seeking his conviction before a jury, our investigation will remain ongoing as we work to identify and arrest any co-conspirators.”

U.S. officials say that Abu Khattalah is being held in a location outside Libya — perhaps on a naval vessel.

Khatallah had been a key suspect from the start of the post-Benghazi investigation. It also appeared he was never worried about being captured by the U.S. government. Just weeks after the assault on the compound, Khatallah was seen sipping a strawberry frappe on the patio of a Benghazi hotel, according to The New York Times.

Asked who should take responsibility for apprehending the mission’s attackers, [Khattallah] smirked at the idea that the weak Libyan government could possibly do it. And he accused the leaders of the United States of “playing with the emotions of the American people” and “using the consulate attack just to gather votes for their elections.”

Mr. Abu Khattala’s defiance — no authority has even questioned him about the attack, he said, and he has no plans to go into hiding — offered insight into the shadowy landscape of the self-formed militias that have come to constitute the only source of social order in Libya since the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) took issue with the detention details and said the terrorist belonged in the Guantanamo Bay facility. Graham has been a fierce critic of the Obama Administration’s response to the Benghazi attack.

The capture of Khattala comes as the Obama Administration is under fire on several fronts for its domestic and foreign policy.

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Comments

Khattala only claims to have been “directing traffic” from a movie critique on the night in question.

Of course, if we have aerial photography showing otherwise in real time…say from a drone…

that might change a LOT of things…

There is no way this guy’s capture is a ONE WAY route for Baracula.

Well, we could put him in a cell with Major Hasan, who, after all, killed three times as many people in front of a room full of witnesses.

Once again, hat’s off to the ops guys. Returning him alive to face justice meted out by the likes of Eric Holder must have been trying.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Owego. | June 18, 2014 at 2:18 am

    For our guys to risk so much as stubbing a toe for this c**ks****r CIC is, in itself, inexplicable when the fullness of reality and Bergdahl are considered.

Does this mean that Benghazi isn’t a phony scandal invented by Fox News?

Phillep Harding | June 17, 2014 at 6:18 pm

Should have sent SEALS after his genitals.

Juba Doobai! | June 17, 2014 at 6:20 pm

Just shoot the guy and save us the nonsense.

Can anybody actually believe anything this (mal-)administration tells us?

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to snopercod. | June 18, 2014 at 2:35 am

    Nope. Really. obastard and his sycophant cronies tried to use Bergdahl to divert attention from the VA, “We care about our gurs. See? We just gave up five highest level terrorists in rade for our guy (deserter, and only survivor of islamofascist captivity): “Oops! That didn’t work out too well – damned cat escaped the bag again! Let’s try this: Let’s risk some SEALs (I know they’ll do fine!) to cover up the last grossly poor decision by trying to look tough on terrorism, but it’ll only be one guy so my islamo buddies needn’t be too concerned. They’ll understand, and I’ll let him go pretty soon anyway.”

Strange timing. What was this, WH sent down a pick-up to create diversionary media presumptively favorable to Obama?

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to janitor. | June 18, 2014 at 2:16 am

    It’s obastard saying, “This is me being tough on terrorism, by golly!”

      “Al Qaeda Is Dead and GM Is Alive!!!” Wasn’t Benghazi shortly after those triumphant bumper stickers came out, with the Dems and the MSM (I repeat myself) trumpeting that Obama had the Taliban and Al Qaeda “on the run”?

      I’m sure I remember discussing the attack on our consulate with a couple of friends the morning after it happened, before the administration and the press got the “it was a spontaneous protest against a horrible racist Islamophobic Youtube video!” narrative out there, and were we talking about the irony of that.

Just an usher at the video viewing !

2nd Ammendment Mother | June 17, 2014 at 6:38 pm

I suspect a very long drawn out process of trying to ignore him. Sort of like the Gitmo trails…. how many years have those guys been sitting?

Four more like him and we’ll have enough to trade for another captured serviceman…

It’s a good thing we got this video-watching thug off the streets of a foreign land and are putting him into a US Courtroom…

I can see the Miranda warning now. “You have the right to remain silent, or if you wish, talk to a ghostwriter to get your story done into a movie. Make sure to get residuals…

how can someone be a planner of a spontaneous attack?

tarheelkate | June 17, 2014 at 7:52 pm

Putting him on a naval vessel for interrogation makes sense. Bringing him to the US for a show trial doesn’t make sense.

I’ll answer the question “what happens next?”

Probably a special rose garden event at the White House celebrating another illegal alien champion of freedom.

Why did Obama sit on this for 2 years????
It isn’t like this terrorist was a Family member.

JackRussellTerrierist | June 18, 2014 at 2:10 am

What happens now? Simple. We trade him for an obastard kewpie doll the muzzies commandeered from some libtard hiking around the Afghan moonscape.

Could the same “fate” await this guy as the Somali pirate brought to the US for trial in an airtight case, the government assured us, and was found not guilty. Said pirate is now seeking citizenship. Gitmo is there for a reason, Obama!