What can Ahmed Abu Khattala tell us about Benghazi?


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
On Sunday, U.S. special forces and the FBI nabbed Ahmed Abu Khattala, a lead suspect in the deadly September 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Abu Khattala was reportedly taken from the streets of Benghazi in a very short commando raid, without a shot being fired, and is now on his way to Washington to face criminal charges for the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
The Justice Department has handed down a sealed indictment of Abu Khattala, and the State Department in January designated him a terrorist and a leader of Ansar al Sharia, an Islamist militant group with loose ties to al Qaeda. The suspected Benghazi attack ringleader was interrogated under a public-safety exemption before being read his Miranda rights against self-incrimination. What might investigators and, eventually, the public learn from Abu Khattala?
The first priority would be pumping him for any information about planned attacks. The U.S. told the United Nations Security Council on Sunday that Abu Khattala "continued to plan further armed attacks against U.S. persons," and capturing him was "therefore necessary to prevent such armed attacks," Reuters reports. Other U.S. officials described Abu Khattala as an "active threat."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Second, investigators will want information on who else was involved with the Benghazi attack. "Our investigation will remain ongoing as we work to identify and arrest any co-conspirators," Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters Tuesday. While the U.S. State Department considers Abu Khattala a leader of Ansar al Sharia, The New York Times' David Kirkpatrick calls him a "local, small-time Islamist militant" with "no known connections to international terrorist groups." He did form a local (and brutal) militia called Obeida Ibn Al Jarra and was, according to witnesses, a visible leader of the Benghazi attack, Kirkpatrick says, though Ansar al Sharia "also played a prominent role in the attack."
Finally, Khattala probably holds the keys to what everyone says they want to know about the Benghazi attack: What happened and why? As Kirkpatrick says, "the thriving industry of conspiracy theories, political scandals, talk show chatter, and congressional hearings may now confront the man federal investigators say played the central role in the attack." Let's hope so.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published