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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)

GCT
Posted on October 22, 2012 at 9:41pm
A Turkish Ambassador leaves our consulate and 45 minutes later it is attacked? Coincidence? Why is no one investigating this?

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joshua1-9
Posted on October 22, 2012 at 7:48am
I don’t know when people will finally wake up to see this adminstration for what it is. It is sad when people (our soldiers) have to die for the corruption of this administration. I ask why? and all I have to do is listen to Obama speak. The man is an out right liar and has to be defeated. The lies just spew from his mouth and they catch him lying and he will lie on top of that lie. They never stop.

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theoldstoryteller
Posted on October 21, 2012 at 8:36pm
Candy Crowley interjected a comment on behalf of President Obama in front of millions of people at the last debate. She has since retracted that statement. Mrs. Crowley should be allowed to retract that statement at Monday night’s debate in front of millions of people!

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coachpan
Posted on October 21, 2012 at 9:04am
My take is that Stevens was either trying to get the evidence (weapons) back or the El Quada wanted more and were being refused. Either way, BHO has to take faught !!!

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politicaljules
Posted on October 21, 2012 at 6:53am
Americans are offended at the complete foreign policy mess that has become a staple of this obama administration. On libya alone we have been in a constant state of shock and horror of things that only seem to be getting worse.

When the contingency operation started so many, myself included, questioned empowering rebels that we had no idea who was organizing these rebels. Now it turns out that al queda had a big part to play. The same al queda that obama claimed we had beaten and they were on their heels. And that news just gets worse the more we find out about benghazi.

Has anyone forgotten that it was an al queda flag that was raised over the consulate? And so the promise that was made to hunt down al queda has been broken. We are still investigating?? While tons of large weaponry pour into Syria to aid Syrian rebels. Who just so happen to have al queda members helping them as well.

I hope more people wake up soon. This is not going to end well.

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Thornyrose13
Posted on October 20, 2012 at 10:33am
The facts are still too few to put together what was happening. They can add up to too many different scenarios. But it is obvious the ambassador was not in Benghazi for social visits, it is obvious that security was never at the level it should have been, and it’s a safe bet that there are people covering their butts by hiding or destroying information. US interests and prestige have been hurt, and our president still worries more about offending Muslims than he is in protecting those interests. If this wasn’t an election year, we would already have hearings going on. People must demand accountability. If the administration is screwing up this bad in Libya, how many other places are they damaging us by their policies, or worse, by the seat of their pants actions.

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RitafromPA
Posted on October 20, 2012 at 10:28am
I am so confused..yeah, I know, I’m not alone. Brett Baier’s Special Report was certainly enlightening, but it didn’t seem factual as to what really happened to Stevens??? I understand for his family’s sake keeping things from the public, BUT it seemed contrived from what I have read and heard regarding his death. Am I wrong?

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EP46
Posted on October 20, 2012 at 7:58am
We all mourn the death of 4 Americans. So many questions about could this have been prevented. As of today, we still do not know WHY America became involved in Lybia in the beginning. Nothing for the US to gain. Gaddafi was not threat, he prevented Muslim Brotherhood from taking hold in Lybia. That is where questions should start? Why did US turn Egypt & Lybia over to Muslim Brotherhood and stand back and let Syria murder tens of thousands? Why were US weapons being moved around the Middle East? I believe there are some of us who know those answers. Now a new president will have to deal with the results of 4 years of US support given to terrorists.

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BubbaT
Posted on October 20, 2012 at 7:44am
The entire administration and the puppet master rats that give their marching orders should be swinging from ropes. But it’ll never happen.

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sizzlinsexybeckster
Posted on October 20, 2012 at 6:31am
This will be a great program to watch – I’m so glad your staff is always investigating and eagerly on top of all the news out there! This guy was blindsided and killed. Too many corrupt people working in our own government who need deported yesterday along with Obama. Thank you Blaze for everything you do.

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Teaple
Posted on October 20, 2012 at 2:48am
Why couldn’t the Ambassador meet with people in the embassy where it’s much safer? What was he doing out in Benghazi that he couldn’t do in Tripoli?

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NDPINDNT
Posted on October 20, 2012 at 12:40am
Wow, this story is going to go viral in the next few days. Can’t wait for the debate to take place and what comes out there too. If it gets out and is confirmed we were supplying Al Qaeda with weapons intentionally, wow! Look out. Obama will be gone in a landslide vote.

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mauna
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 11:21pm
As Glenn Beck would say, do your homework. Google the Muslim Brotherhood at the White House in August prior to the Arab Spring. Google the employees who worked at Google and helped with Arab Spring. At least one of their employees went Egypt to help start the Revolution. Check the White House visitors list and see how many times Eric Schmidt of Google has been to see Obama at the White House. There are so many things this administration has done that are corrupt it is hard to believe. I figured all along that Stevens knew too much, and that he had been eliminated. BTW: The two Seals that were killed in the asassination were not there as security for Stevens. They were there working with the CIA and were staying at the building 1.2 miles away. They heard the shooting and ran to help. Obama claimed there were there working as security, but they were not. They were there on a mission for the CIA.

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Hickory
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 10:25pm
It looks to me like this administration is really into running guns to some really bad people…………. all over the place.

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An_American_Thinker
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 7:20pm
And Leon Panetta just announced they were sending a contingent to set up operations along the Syrian border….

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Fear The Voices
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 7:18pm
I have read this information elsewhere the other day. It is obvious the 0bamao regime is using our resources to further the caliphate that Glenn had warned is coming…. We are being set up by this regime and they have appointed elements at many levels of government to facilitate our demise when the time comes for the arab spring in the US.
We need to get Romney into office if we even have the hope to slow it down…. A thorough house cleaning is needed to rid the enemy from within the gates.

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TEARS FOR AMERICA
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 6:56pm
Isnt it interesting how people just end up dying:

http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/BODIES.html

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