Benghazi Terrorist Planner Met With Osama Bin Laden

From Western Journalism:

The terrorist planner of Benghazi, Mohammed al Zahawi, met with Osama bin Laden when the latter was in Sudan, according to a senior official in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). 

According to Business Insider’s account of the official’s eulogy: “Sheikh al Zahawi, may Allah have mercy on him, began his march in [the] mid-nineties,” Nadhari explained, according to SITE. 

“Allah guided him [to] meet the reviving Imam Osama bin Laden when Osama was in Sudan. Zahawi took from his determination and learned from his methodology, then he was captured quickly by the Saud government, the traitor to Allah and His Messenger,” he continued. 

AQAP was not the only official al Qaeda group to issue a euology for Zahawi. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) also issued a eulogy for the deceased leader of Ansar al Sharia Libya. 

As evidence of Ansar al Sharia’s interconnections with al Qaeda, three other al Qaeda groups took part in the raid on the US Mission and Annex at Benghazi. 

Militants from AQAP and AQIM took part, as well as jihadists from the Muhammad Jamal Network (MJN). The United Nations Security Council added Ansar al Sharia, the primary group behind Benghazi, to its al Qaeda sanctions list in November 2014. 

The Obama administration initially avoided the word “terrorism” in connection with the attack and claimed it was a spontaneous attack based on a video. 

Here’s Obama speaking to Steven Kroft of 60 Minutes on September 12th, the day after the attack: 

Kroft: Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya attack. 

Obama: Right. 

Kroft: Do you believe that this was a terrorist attack? 

Obama: Well, it’s too early to know exactly how this came about, what group was involved, but obviously it was an attack on Americans and we are going to be working with the Libyan government to make sure that we bring these folks to justice one way or the other. 

Kroft: It’s been described as a mob action. But there are reports that they were very heavily armed with grenades. That doesn’t sound like your normal demonstration. 

Obama: As I said, we’re still investigating exactly what happened. I don’t want to jump the gun on this. But you’re right that this is not a situation that was exactly the same as what happened in Egypt. And my suspicion is, is that there are folks involved in this, who were looking to target Americans from the start.