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Glass, debris and overturned furniture are strewn inside a room in the gutted US consulate in Benghazi Ibrahim Alaguri/AP/Press Association Images

US evacuates diplomatic staff from embassy in Libya

Most of diplomatic staff have been evacuated following the killing of the US ambassador to Libya and other consul officials in Benghazi.

THE UNITED STATES has evacuated most of its diplomatic staff from Libya, flying them to Germany, after an attack on its Benghazi offices that left four dead, US officials confirmed this evening.

All diplomatic missions around the world have also been ordered to review their security, a senior US official told journalists.

The United Nations earlier slammed the “unjustifiable” killing of the US ambassador to Libya, saying it highlighted the Libyan government’s struggle to establish its authority.

The UN Security Council and UN leader Ban Ki-moon both condemned the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi “in the strongest terms”.

The 15-nation council put aside divisions over last year’s NATO military action in Libya to agree on a statement on the attack that killed Chris Stevens and three other US officials.

Libyan diplomats said a number of Libyan security guards also lost their lives.

The council also hit out at an earlier attack on the US embassy. Both have been blamed on anger sparked by a movie mocking Islam.

The Security Council “reaffirmed that such acts are unjustifiable regardless of their motivations, whenever and by whomsoever committed,” said a statement agreed by the body.

“The United Nations rejects defamation of religion in all forms. At the same time, nothing justifies the brutal violence which occurred in Benghazi yesterday,” Ban said in a statement released by his office.

“The world witnessed a sober reminder of the challenges faced not only by the Libyans, but those in the international community who are committed to support Libya’s ongoing transformation,” UN political chief Jeffrey Feltman told a Security Council meeting.

He added that the consulate attack, the killing of security personnel in Benghazi, bombs in Tripoli and the destruction of Muslim shrines in several cities “further emphasize the security challenges facing the authorities in Libya.”

- (c) AFP 2012

Read: US ambassador to Libya killed in attack

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    Mute stayfrostynatty
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    Sep 12th 2012, 9:59 PM

    If gaddafi was there this could never happen in libya,now they are paying the price of the actions they took…so tell me this is all this worth it..

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    Mute Declan Noonan
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    Sep 12th 2012, 10:24 PM

    Yes frosty or whatever your name is. Let’s keep all the dictators in power because they will keep everyone in check. So let’s install one in Ireland for a start and let’s go from there. Right?
    Are you a fan of dictatorships?

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    Mute toorkeel
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    Sep 12th 2012, 10:30 PM

    You’re right…the devil you know and all that….The “Arab Spring” will be Europes nightmare yet…a bunch of basket case soon to be Islamic states on our doorstep….interesting times ahead!

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    Mute Declan Noonan
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    Sep 12th 2012, 11:03 PM

    Toorkeel, democracy is wasted on people like you.

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    Mute Barry O'Brien
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    Sep 12th 2012, 11:28 PM

    Toorkeel, you’re one to talk with a violent bigot who sponsored murder of Irish people as your avatar.

    Protestant extremists, Catholic extremists, Muslim extremists. Doesn’t matter what religion you are but murdering or supporting murdering justified by religion is just beyond words of derision.

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    Mute Strongbow62
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    Sep 13th 2012, 6:41 AM

    ” Arab Spring ” my ass. Back in 1848 people revolted against monarchs and wanted free speech , free press and a say in parliament. While religion was undoubtedly in the mix it was a secondary force, , even the pope ended up bring confined to the Vatican. The scenes from Libya shoe that the new Libyan government Is incapable of containing the worst excesses of Islamic mobs. Imagine this religion as the dominant ideology in the world . Science and modernity would grind to a halt. Securing oil comes at a big price. The US consulate looks like a burning fort in the middle of Indian country.

    Varican

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    Mute B Lowe
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    Sep 12th 2012, 10:20 PM

    I think the ambassadors death is called collateral damage. Well, that’s what the US calls all the innocent women and children liked in drone strikes. The US backed these extremist groups and this is simply a result of their own actions. Libya is a basket case now. The old tactim: divide and rule. If only Gaddafi was still in power.

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    Mute Felix Knox
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    Sep 12th 2012, 10:35 PM

    It’s only collateral damage when the yanks do it.n

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    Mute Barry O'Brien
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    Sep 12th 2012, 11:23 PM

    While I agree with you in general, saying “if only Gadaffi was still in power” is going a bit far. He was a cruel dictator who sponsored terrorism. Unfortunately, as predicted, he’s been replaced by hordes of lunatic terrorists. I’m not defending NATO’s actions in Libya, but although Gadaffi kept relative peace he was no hero and shouldn’t and shouldn’t be venerated as such.

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    Mute Declan Noonan
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    Sep 13th 2012, 12:29 AM

    B Lowe, I am hearing that the American ambassador who was killed in Libya was popular there. He started out in the peace Corp teaching English in the mountains of morocco for two years. The quote on the news tonight was that he loved the middle east. The people of the middle east lost someone who supported them. The world has just lost one of the good guys.

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    Mute B Lowe
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    Sep 13th 2012, 7:10 AM

    Gaddafi was a good force (overall, along everything into consideration) for Libya. Democracy is not for every country and to think it is is naive in the extreme. Gaddafi reinvested the oil money. There were fantastic benefits for ordinary Libyans. The benefits they got were unmatched in the world. Gaddafi was loved by his people. 95% of the population of Tripoli protested against the NATO air strikes. We now know officially(when this was said before I was called a basket case) that Oman had hundreds of its troops in Libya during the uprising dressed as rebels. These rebels are extremists and I pity the poor Libyans now. Warlords rule Libya now and the international corporations bought all the state utilities for peanuts. If Libyans were to come to the West and take their revenge you could not blame them. Libya had no debt under Gaddafi, the very first action of the new Libyan government was to issue debt from its newly created central bank.

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    Mute Derek Durkin
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    Sep 13th 2012, 12:14 AM

    The most powerful forces in the world today are transnational corporations i.e. Financial institutions, arms companies, mediaand so on who hold no allegiance to any country but use the most powerful nations to further their agenda of more power which comes from resources,miltary etc. The people in charge of resource nations know what they are up against so they close shop. At first they are idealists and patriotic but power and paranoia corrupts and they turn into dictators. Prime examples are Ghadafi and Iran, would Iran be the country it is today if the west hadn’t tried to seize control of the country through coups. Sometimes these countries are a direct consequence of the larger dangers that inhabit this world. And all that religion crap is just a method of control,division or distraction directed from the very top while they steal from the masses on a daily basis, always has been.

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    Mute Justine Dorfman
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    Sep 16th 2012, 11:01 PM

    The naivety of all the “anti-Gaddafi” people on here is depressing. The same old lies that Gaddafi was a dictator who sponsored terrorism. It’s like parrots repeating what they hear on the news. Just because journalists say so doesn’t mean it’s true. Did you ever research anything about the Lockerbie show trial? Have you ever bothered to find out what system of government Libya had? They had local councils that were elected from among whom a national parliament was elected. The national parliament then elected a cabinet for the different ministries. Gaddafi was merely a figurehead, much like the Queeen in London, yet I haven’t heard any calls for regime change in Britain. Libya under the Jamahiriya had the highest standard of living in Africa, huge gold reserves, a large amount of oil and was the only country in the world which had zero national debt according to the UN. When the two biggest old imperial powers of Europe get together to overthrow the government of an oil-rich country with zero national debt and the highest standard of living in Africa, you would have to be a fool to believe that they’re doing it to “help the Libyan people”. I used to believe that the US and Europe stood up for democracy and freedom around the world when I was a teenager. I’m 24 now and am glad I’m not so naive anymore. It’s really sad to see people older than me who still believe these ridiculous fairytales.

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