US in ‘aggressive steps’ to protect missions

WASHINGTON – The United States is taking “aggressive steps” to protect its embassies around the world, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday, September 18, denying the US had been warned of an attack in Libya.

“We had no actionable intelligence that an attack on our post in Benghazi was planned or imminent,” Clinton told a press conference after State Department talks with Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa.

“We are taking aggressive steps to protect our staffs in embassies and consulates worldwide,” Clinton said, amid a wave of anti-US protests around the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

Washington is also “reviewing our security posture at every post and augmenting it where necessary,” she said, adding that the US was also working with host governments “to make sure they know what our security needs are.”

A suicide bombing in Kabul on Tuesday brought the number of people whose killings have been linked to a week-long violent backlash over a trailer for a film mocking Islam to more than 30.

Among the dead are four diplomatic staff in Libya, including ambassador Chris Stevens, killed when militants besieged the US mission in Benghazi a week ago on September 11 in a four-hour sustained attack with heavy arms.

“We will not rest until the people who orchestrated this attack are found and punished,” Clinton said.

The FBI has launched an investigation inside Libya, and Clinton said the US was working with the Libyan government, which is leading its own inquiry, “so we can be assured that we have found who murdered our four colleagues and under what circumstances.”

She said people also had to look at the events strategically. “In a lot of places where protests have turned violent, we are seeing the hand of extremists who trying to exploit people’s inflamed passions for their own agendas.”

But she said most people in the Arab Spring nations were seeking to build a better future.

“This is part of a larger debate that is going on inside of these societies,” she said, highlighting how moderates had won the elections in Libya after the fall of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

And Clinton reminded that “our diplomats engage in dangerous work, and it’s the nature of diplomacy in fragile societies and conflict zones to be aware of the necessity for security, but also continue the important diplomatic work that has to go on.” – Agence France-Presse