On September 11, 2012 U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens along with embassy personnel Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty were killed on the Special Missions Compound in Benghazi, Libya. The tragic terrorist attack on these four Americans has sparked investigation into why Libya has diminished from a prosperous nation to what the Congressional Research Service would call a “failed state.” To fully understand the unrest in Libya that facilitated this poignant moment in Foreign Service, it is vital to acknowledge the disarray in Libyan government onset by the actions of late dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi and the coming of the “Arab Spring.”
For 42 years Muammar al-Qaddafi’s rule over Libya exhausted the state into chaotic governance. Qaddafi seized power in 1969 enforcing Arab nationalist and socialist policies that ultimately turned the Libyan population against him through his multiple accounts of human rights abuses (Amnesty International 5).
Qaddafi had no hesitation executing any threat to his authority. According to Amnesty International, on June 28, 1996 Qaddafi security forces purged 1,167 soldiers in Abu Salim prison who were being held for a failed coup attempt. In another report from BBC, Qaddafi’s former ambassador to the United States, Ali Aujali, made claims that a young man had been tied up and ripped in half by two cars after making accusations that Qaddafi had sex with his wife.
Qaddafi was likewise a threat to the international community. On December 22, 1992 it was reported that under his orders Libyan Arab Airlines 727 was shot down killing a total of 157 Libyans and foreigners (Olgiati). The event succeeded the 1988 bombing of Pan Ann over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew on board (Weissman 671). As discussed in the Presidential Studies Quarterly, the United Nations addressed the Lockerbie Bombing by imposing economic sanctions on Libya, further irritating the already distraught region.
The collapse of Qaddafi’s “Jamahiriya state” began February 17, 2011 as the wave of popular uprisings against longtime Middle Eastern dictators rolled into Benghazi (Weissman 672). The movement began in the North African country of Tunisia and soon gained momentum in Benghazi as the government became more unlawful. This movement known as the Arab Spring increased the presence of armed non-state actors and violent protests. In addition, other cities in Eastern Libya including Misrata, Zawiya, and Zintan pushed back on Qaddafi security forces in a brutal battle. Beginning in February 2011 and lasting until October 2011, the war between Qaddafi and Islamist movement brigades resulted in the death of 11,000 Libyans, 4,200 which were Qaddafi’s soldiers and 6,600 brigade members.
Muammar Qaddafi was assassinated on October 20, 2011. However, the chaos continued. Over time the dismantlement of his regime led to the displacement of a military arsenal: millions of small arms, portable rocket propelled grenades, grenade launchers, and explosives (Mattes 63). In response, opposition brigades and tribal militias such as Ansar al-Sharia, the Islamist militia credited with attacking the U.S diplomatic facility, accessed these arms. The armed groups built strength for over a year prior to the arrival of the U.S. diplomat, and are a significant reason many question the extent to which U.S facilities were protected in Benghazi.
Next time…
Amnesty International. (2015). Benghazi’s Descent Into Chaos: Abductions, Summary Killings and Other Abuses. Retrieved from www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1900012015ENGLISH.PDF
Mattes, Hanspeter. “Libya since 2011: Political Transformation and Violence.” Middle East Policy, vol. 23, no. 2, Summer 2016, pp. 59-75. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/mepo.12195.
Olgiati, Christopher. “Libya: Muammar Gaddafi’s secrets finally revealed.” BBC News, BBC, 3 Feb. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-25979532.
Tiersky, Alex and Susan B. Epstein. “Securing U.S. Diplomatic Facilities and Personnel Abroad: Background and Policy Issues.” Congressional Research Service, 30 July, 2014. EBSCOhost.
Weissman, Stephen R. “The Law: Presidential Deception in Foreign Policy Making: Military Intervention in Libya 2011.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 669-690. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/psq.12294.
