news

     U.S. Forces Capture Key   Benghazi Suspect

U.S. operatives captured a senior suspect in the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, in a nighttime raid on Libyan soil that set the stage for a high-profile trial of an alleged terrorist in U.S. civilian court.

The suspect, Ahmed Abu Khatallah, is being interrogated outside the U.S. by a special group of intelligence investigators, said U.S. officials familiar with the case. Mr. Khatallah is the most prominent of those wanted in the attack on two U.S. compounds, in which four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed.

The attack prompted sharp criticism of the Obama administration by Republican lawmakers, in part for the lack of action against suspects in the Sept. 11, 2012, incident.

Mr. Khatallah was captured Sunday night in a stealthy raid on the outskirts of Benghazi, in which no shots were fired and no U.S. personnel were injured, U.S. officials said. President Barack Obama authorized the raid and the U.S. didn't give the Libyan government any advance notice, officials said.

Mr. Khatallah was captured at a time and place where the operation wasn't observed, so many in his inner circle weren't aware he was missing, said a U.S. official.

U.S. intelligence officials had been closely tracking his movements as he frequently moved between residences in the Benghazi area and decided to swoop in and grab him when he was isolated at one of them, said an official. He wasn't captured at his own home, officials said.

U.S. officials say Ahmed Abu Khatallah led a branch of an Islamist militia. This photograph, from Facebook, has been confirmed by The Wall Street Journal to be Mr. Khatallah.

He is now being interrogated for intelligence purposes and hasn't yet been read his Miranda rights, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. In coming days, he is expected to be brought to Washington, D.C., for trial, where charges that could carry a potential death sentence were unsealed on Tuesday.

It is possible that any statements made by the suspect prior to a Miranda warning will be inadmissible in a future trial, and once the suspect is appointed a lawyer he could challenge the legality of his apprehension.

The capture, first reported in the Washington Post, comes as the U.S. has more freedom to act unilaterally in Libya—militia groups that had pledged support to Mr. Khatallah have recently been weakened, and the country's government is in flux.

Speaking in Pittsburgh, the president said Mr. Khatallah's capture sent a clear message to the world: "When Americans are attacked, no matter how long it takes, we will find those responsible, and we will bring them to justice."

He praised the courage and precision of U.S. special operations forces in the capture of the suspect and said he has remained committed to finding those responsible for killing the four Americans.

Congressional Republicans had questioned how it was that Mr. Khatallah could be found and interviewed by news organizations since the attacks—interviews in which he denied allegations he had directed his fighters to attack the compound—yet the U.S. government couldn't reach him. Mr. Khatallah has said he was present at the consulate the night of the attack to try to calm tensions and direct people he described as protesters to go home.

The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in flames on September 11, 2012. Reuters

At the Pentagon, a military spokesman chafed at the suggestion the U.S. had been slow to go after the suspect.

"The presumption in that question is that, you know, he was going to McDonald's for milkshakes every Friday night and we could have just picked him up in a taxicab," said Rear Adm. John Kirby. "These people deliberately try to evade capture and putting yourself in a position where you can properly ID and move against them takes a lot of planning, and I don't think anybody's going to apologize for the effort over such a long period of time that eventually led to his capture."

He declined to say whether the U.S. had tried to capture Mr. Khatallah before Sunday's raid.

Since 2013, senior Libyan officials had been pressing the U.S. to share evidence that Mr. Khatallah was responsible for ordering the Benghazi attacks. If presented with such evidence, the officials said, Libya would have been ready to arrest him and could have made the case publicly for why he was such a menace. Without such evidence, they were reluctant to act, fearing a bloody reprisal in Benghazi or renewed civil conflict by militias seeking revenge.

A criminal complaint filed last July in federal court was unsealed on Tuesday, charging Mr. Khatallah with killing a person in the course of an attack on a U.S. facility, providing material support to terrorists, and using a firearm during a crime. While the most serious charge makes Mr. Khatallah potentially eligible for the death penalty, the Justice Department typically takes months to decide whether to seek such a punishment. Attorney General Eric Holder said more charges could be filed in coming days.

Several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a longtime critic of the Obama administration's antiterrorism policies, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), called for Mr. Khatallah to be held at the prison at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mr. Holder quickly nixed that idea, saying the suspect will be brought to trial by jury. Mr. Holder called the capture "a significant milestone in our efforts to ensure justice is served for the heinous and cowardly attack on our facilities in Benghazi." He also pledged to continue hunting other suspects in the attack.

U.S. officials describe Mr. Khatallah as the leader of the Benghazi chapter of Ansar al-Shariah, an Islamist militia. He allegedly directed some of the attackers who descended on the U.S. Consulate and a nearby Central Intelligence Agency outpost. U.S. diplomat Sean Smith and security workers and ex-Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were also killed in the attack.

Since the consulate attack, Mr. Khatallah has been protected by a network of loosely affiliated Islamist militias, many of whom have warned their rival factions in the city and national politicians in Tripoli that they would react violently should Mr. Khatallah be arrested as a result of his alleged role in the consulate attacks, said Benghazi militia leaders.

However, that network has been attacked in recent weeks by a rival group of armed units led by a former general and political opposition leader named Khalifa al-Hiftar. Mr. Hiftar gathered a coalition of forces to attack the Islamist militants throughout Benghazi, and they have killed and scattered some of the militia ranks that stood with Mr. Khatallah, said Mr. Hiftar's spokesman and militia leaders in Benghazi.

Since the incident, Mr. Khatallah has boasted he had nothing to fear and he remained living in his family home, with little outward signs of beefed up personal security. A neighbor of Mr. Khatallah reported seeing him in his garden over the weekend, apparently before the U.S. forces swept in.

Developments in Libya smoothed the path to the arrest, with many hurdles to launching an extraterritorial military operation out of the way in present day Libya. Since its revolution in 2011, Libya has struggled to stand up its national institutions after decades of one-man rule under Gadhafi. The mandates of the country's interim authorities, the congress and the prime minister, are in question, as the nation prepares for elections next week.

Meanwhile, the country's legal codes are also in flux, as a national constitutional committee is debating a new foundation document outlining the powers of each branch of government.

The nation's intelligence chief, Salam al-Hassi, who was backed by Washington, tendered his resignation in early June, and the nation's defense minister has never managed to create a unified command-and-control over the uniformed armed forces.

"There is literally no one with the authority in government to OK such an operation, and there is no one who legally has an airtight reason not to allow it," said a diplomat in Tripoli

        Main Iraq Oil Refinery in   Flames After Rebel Attack

Iraq's army claimed Wednesday it had repelled an attack on the nation's largest oil refinery and killed 40 militants while the nation's prime minister provided an upbeat assessment on government gains in a nationally televised address to the war-weary nation.

Chief military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi announced that government forces had retaken control of the Beiji refinery shortly after Reuters, citing unnamed security sources and refinery employees, reported that the refinery may largely be controlled by insurgents.

"The militants have managed to break in to the refinery. Now they are in control of the production units, administration building and four watch towers. This is 75% of the refinery," an official speaking from inside the refinery told Reuters. It was not clear why the official spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, assured the nation that his government has regained the initiative after the "shock" defeat of army and security forces in the country's north.

"We were able to contain the strike and arrest deterioration. … We have now started our counteroffensive, regaining the initiative and striking back," al-Maliki said.

Control of the nation's oil facilities are a key factor in maintaining control of the country. On Tuesday, the Beiji refinery was shut down and foreign workers were evacuated as Iraq security forces prepared for a raid of the compound by insurgents. The sprawling facility is situated about 50 miles north of Tikrit.

Crude oil prices did not immediately rise sharply on the news of the attack, which is taking place with mortars and machine guns, although they did move higher. The July crude oil futures contract added 29 cents to the barrel to $106.65.

Other clashes between Sunni Muslim militants from the al-Qaeda breakaway group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — referred to as ISIL or ISIS — and security forces continued Wednesday in areas to the north of Iraq's capital Baghdad.

But if the Beiji refinery were to fall it could prove to be a dramatic new twist in the story and may have a big impact on supplies in Iraq and potentially across the world. Iraq is a major supplier of the world's oil."An increasing risk of supply outages in Iraq comes against a backdrop of an already tight global demand/supply balance that has markets already on edge," IHS energy experts wrote in a recent note. 

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said its diplomats were investigating claims that militants abducted 60 foreign construction workers, including some 15 Turks, near the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Separately, speaking live on television on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country stood ready to defend Shiite Muslim holy sites in neighboring Iraq against "killers and terrorists," according to Reuters.

"We declare to all superpowers, their mercenaries, murderers and terrorists that the great Iranian nation will not miss any effort in protecting these sacred sites," Rouhani said.

Washington has yet to decide how it will deepen its involvement in the conflict although it has deployed a few hundred troops to protect the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and other American interests.