Trial begins for Benghazi attack suspect
WASHINGTON — Prosecutors and defense lawyers gave starkly different portrayals Monday of Ahmed Abu Khattala, the alleged mastermind of the 2012 attacks on U.S. outposts in Benghazi, Libya, that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
A government lawyer said that when Abu Khattala’s hatred of America boiled over, he orchestrated the attacks and then triumphantly strode around the attack site carrying an AK-47. Assistant U.S. attorney John Crabb said that later, the defendant was heard at his apartment saying: “I attacked the American embassy” and would have killed more Americans that night if others had not intervened.
A defense attorney, Jeffrey Robinson, on the other hand, called Abu Khattala a “Libyan patriot,” who fought on America’s side in the war against Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy. He said Abu Khattala didn’t mastermind the attack. The lawyer said the defendant simply went to the attack site because he heard there was a protest and wanted to see what was happening.
“He didn’t shoot anyone. He didn’t set any fires. He did not participate in the attacks,” said Robinson.
Twelve jurors and three alternates listened as opening statements unfolded in one of the most significant terrorism prosecutions in recent years. The trial is being held in federal court in Washington at a time when the Trump administration has said terror suspects should be sent to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Abu Khattala has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including murder of an internationally protected person, providing material support to terrorists and destroying U.S. property while causing death. He monitored his trial with earphones offering him an Arabic interpreter.
An 18-count indictment against Abu Khattala arises from a burst of violence that began the night of Sept. 11, 2012, at a State Department compound, a rampage prosecutors say was aimed at killing American personnel and plundering maps, documents and other property from the post.
Stevens was killed in the first attack at the U.S. mission, along with Sean Patrick Smith, a State Department information management officer. Nearly eight hours later at a CIA complex nearby, two more Americans, contract security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, died in a mortar attack.
After he was captured, Abu Khattala was taken to a U.S. Navy ship that transported him to the United States. During the 12-day journey, he was first interrogated by intelligence personnel and then by FBI agents. Crabb said Abu Khattala told FBI agents that America was the “root of all the world’s problems.”