'Freewheeling Violence By Jihadists' Caused Shutdown of US Embassy in Libya - Kerry

The U.S. State Department was forced to suspend operations at its embassy in Libya because of "freewheeling militia violence" there, Secretary of State John Kerry said today.

Kerry, who spoke to reporters before a meeting with the Turkish and Qatari foreign ministers about Gaza , made
the comments after the State Department announced it evacuated its staff in Tripoli.
He blamed the "freewheeling militia violence," caused by Jihadist groups which have only grown in power since
the ouster of former president Muammar Gaddafi, for creating an environment in which the diplomatic
activities at the Libya embassy had to be suspended.

"A lot of the violence is around our embassy but not on the embassy, but nevertheless it presents a very real
risk to our personnel," Kerry said.
As a result, embassy personnel were transported in vehicles escorted by U.S. military guards and helicopters to Tunisia and dispersed throughout the
region from there.
Kerry insisted the special envoy to the region, David Satterfield, would continue to engage with his British
counterpart, and that the U.S. embassy personnel would return as soon as the situation stabilized.

But he stressed the need for Libyans to engage in a peaceful political process in order to permanently change the tide of violence in the violence-ridden nation.
"We're very, very hopeful that those people will recognize that the current course of violence will only bring chaos and possibly a return of difficulties," said Kerry.

The State Department also issued a travel warning for Libya and urged Americans there to leave.
The groups in Tripoli have been fighting for weeks, with dozens killed and wounded on all sides.
The withdrawal comes two years after a deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.

ABC News

Hilary Clinton, State Dept. Broke Law, Lied About Boko Haram Terror Threat - Senator Vitter

A leading senator has charged that Hillary Clinton’s State Department broke the law by intentionally obfuscating and downplaying to Congress the terror threat posed by the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, which recently gained international infamy for violently kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls.

Sen. David Vitter (R., La.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, petitioned Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday to explain why Clinton’s State Department misrepresented and downplayed key information about Boko Haram’s terrorist activities in its annual reports to Congress.

Former Secretary of State Clinton lied to Congress when she said that the State Department lacked the necessary information to designate Boko Haram as a terror group, according to Vitter’s letter, which presents new information about the State Department’s purported efforts to downplay the terror group’s impact.

Clinton’s State Department fought against efforts to designate Boko Haram for nearly two years, a move that likely limited U.S. efforts to confront the group earlier and allowed it to grow in strength.

Vitter charges that officials working under Clinton intentionally manipulated words and mislead Congress in its annual reports to create the impression that Boko Haram posed little to no threat.

Clinton’s State Department “repeatedly stated in the year leading up to the designation that it did not have data available or the necessary understanding to make the determination,” Vitter wrote to Kerry, according to a copy of unreleased letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

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Washington Free Beacon