U.S. Government Investigates Al-Qaida For Recent Libya Attacks

U.S. Government Investigates Al-Qaida For Recent Libya Attacks

Al-Qaida and its linked grouped are now being investigated for the death of the U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans in Libya and  if proven responsible, the White House is ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali as they already has put special operations strike forces on standby.

However, the administration, with weeks until presidential election, mulls whether the short-term payoff of exacting vengeance on Al-Qaida is worth the risk as it could elevate the group’s profile in the region and alienate the U.S. government. The government is concerned that if the immediate retribution takes place, it would just increase the growing terror threat in North Africa.

The dilemma shows the tension of the White House's need to demonstrate it is responding forcefully to al-Qaida, balanced against its long-term plans to develop relationships and trust with local governments and build a permanent U.S. counterterrorist network in the region.

Last week, though, during his debate with Republican Vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, Vice President Joe Biden pledged to find those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

"We will find and bring to justice the men who did this," Biden said in response to a question about whether intelligence failures led to lax security around Stevens and the consulate. Referring back to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year, Biden said American counterterror policy should be, "if you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell if need be."

But the Republicans was not shaken by the words of the administration and instead accused Obama of being low to label the assault an act of terrorism early on, and slow to strike back at those responsible.

"They are aiming for a small pop, a flash in the pan, so as to be able to say, 'Hey, we're doing something about it,'" said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudy Attalah, the former Africa counterterrorism director for the Department of Defense under President George W. Bush, bragging about Clinton administration that fired cruise missiles to take out a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that may have been producing chemical weapons for al-Qaida.

"It was a way to say, 'Look, we did something,'" he said. On the other hand, Islamists in the region are preparing for a reaction from the U.S.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday October 17 2012, 6:34 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0