Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/82924
8A Daily News – Friday, September 14, 2012 4 arrested as official describes US consulate attack BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Heavily armed militants used a protest of an anti-Islam film as a cover in their deadly attack on the U.S. Con- sulate, screaming ''God is great!'' as they scaled its outer walls and descended on the main building, a witness and a senior Libyan security official said Thursday. The account, the most detailed yet of the ram- page that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, came as the Libyan government said four people suspect- ed in the attacks had been arrested and more were being sought. tion management officer Sean Smith, private secu- rity guard Glen Doherty and one other American who has yet to be identi- fied. Nakoula is filmmaker of anti-Muslim WORLD BRIEFING not consider Egypt an ally, ''but we don't consider them an enemy.'' The security official, eastern Libya's deputy interior minister, Wanis el-Sharef, said it was a two-pronged attack. He said that hours after the crowd stormed the con- sulate Tuesday night, the militants raided a safe house in the compound just as U.S. and Libyan security arrived to evacu- ate the staff, suggesting infiltrators within the security forces may have tipped off the militants to the location of the safe house. The attacks were sus- pected to have been timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strike in the United States, el- Sharef added, with the militants using the film protest by Libyan civil- ians to mask their action. Killed in the attack were U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, informa- movie WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities have identified a Coptic Christian in southern California who is on probation after his conviction for financial crimes as the key figure behind the anti-Muslim film that ignited mob violence against U.S. embassies across the Mideast, a U.S. law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday. The official said authori- ties had concluded that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was behind ''Innocence of Muslims,'' a film that denigrated Islam and the prophet Muhammad and sparked protests earlier this week in Egypt, Libya and most recently in Yemen. It was not immediately clear whether Nakoula was the target of a criminal investi- gation or part of the broader investigation into the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya during a terrorist attack. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed Thursday that Justice Department officials were investigating the deaths, which occurred during an attack on the American mission in Beng- hazi. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not autho- rized to discuss an ongoing investigation, said Nakoula was connected to the per- sona of Sam Bacile, a man who initially told the AP he was the film's writer and director. But Bacile turned out to be a false identity, and the AP traced a cellphone number Bacile used to a southern California house where it located and inter- viewed Nakoula. he was Jewish and Israeli, although Israeli officials said they had no records of such a citizen. Others involved in the film said his statements were contrived, as evidence mounted that the film's key player was a Coptic Christian with a checkered past. Bacile initially told AP US braces for more fallout from anti- Middle East and North Africa. Muslim film WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administra- tion was caught by surprise by the ferocity of the Sept. 11 attack against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. Now it is brac- ing for another potential eruption of violent demon- strations in parts of the Muslim world after Friday's weekly prayers — tradition- ally a time of protest in the over an anti-Islam video already have occurred in Egypt and Yemen, and offi- cials theorize that well- armed Libyan extremists hijacked a similar protest in Benghazi, where several Libyan security guards also were killed. The U.S. put all of its diplomatic missions overseas on high alert, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered an explicit denunciation of the video as the administra- tion sought to pre-empt fur- ther turmoil at its embassies and consulates. ''The United States gov- ernment had absolutely nothing to do with this video,'' she said before a meeting with the foreign minister of Morocco at the State Department. ''We absolutely reject its content and message.'' ''To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible,'' Angry demonstrations said. ''It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.'' U.S. officials said they suspect that the attack at the Benghazi consulate, which had also been the target of an unsuccessful attack in June, may have been only tangentially related to the film. Clinton Romney argument FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama on Thursday of shifts back to economic ''failing American work- ers'' by ignoring Chinese trade violations, and seized on new Federal Reserve attempts to boost the econo- my as proof the administra- tion's policies are not work- ing. view with the Spanish-lan- guage network Telemundo that Egypt is a ''new gov- ernment that is trying to find its way.'' And he warned that if the Egyptian govern- ment takes actions showing ''they're not taking respon- sibility,'' then it would ''be a real big problem.'' Administration officials later said the president was not trying to downgrade the relationship between the U.S. and Egypt. But the remark reflected some U.S. frustration that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi had not been vigor- ous enough in his response to a breach Tuesday of the U.S. embassy in Cairo by demonstrators protesting an anti-Muslim film. Obama said in an inter- Obama campaigned as commander in chief after the violent deaths of four U.S. officials at a diplomat- ic post in Libya. ''No act of terror will go unpunished ... no act of violence shakes the resolve of the United States of America,'' he said. The president spoke in Colorado and Romney in Virginia with less than eight weeks remaining in a close campaign for the White House in tough economic times. The two states are among a handful likely to settle the race, and most polls rate Obama a shaky favorite. With campaign costs mounting, Romney and Obama competed for the most innovative fundraising appeal. lenger's campaign emailed that anyone making a $15 donation would qualify for a chance to join ''Mitt on board the campaign plane for an exciting day on the campaign trail — at 30,000 feet!'' The Republican chal- Obama: US does not consider The protest in Yemen came after the breach of the embassy in Cairo and after an armed assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which killed the U.S. ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans. NYC bans supersized Those protests continued to spread, with demonstra- tors storming the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen's capital, Sanaa on Thursday. They were on the embassy's grounds but did not enter the building hous- ing the offices. Demonstra- tors removed the embassy's sign on the outer wall and set tires ablaze. Once inside the compound, they brought down the U.S. flag and burned it. Egypt an ally or an enemy WASHINGTON (AP) — With anti-U.S. protests spreading in the Arab world, President Barack Obama says the U.S. would New York City cracked down on the sale of super- sized sodas and other sug- ary drinks Thursday in what was celebrated by some as a groundbreaking attempt to curb obesity but condemned by others as a blatant intru- sion into people's lives by a busybody mayor. Public health experts around the nation — and the restaurant and soft-drink industry — will be watch- ing closely to see how it goes over among New Yorkers, a famously dispu- tatious bunch. Barring any court action, the measure will take effect in March. The regulations, sodas NEW YORK (AP) — approved easily by the city Board of Health, apply to any establishment with a food-service license, includ- ing fast-food places, delis, movie and Broadway the- aters, the concession stands at Yankee Stadium and the pizzerias of Little Italy. 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