Report: Slain Ambassador Stevens Feared He Was on Al-Qaeda ‘Hit List’

Warned of Growing al-Qaeda Presence in Libya

Assassinated during the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi last week, US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens feared for his safety and had confided in people that he believed himself to be on an “al-Qaeda hit list.”

The unnamed source says that Stevens had warned of rising Islamist sentiment as well as an ever-growing al-Qaeda presence in Libya. The statements seem to agree with Libyan official claims that they had warned the US about security concerns in Benghazi.

Which of course is the exact opposite of the story that the White House has been selling, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went on to deny the report, saying there is “no basis” to believe Stevens was a target.

Officials have differed on who is to blame for the attack, initially blaming Ansar al-Sharia Benghazi (ASB), a group with a former Guantanamo Bay detainee at its head, but Libya’s Prime Minister today said that the group was a “loose organization with no set members and no known affiliation to al-Qaeda.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.