Finding who was to blame for Benghazi

BEFORE he “resigned” last August, Fawzi Abd al-Aali, the former Libyan interior minister, said: “They are armed, I am not going to fight a losing battle and kill my men over a demolished shrine.”

He was referring to the armed Salafi groups that were accused of destroying Sufi shrines. One of the accused groups was the Ansar al-Shariah Brigade, which was quick to support the demolition, but denied any responsibility for it.

Ahmed Jibril, Libya’s deputy ambassador to London, has now accused the brigade, headed by Muhammed Ali Al-Zahawy, of perpetrating the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, which killed the American ambassador, Christopher Stevens, and three other US personnel, as well as Libyan guards. Others have quickly embraced and promoted Jibril’s allegation. But the picture is more complex.