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How U.S. Amb. Chris Stevens May Have Been Linked to Jihadist Rebels in Syria (And It Involves Weapons)

Oct. 19, 2012 9:35am Guest Post

Business Insider: Chris Stevens May Have Been Connected to Syrian Rebels and Weapons

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 14: Intern Chris Jobson (R) and press assistant Isaiah Calvin (L) of Senate Democratic Media Center sign condolence book for Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens at the U.S. Capitol September 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images

This article by Michael Kelley originally appeared on Business Insider. It will be the focus of Glenn Beck’s Monday show on TheBlaze TV at 5pm ET.

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The details of the September 11 attack that killed four Americans at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi are still murky and there’s certainly more to be known.

Former CIA officer Clare Lopez argues that the key issue is “the relationship of the U.S. government, Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya with Al Qaeda.”

That relationship, Lopez argues, could be connected to the rise of Islamic brigades in Syria, who recently created a “Front to Liberate Syria” to wage jihad against the Syrian regime and turn the country into an Islamic state.

That potential connection starts with who Ambassador Stevens worked with during the Libyan revolution and ends with who he hosted on the night of his death.

In March 2011 Stevens became the official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan opposition and began coordinating U.S. assistance to the rebels.

The top military commander of the rebels, Abdelhakim Belhadj, was the leader of the pro-al-Qaeda Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).

After Gaddafi fell the LIFG disbanded and some of the fighters joined the amorphous group Ansar al-Shariah (Soldiers of Shariah), which reportedly participated in the attack that took Stevens’ life.

In November 2011 The Telegraph reported that Belhadj, acting as head of the Tripoli Military Council, “met with Free Syrian Army [FSA] leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey” in an effort by the new Libyan government to provide money and weapons to the growing insurgency in Syria.

Last month The Times of London reported the a Libyan ship “carrying the largest consignment of weapons for Syria … has docked in Turkey.” The shipment reportedly weighed 400 tons and included SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

Those heavy weapons are most likely from Muammar Gaddafi’s stock of about 20,000 portable heat-seeking missiles—the bulk of them SA-7s—that the Libyan leader obtained from the former Eastern bloc.

Reuters reports that Syrian rebels have been using those heavy weapons to shoot down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets.

The ship’s captain was ”a Libyan from Benghazi and the head of an organization called the Libyan National Council for Relief and Support,” which was presumably established by the new government.

That means that Ambassador Stevens had only one person—Belhadj—between himself and the Benghazi man who brought heavy weapons to Syria. (The official U.S. stance is that it is opposed to providing Syrian rebels with heavy weapons.)

Furthermore, we know that jihadists are the best fighters in the Syrian opposition, but where did they come from?

Last week The Telegraph reported that a FSA commander called them “Libyans” when he explained that the FSA doesn’t “want these extremist people here.”

So this much is fairly certain: Libya has been sending seasoned Islamic fighters, heavy weapons and presumably money to Syria in support of the opposition.

The uncertain part is where Stevens, and the U.S. government, fits into all of this.

If the new Libyan government was sending jihadists and 400 tons of lethal cargo to Syria through a port in southern Turkey—a deal brokered by Stevens’ primary Libyan contact during the Libyan revolution—then the governments of Turkey and the U.S. surely knew about it.

Reuters reported that satellite photos exposed a CIA post in Benghazi, located 1.2 miles from the U.S. consulate, was used as “a base for, among other things, collecting information on the proliferation of weaponry looted from Libyan government arsenals, including surface-to-air missiles” … and that its security features “were more advanced than those at rented villa where Stevens died.”

We also know that about a dozen CIA operatives and contractors left the Benghazi base after it was exposed. Could these two CIA groups be connected as start and end points to help funnel heavy weapons to the Syrian opposition?

We know that the CIA has been funneling weapons to the rebels in southern Turkey, but CNN reports that FSA members are “cutting their own deals to get weapons” from well-armed extremists so it raises questions about who the CIA is arming.

We know that U.S. weapons are ending up in the hands of hard-line Islamists in Syria. It turns out that many of these jihadists are the same ones that Stevens helped arm to topple Gaddafi.

On September 11 Stevens held an evening meeting with a Turkish diplomat before retiring to his room at 9 p.m. Gunfire and explosions began 40 minutes later. Is Steven’s guest for his last meeting just another eerie coincidence?

Either way it seems that the connection between Benghazi and the rise of jihadists in Syria is much stronger than has been officially acknowledged.

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Comments (210)

houx
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 2:15pm
DonaWayne22 is this with zumbia fitness??????????????????

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houx
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 2:14pm
Just another Fast and Furious gun smuggling operation. Maybe he was meetiing with his gay lover.

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NILAP
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:54pm
A Fast and Furious type scheme – getting guns and arms into the wrong hands.

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spfoam1
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:43pm
It sounds like the Obama strategy has been to arm jihadists, knowing they will attack our other enemies in the region like Gaddafi and Assad. Obama is actually “freeing” his Islamic brothers as well as arming and funding them. Obama is guaranteeing the muslim brotherhood a position as a major power. Obama is doing more to establish an Islamic caliphate than anyone, and the taxpayers of the US are paying for it. I really can’t think of a better way to support the enemies of Israel without attacking Israel directly. Obama is like the fire chief who is setting fires while patting himself on the back for his efforts to put them out.

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wbprettyman
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:39pm
Don’t forget that good old Bill Aare’s group The Weather Underground declared war on the United States in 1970 I don’t think that there has been an armistice at any time. I have always thought that Obama is nothing more than a puppet.

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christos
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:38pm
Chris Stevens was a cia agent running weapons for the U.S. to put into the hands of Israels enemies & after the mission was accomplished they got rid of him so it could not be traced back to them/U.S./bo,,,,In the Bible “Gog & Magog” Iran-Turkey-Russia form an alliance to go against Israel.Laugh along with +JESUS+GOD+ right now knowing +JESUS+GOD+ is laughing at Israels enemies.

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Margyt
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:35pm
It is frightening to think that we are pawns in a big international game. We don’t know who is really pulling the strings and what the end game is. Conspiracy theorists can have a heyday with this but can’t possibly come up with actual answers. Meanwhile, we know the mid-east is being intentionally disrupted, that the Muslim Brotherhood is the victor taking the spoils, that world economies are intentionally being weakened and that secularism is being exalted above all religions (and especially above faith). This world will collapse, and soon. Whether that will be fulfillment of end-times prophecy as I believe or as the perpetual cyle of history remains to be seen. The only thing any of us have power to do is decide where we stand and decide how we will live out our beliefs while this unfolds.

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helllsbellls
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:34pm
Too many questions with no clear answers from the administration? Answers that could be classified under the heading, down right untruths? Get people in court as they did in f&f under oath and see what they all have to say. Take that and the truth will soon be found. Alquedia gun running gate? Hells Bells.

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hades3
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:32pm
The Obama Administration has allowed the same groups of Jihadist supporters to infiltrate our government, even too include our FBI, by forcing it too under go Islamist sensitivity training, which will lead too the same thing that is happening all over the middle east, except the same tactics
are being imported too middle America.

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lazybones
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:29pm
There was an Obama Biden campaign ad on this page. Anybody else get that???

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TROLLMONGER
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:28pm
Ahh yes! It didnt take long for Beck to spew his propaganda to fit his agenda. And the old Beckbots are just lapping it up like the loyal little lapdogs they are….LOL!

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cdb
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:22pm
Questions I want Obama to answer. What was the ambassador doing there without his security team, driving in non secure area in regular sedan instead of his armored vehicle? Whom sent him there, and why? These questions have not been asked let alone answered by anyone.

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DebbeL
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:20pm
The Benghazi Cover Up is a huge. If anyone is listening to Glenn Beck you should remember what he said shortly after this happened about Stevens being over there to FIND THE GUNS. All we heard from the white house was the stupid ‘video’ for weeks. (Who came up with that excuse that will go down in history!) The American people have been lied to so many times and many have fallen under the spell by drinking in the Koolade and will still vote for “O” again! You can only LIE so much until it will start coming around and biting you in the butt….it’s happening and breaking down at the right time….no second term for this lover of the wrong team. He has tried to full fill the ‘dream of his father’ to somehow give him closure of being rejected as a child, ‘I’ll show you Daddy, and make you proud.’
It’s like a sad made for TV movie except it is real and costing the United States of America.
God Bless America, PLEASE

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insaneserenity
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:19pm
so basically a US Ambassador, no doubt with help from the state department and orders from the president himself is arming terrorists who hate our guts in order to overthrow a corrupt regime that is neutral to us in order to install a pro shariah women hating american hating dictatorship from the dark ages. In other words, the president is arming our enemies, which is treason. Yea, I can see why obama and co do not want these details coming out.

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michael from Ga.
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:14pm
A very wicked man once said, never let a good crisis go to waste, or something close to that. The big objective was to start a fire – a BIG fire. One that was to spread from the Middle East, into the West. That is the reason the video was so important; they were counting on it being the ‘trigger’ to set off violence by …… aginst …….. This was to turn the world up side down; and it unsuccessful.

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19RANDY59
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:56pm
It’s amazing how easy it is to pull the wool over the eyes of the citizenry. This guy was sent there by BHO, he’s one of the regime. Do you really think he wasn’t in on some kind of mission to hurt the U.S. Come on people wake up. Do you really believe that his , and his security detail were not trying to pad there pockets with some kind of arms deal. Use the sense the Lord gave you.

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KidCharlemagne
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:44pm
Proof positive that there is NEVER a good time to institute a bad idea:

Boston Globe (May 29, 2012): “Mitt Romney urges US to arm Syrian rebels, lead effort to oust Bashar Assad”

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walkintruth
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:43pm
More will come out on this. I knew looking at Hillary react to these murders, that she was a woman with a dark secret. She knew something more than what Obama was telling the world. There was a sense of guilt written all over her face but at the same time she was horrified. This is another Fast and Furious.

We must ask ourselves if it is another operation such as Fast and Furious, then what did Obama want to achieve? Did he want to empower Al Qaeda? This is serious because we need to know who’s on our side. How can we fight someone we don’t know? If we don’t uncover this, more of our military will be slaughtered.

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Moralitygone
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:36pm
US is in a proxy war against Russia. US arming one side and Russia arming the other. Scary stuff. Read the article- search “Lemmings” on the Canada Free Press website. They were on top of this a while ago and I am surprised it took the Blaze this long to report on it.

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Harvey1
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:26pm
Maybe the attack was part of a plan to keep us from knowing what Chris was up to in this part of the world? Did our administration set this up to eliminate any possible release of information from Chris becoming public? It has been said that Islamic belief says that queers should be killed. Did this play a part in the attack? There are so many unanswered questions. Is odumba trying to hid the fact that we are supplying our enemies with munitions? It seems that odumba only supports the mudslum brotherhood and with our money. These enemies of the USA and friends and brothers to odumba!
WAKE UP AMERICA IT IS ALMOST TOO LATE TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY!

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strawberry411a
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:06pm
And maybe..just MAYBE..if we had journalists willing to dig a bit for the TRUTH instead of writing articles on Ryan misnaming quarterbacks or Romney’s son being upset that Obama called his father a liar…WE MIGHT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!! The media needs to be held accountable!!!!!!!!!!!!

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noslave
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:00pm
are my comments hitting a nerve???not getting posted only stops free speach/reason on this site,the truth will still get out??go back to msnbc their followers dont have any brains.

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CulperGang
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 11:50am
Say what you will about AX Jones: He has stated for a long time that the Cai is an INTELLIGENCE front for the globalist USING Americans ,not for the betterment and safety of America BUT for “their” puposes to cause wordwide collapes of nations and economies INCLUDING America and Israel. Most to all of these operatives are so compartmentalised THEY HAVE NO IDEA……..they are working for the enemy(globalist/NWO) and are enabling the destruction of America. AX has said this for the past two years. HE WAS RIGHT……….look what else just came out….
the would be NYC bomber SUPPLIED by ..this corrupt government…and is being used as a patsy!!!
PEOPLE WAKE UP…………all these “terrorist” “fighting terrorist” IS MANIPULATION by the NWO.
THEY are the terrorist!!! with the the help of “elected” officials they are destroying nations. THE BUSHEs/Clinton/Kissinger/Blair……..THEY brought down the trade center…………to bring about the present chaos in the US and BUSH Srs. New Worl Order.
http://www.infowars.com/if-the-fbi-both-planned-and-thwarted-a-terrorist-attack-whos-the-hero/
Very sorry that Chris Stevens and the rest ended this way. But they had served their purpose THEY HAD TO GO. This is how the state dept operates. They are OUR enemy(they work for the nwo)……..and most to all working there are dispensable “useful idiots.: to the handfull in the know.
Print the truth Blaze. Print it.

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123456beatriz
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 11:42am
Common sense! Who in Hell! are doing “business” with Jijahdists?. This is Stupid!. Maybe Bill Ayers is also advising about this, this guy was working with Turkish and Palestinian umm? Adviser! Formula for Disaster.! Everywhere we are surrounded by Idiots! made from Harvard or Yale or Columbia University or what! @!##@!!

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joyces
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 11:37am
Is this what they call back stabbing and cutting off the hand that feeds you?
Obama, his administration and the entire State Department is responsible for the Benghazi attack. Why is our money still being sent to this god forsaken place which is always erupting, creating problems and dragging the entire world down with them?

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