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US: Anti-Western Fervor Motivated Benghazi Suspect

by VOA News July 02, 2014

U.S. prosecutors say the militant accused of carrying out the deadly 2012 attacks on American outposts in Benghazi, Libya was motivated by his extreme anti-Western fervor.

American authorities have detailed some of their allegations against the suspect, Ahmed Abu Khatallah, before a detention hearing Wednesday morning in Washington. He was captured last month by U.S. military commandos near Benghazi and is accused in the terrorist assault that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others.

​​The prosecutors said in a court filing opposing Abu Khatallah's release pending trial the 43-year-old Libyan was driven by 'extremist ideology.' Abu Khatallah first appeared before a U.S. magistrate last Saturday and pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

The prosecutors said in the days before the September 11, 2012 attack, Abu Khatallah 'voiced concern and opposition to the presence of an American facility in Benghazi.' The prosecutors said he was a commander in Ansar al-Sharia, an extremist Libyan militia the United States has designated a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors say he was among 20 or more men armed with AK-47-type rifles, handguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers who first attacked a U.S. consulate and set it afire. The United States alleges the militants later assaulted a nearby Central Intelligence Agency outpost.

U.S. investigators questioned Abu Khatallah about the attack as they brought him to the United States aboard a Navy warship. They later flew him to Washington for last weekend's court appearance and are holding him in a prison near Washington.

The details of the attack have played a contentious role in U.S. politics. The Obama administration initially contended the Benghazi attacks, carried out on the anniversary of the massive 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks in the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people, were spawned by protests against an anti-Muslim video on the Internet. But authorities have long since said it was a terrorist attack.

The attack occurred two months before President Barack Obama was re-elected. Republicans have claimed Obama wanted to minimize the possibility the attack was terrorism-related so as to not hurt his re-election chances. Multiple congressional hearings have been held about the attack and another one is set for the coming weeks.