Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for October 17, 2012
Newsline: ‘Ferocity and Intensity’ of US Embassy Attack Unlike Anything Seen in Libya
The State Department official responsible for security for US diplomats in Libya testified before a congressional committee that the attack last month on the mission in Benghazi would have overpowered even a reinforced security detail. “The ferocity and intensity of the attack was nothing that we had seen in Libya, or that I had seen in my time in the Diplomatic Security Service,” said the official, Eric A. Nordstrom. Nordstrom presented his testimony at the first hearing held by a congressional committee investigating the attacks that led to the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. As a regional security officer, Nordstrom served in Libya from Sept. 21, 2011, to July 26, 2012, six weeks before the attacks. He said the security plan that was in place at the mission “was regularly tested and appeared to work as planned despite high turnover” of Diplomatic Security agents on the ground. Another witness, a National Guard officer who was temporarily deployed in the Tripoli embassy as the site’s security officer, said he became increasingly concerned about what he described as “the weak” security he saw in Benghazi on two visits there last spring and summer. After declining for weeks to provide details about the assault on Sept. 11, the State Department on Tuesday night arranged with little notice a conference call in which a spokesman gave new details on what happened. In this account, Stevens met with a Turkish diplomat during the day of the attack and then escorted him to the main gate of the mission around 8:30 p.m. At that time, there were no demonstrations and the situation appeared calm. Little more than an hour later, there was gunfire and explosions. US agents, watching the compound through cameras, saw a large group of armed men moving into the Benghazi compound. The barracks for a local militia that was protecting the compound was set on fire, and the attack began to unfold. Seeking to defend the State Department against charges of lax security, the official suggested to reporters that it could not have been anticipated. “The lethality and the number of armed people is unprecedented. There had been no attack like that anywhere in Libya — Tripoli, Benghazi or elsewhere — in the time we had been there,” he said. “It would be very, very hard to find a precedent for an attack like that in recent diplomatic history.” For all the detail the State Department provided Tuesday, however, some key questions were not answered. The official declined to say how many security personnel were sent from the embassy in Tripoli to Benghazi on the night of the attack to try to restore order, how many security personnel were based in Tripoli at the time and how long it took the reinforcements to arrive.
Newsline: Chinese Embassy voiced “strong dissatisfaction” over the fisherman’s death in South Korean waters
A Chinese fisherman died Tuesday after being hit by a rubber bullet fired by a Korean Coast Guard officer after his vessel entered Korean waters. The shooting happened in the West Sea about 90 kilometers off of Hong Island in Shinan County, South Jeolla Province. The Korean Coast Guard said its officers fired the bullets during a raid on the Chinese boat, when the fishermen fought back with knives and other sharp materials. The fisherman who was hit was rushed to a hospital by helicopter, but died three hours after the incident. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade immediately informed the Chinese Embassy in Seoul about the incident and expressed its regret. It also said it is conducting an investigation into the incident. In response, the Chinese Embassy issued a statement conveying its “strong dissatisfaction” over the fisherman’s death and calling for a “serious and thorough” investigation. The Chinese government has yet to issue an official response.
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=138784&code=Ne2&category=2
Newsline: Japanese embassy in China issues warning after citizens attacked
Japan’s embassy in China reissued a warning to its citizens there to show caution after four Japanese nationals were assaulted at a restaurant in Shanghai last week, Agence France-Presse said, citing diplomatic sources. The four and a Chinese colleague who worked at the same Japanese company were attacked on Thursday after a group of people first asked their nationality, according to the news agency. The Chinese colleague purportedly suffered a knife cut in the incident, AFP reported, citing a Japanese diplomat. The embassy’s warning urged its nationals to refrain from speaking Japanese in public and avoid crowded places. Chinese police say they arrested several people over the weekend in connection to the assault. Tensions are high between the two Asian neighbors who are embroiled in a territorial dispute over a group of uninhabited islands claimed by both in the East China Sea.
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