Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 31 OcTOber 2017

Tillerson, Mattis: White House vows justice as US
captures a key Benghazi militant
New war authorization “not legally required”
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
By RICHARD LARDNER “Though a statement of prised by the extent of the JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press continued congressional operations in Africa that MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Se- support would be wel- U.S. forces are involved. Associated Press
nior U.S. national security come, a new (war au- Kaine and Sen. Jeff Flake, WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. special operations forces
officials told Congress on thorization) is not legally R-Ariz., are sponsoring leg- captured a militant in Libya accused of playing an
Monday a new war au- required to address the islation to install a new war instrumental role in the Benghazi attacks, officials said
thorization is “not legally continuing threat posed by authority for operations Monday, in a high-stakes operation designed to bring
required” to conduct com- al-Qaida, the Taliban and against the Islamic State the perpetrators to justice five years after the deadly
bat operations against ter- ISIS,” Mattis said. group, al-Qaida and the violence.
President Donald Trump identified the militant as Mus-
tafa al-Imam and said his capture signified that the
four Americans who died “will never be forgotten.”
Justice Department officials were escorting al-Imam
by military plane to the United States, where he’s ex-
pected to be tried in federal court.
“Our memory is deep and our reach is long, and we
will not rest in our efforts to find and bring the perpe-
trators of the heinous attacks in Benghazi to justice,”
Trump said.
The Navy SEAL-led raid marked the first publicly known
operation since Trump took office to target those ac-
cused of involvement in Benghazi, which mushroomed
into a multiyear political fracas centered on Republi-
can allegations of a bungled Obama administration
response. Those critiques shadowed Hillary Clinton,
who was secretary of state at the time of the attacks,
through her presidential campaign.
U.S. forces captured al-Imam just before midnight lo-
cal time Sunday in Misrata, on Libya’s north coast, U.S.
officials said. He was taken to a U.S. Navy ship at the
Misrata port for transport by military plane to Washing-
In this June 5, 2017, photo, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, right, and U.S. Secretary of Defense ton, where he’s expected to arrive within the next two
Jim Mattis participate in talks at Government House in Sydney. Tillerson and Mattis told Congress days, one of the officials said.
on Monday a new war authorization is “not legally required” to conduct combat operations Once on American soil, al-Imam will face trial in U.S.
against terrorist groups. District Court for the District of Columbia as the FBI
(Mark Metcalfe/Pool Photo via AP) continues to investigate, the Justice Department said.
rorist groups and warned But doing away from the Taliban. He faces three criminal charges that were filed in May
lawmakers that prema- existing laws prematurely “I don’t think Congress has 2015 but only recently unsealed: killing or conspiring
turely repealing current “could only signal to our necessarily been com- to kill someone during an attack on a federal facility,
law could signal the U.S. is enemies and our friends pletely kept up to date providing support for terrorists, and using a firearm in
“backing away from this that we are backing away and the American public, connection with a violent crime.
fight.” from this fight,” according I think, certainly has not,” It wasn’t immediately clear how al-Imam was involved
Secretary of State Rex Til- to Mattis. Kaine said after leaving a in the Sept. 11, 2012, violence. The U.S. attorney’s of-
lerson and Defense Sec- Their appearance before classified briefing conduct- fice said he is a Libyan national and about 46 years
retary Jim Mattis testified the committee comes ed by senior Pentagon offi- old. Trump said he’d ordered the raid, and thanked
before the Senate Foreign as the deadly ambush cials on the assault in Niger. the U.S. military, intelligence agencies and prosecu-
Relations Committee three in Niger is igniting a push Roughly 800 U.S. service tors for tracking al-Imam and enabling his capture.
months after they informed among many lawmakers to members are in Niger as The U.S. officials said the operation was coordinated
the panel a post-Sept. 11, update the legal parame- part of a French-led mis- with Libya’s internationally recognized government.
2001 law gave the military ters for combat operations sion to defeat the extrem- They weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the mat-
ample authority to fight overseas. ists in West Africa. There ter and demanded anonymity.
terrorist groups and a new A growing number of con- are hundreds more Ameri- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he’d spoken with
one was unnecessary. A gressional Republicans and can forces in other African the relatives of some of the Americans who died in
separate authorization for Democrats, many of whom countries. Benghazi: U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, State De-
the war in Iraq approved were startled by the depth U.S. troops also are battling partment information management officer Sean Pat-
by Congress in 2002 also re- of the U.S. commitment in an enemy — Islamic State rick Smith, and contract security officers Tyrone Woods
mains in force. Niger and other parts of Af- militants — that didn’t ex- and Glen Doherty. Tillerson said the U.S. would “spare
In testimony, they said if rica, have been demand- ist 16 years ago in a coun- no effort” to ensure al-Imam is held accountable.
Congress does pursue a ing a new authorization for try — Syria — that the U.S. Al-Imam will face court proceedings in U.S. District
new authorization for foes the use of military force. didn’t expect to be fighting Court, officials said, in an apparent departure from
such as the Islamic State, They’ve argued that the in. Nor did the 2001 autho- Trump’s previously expressed desire to send militants
it’s imperative that the ex- dynamics of the battlefield rization anticipate military to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay,
isting law not be rescinded have shifted over the past confrontations with the Syr- Cuba.
until the new one is fully in 16 years and it’s past time ian government. In an interview last March with conservative radio host
place. Tillerson and Mattis to replace the post-Sept. Trump in April ordered the Hugh Hewitt, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called
also said that any new war 11 authorization to fight al- firing of dozens of Toma- Guantanamo “a very fine place for holding these kind
authorization, like the exist- Qaida with a law that re- hawk missiles at an air base of dangerous criminals.”
ing one, should not have flects current threats. in central Syria and Ameri- The commando raid also came amid an ongoing de-
any geographic or time re- Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said can forces in June shot bate about the use of U.S. forces to pursue insurgents
strictions placed on the use last week he believed most down a Syrian Air Force in Africa and other locations outside of warzones like
of force. Americans would be sur- fighter jet. q Iraq and Afghanistan.q