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PAPER: U.S. WARNED OF EMBASSY ATTACK BUT DID NOTHING

Revealed: inside story of US envoy's assassination

Exclusive: America 'was warned of embassy attack but did nothing'

The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach, The Independent can reveal.

American officials believe the attack was planned, but Chris Stevens had been back in the country only a short while and the details of his visit to Benghazi, where he and his staff died, were meant to be confidential.

The US administration is now facing a crisis in Libya. Sensitive documents have gone missing from the consulate in Benghazi and the supposedly secret location of the "safe house" in the city, where the staff had retreated, came under sustained mortar attack. Other such refuges across the country are no longer deemed "safe".

Some of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyans who are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist groups, while some of the other documents are said to relate to oil contracts.

According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under which movement is severely restricted.

Mr Stevens had been on a visit to Germany, Austria and Sweden and had just returned to Libya when the Benghazi trip took place with the US embassy's security staff deciding that the trip could be undertaken safely.

Eight Americans, some from the military, were....REST OF IT

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    Central Scrutinizer

    U.S. rebuts British report on Libya

    The Libyan consulate is pictured. | AP Photo

    Officials say there is no intelligence indicated the attack was premeditated. | AP Photo

    The newspaper, The Independent, plastered its cover with the headline, “Revealed: inside story of US envoy’s assassination,” and reported inside: “The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach … American officials believe the attack was planned."

    The article continued: "According to....Read more

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      Central Scrutinizer

      More details emerge on U.S. ambassador's last moments

      Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Three days before the deadly assault on the United States consulate in Libya, a local security official says he met with American diplomats in the city and warned them about deteriorating security.

      Jamal Mabrouk, a member of the February 17th Brigade, told CNN that he and a battalion commander had a meeting about the economy and security.

      He said they told the diplomats that the security situation wasn't good for international business.

      "The situation is frightening, it scares us," Mabrouk said they told the U.S. officials. He did not say how they responded.

      Mabrouk said it was not the first time he has warned foreigners about the worsening security situation in the face of the growing presence of armed jihadist groups in the Benghazi area.

      The main building in the compound is in charred ruins.

      Disagreement over how attack began

      The suite where the body of the ambassador was found was protected by a large door with steel bars; the windows had steel bars.

      His body was recovered after looters broke into the room. It appears his security detail left him in the room while they tried to deal with the attack.

      There are numerous questions about what happened at the consulate where protesters had gathered to demonstrate against the film "Innocence of Muslims," which reportedly was made in California by a filmmaker whose identity is unclear.

      Chief among the questions is what happened to U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who went missing during the attack.

      The State Department has not released...REST

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        Christella Bernardene Krebs

        WHY WAS NOT THIS DESK BURNED AS WELL in the Bengazi Fire?

        A desk inside the burnt U.S. Consulate building in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday, September 13, two days after an attack on the building in which the U.S. ambassador and three other U.S. nationals were killed. The attack came as protesters outside the compound rallied against a movie that unflatteringly portrays Islam's Prophet Mohammed. <a href='http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/11/middleeast/gallery/cairo-embassy/index.html' target='_blank'>Photos: Protesters storm U.S. Embassy buildings</a>



        The Benghazi dead
        September 14, 2012 -- Updated 0053 GMT (0853 HKT)
        Sean Smith was a computer expert legendary in the gaming world. Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were former Navy SEAL commandos.