Monday, October 15, 2012

How the Assassination of the American ambassador, Christopher Stevens, will Affect the US-Libya Relationship


The death of the American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was due to a tragic act of terrorism and there is no doubt that economic ties and peacekeeping efforts between the U.S. and Libya were negatively affected. Leakage of the virulent “Innocence of Muslims” video sparked insurgents to assassinate Stevens, even though he was someone whom many Libyans called “one of them.” Counter demonstrations in Tripoli suggested that many Libyans remained thankful for U.S. support that helped to overthrow the Gaddafi regime and opposed the violence.

Anti-American hostility is rampant within extremist militant groups in the region and it is naïve to think that we can tame it long term just by holding an election process. These new democracies are fragile and will need more support to stabilize local politics in order to bring peace to the Middle East. American voters will not forget Stevens’s death (along with three others) and want the perpetrators brought to justice but they will be reluctant to provide further military or monetary aid to Egypt or Libya because they are so worried about improving the economy at home. The Americans will be pulling out of Afghanistan by 2014 and do not want to fund another war.  

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you that the death of christopher stevens is a tragic one and one that should have not happened! the thing is those people, these terrorists that killed him, are not what true muslims look like. Islam is a religion of peace but it is because of groups like the taliban and al qeada people now have a bad representation of muslims! Libya right now is in a very sensitive spot! coming out of a war with all ready non existing infrastructure, judicial system, no police force, a non existent army, with tribal rivalries and tensions still among cities its going to take years for them to become a united country again! lets not forget the there are still pro-G supporters scattered throughout the country! there will be NO WAR between Libya and the USA! but western countries need to give these countries time because they have been under oppressions for decades!

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  2. The death of Christopher Stevens is indeed a tragic one. I do agree - there will definitely be very many negative effects of this attack on economic and peacekeeping efforts between LIbya and the United States. I too am curious to see what the outcome will be of this attack and wonder what it was that actually fuelled this attack as there are now rumours circulating that it was NOT sparked by the video "the Innocence of Muslims."

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