N. Korea: We've detained a U.S citizen

Updated 5:10 a.m. EST

PYONGYANG, North Korea North Korea said Friday it has detained an American citizen who has confessed to unspecified crimes.

State media said in a short dispatch that someone named Pae Jun Ho entered North Korea on Nov. 3 as a tourist but was detained because of crimes.

The North said the crimes were "proven through evidence," but didn't elaborate.

Pyongyang has detained and eventually released several Americans in recent years. Some have been journalists and others Christians accused of religious proselytizing.

In 2009, two journalists were detained after crossing into the North from China while on a reporting trip. They were later released .

South Korean activists have told local media in Seoul that the detained man is a Korean-American and was taken into custody after entering North Korea to guide tourists. He operates a tourism company that specializes in North Korea, the reports said.

The North Korean dispatch said officials from the Swedish Embassy met with the American on Friday, but there were no other details about the meeting.

Karl-Olof Andersson, Sweden's ambassador to North Korea, told The Associated Press he could not comment on the case and referred the matter to the U.S. State Department. Sweden represents the U.S. in diplomatic affairs in North Korea since Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.

The detained American is undergoing "legal treatment," according to North Korea's criminal law, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.

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Fiscal Cliff 'Plan B' Is Dead: Now What?


Dec 20, 2012 11:00pm







The defeat of his Plan B — Republicans pulled it when it became clear it would be voted down — is a big defeat for Speaker of the House John Boehner.  It demonstrates definitively that there is no fiscal cliff deal that can pass the House on Republican votes alone.


Boehner could not even muster the votes to pass something that would only allow tax rates on those making more than $1 million to go up.


Boehner’s Plan B ran into opposition from conservative and tea party groups -including Heritage Action, Freedom Works and the Club for Growth – but it became impossible to pass it after Senate Democrats vowed not to take up the bill and the president threatened to veto it.  Conservative Republicans saw no reason to vote for a bill conservative activists opposed – especially if it had no hopes of going anywhere anyway.


Plan B is dead.


Now what?


House Republicans say it is now up to the Senate to act.  Senate Democrats say it is now up to Boehner to reach an agreement with President Obama.


Each side is saying the other must move.


The bottom line:  The only plausible solution is for President Obama and Speaker Boehner to do what they have failed repeatedly to do:  come up with a truly bi-partisan deal.


The prospects look grimmer than ever. It will be interesting to see if the markets react.



SHOWS: This Week







Read More..

Goodbye, U.S. Postal Service?




This Christmas could be the Post Office's last, says John Avlon.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • The U.S. Postal Service is bleeding money and heading toward insolvency

  • John Avlon: Congress can save the postal service in deal on the fiscal cliff

  • He says the urgency is clear, let's hope for a Christmas miracle

  • Avlon: But be prepared that Washington dysfunction can doom the postal service




Editor's note: John Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is co-editor of the book "Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns." He is a regular contributor to "Erin Burnett OutFront" and is a member of the OutFront Political Strike Team. For more political analysis, tune in to "Erin Burnett OutFront" at 7 ET weeknights.


(CNN) -- It's the time of year for dashing through the snow to the crowded post office, with arms full of holiday gifts for family and friends.


Not to break the atmosphere of holiday cheer, but this Christmas could be the last for the U.S. Postal Service. It is losing $25 million dollars a day and staring down insolvency -- unless Congress steps in to pass a reform package that reduces its costs.


With just a few days left in the congressional calendar, there is still some small hope for a Christmas miracle -- maybe the Postal Service can be saved as part of a deal on the fiscal cliff. But with even Hurricane Sandy relief stalled, skepticism is growing.



John Avlon

John Avlon



The real question is, what's taken them so long? After all, back in April the Senate passed an imperfect but bipartisan bill by 62-37. It would have saved some $20 billion, cut some 100 distribution centers, and reduced head count by an additional 100,000 through incentives for early retirement, while reducing red tape to encourage entrepreneurialism and keeping Saturday delivery in place for at least another two years. At the time, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware said, "The situation is not hopeless; the situation is dire. My hope is that our friends over in the U.S. House, given the bipartisan steps we took this week, will feel a sense of urgency."



To which the House might as well have replied, "Not so much."


In August, the Postal Service defaulted for the first time, unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to fund future retirees' health benefits. The headline in Government Executive magazine said it all: "Postal Service defaults, Congress does nothing."


The usual suspects were at fault -- hyperpartisan politics and the ideological arrogance that always makes the perfect the enemy of the good.


House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa greeted the news of the Senate bill by calling it a "taxpayer-funded bailout." His primary complaint was that the Senate bill did not go far enough. He was not alone -- Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe also expressed disappointment at the scope of the Senate bill, saying that it fell "far short of the Postal Service's plan."


But Issa's alternative couldn't even get to a vote in the Republican-controlled House. And so nothing happened. Even after the USPS defaulted on a second $5.5 billion payment, the response was crickets.


Washington insiders said that action would be taken after the election, when lawmakers would be free to make potentially unpopular decisions. But despite a series of closed-door meetings, nothing has been done.


It's possible that the nearly $20 billion in savings could be part of a fiscal cliff deal. Sen. Joseph Lieberman has suggested that ending Saturday delivery, except for packages, could be part of a compromise that could save big bucks down the road. Another aspect of a savings plan could be suspending the USPS' onerous obligation to fully fund its pension costs upfront, a requirement that would push many businesses into bankruptcy. And last fiscal year, the post office posted a record $15.9 billion loss.


"As the nation creeps toward the 'fiscal cliff,' the U.S. Postal Service is clearly marching toward a financial collapse of its own," says Carper. "The Postal Service's financial crisis is growing worse, not better. It is imperative that Congress get to work on this issue and find a solution immediately. ... Recently key House and Senate leaders on postal reform have had productive discussions on a path forward, and while there may be some differences of opinion in some of the policy approaches needed to save the Postal Service, there is broad agreement that reform needs to happen -- the sooner the better."


The urgency couldn't be clearer -- but even at this yuletide 11th hour, signs of progress are slim to none. If Congress fails to pass a bill, we'll be back to square one in the new year, with the Senate needing to pass a new bill which will then have to be ratified by the House. There is just no rational reason to think that lift will be any easier in the next Congress than in the current lame duck Congress, where our elected officials are supposedly more free to do the right thing, freed from electoral consequences.


So as you crowd your local post office this holiday season, look around and realize that the clock is ticking. The Postal Service is fighting for its life. And Congress seems determined to ignore its cries for help.


"Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor gloom of night" can stop the U.S. Postal Service from making its appointed rounds -- but congressional division and dysfunction apparently can.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.






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'Erin Brockovich' toxin found at Japan plant






TOKYO: The toxic chemical made infamous by campaigning single mother Erin Brockovich has been found at up to 15,800 times safety limits in groundwater at a Japanese iron plant, the factory's operator said Thursday.

Excessive amounts of hexavalent chromium were discovered at Nippon Denko's plant in Tokushima in the country's west as it prepared to halt production of chromium salts at the sixties-era factory, the firm said.

Also known as chromium-6, cancer-causing hexavalent chromium was at the centre of the 2000 US film "Erin Brockovich", which starred Julia Roberts as a real life legal assistant who leads a battle against a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply.

At the Japanese plant, the chemical was found at up to 400 times safety limits in soil and up to 15,800 times allowable levels in groundwater, Nippon Denko said, but added that "no hazards to human health or the outside environment" were reported.

"We voluntarily surveyed the soil and groundwater at the plant between June and August before the closure," a company spokesman said, adding that two dozen locations on the site were tested.

"At the moment, we're assuming the contamination is limited to the plant's compound and that no adverse effects have been caused to surrounding areas," a local government statement said.

The authority said its own survey had found no traces of the chemical in water surrounding the plant, which sits on landfill, or in wells on the fringes of the facility.

The company said it was planning to enclose contaminated areas with 11 metre containment walls to prevent seepage of the tainted groundwater.

- AFP/fa



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Blizzard warning issued for big chunk of Midwest






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Power outages affect thousands in Des Moines, Iowa

  • 23-car pileup in Texas dust storm kills one, injures 17

  • Heavy snow, high winds stretch from Colorado to Wisconsin in season's first blizzard

  • Storm to crawl from Midwest to New England by Friday




Is the storm hitting near you? Share your photos and videos on CNN iReport.


(CNN) -- Tens of thousands of people lost power in Iowa on Thursday as the first major storm of the season swept in, bringing blizzards, high winds and severe thunderstorms to the central United States.


The storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue a blizzard warning for a huge swath of the Midwest stretching from eastern Colorado to Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline, including virtually all of Iowa.


The declaration warned of snow accumulations of up to 12 inches, complemented by 25- to 35-mph winds that will occasionally gust to 45 to 50 mph.


More than 30,000 people were without electricity Thursday morning in Iowa, the bulk of them in Des Moines, according to MidAmerican Energy.




Iowa has seen the highest levels of snow so far, the National Weather Service said, with more than 8 inches in places.


Travelers who have hit the road early for the holiday season may face challenging conditions.


Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency in Wisconsin ahead of the storm, mobilizing the Wisconsin National Guard, the state patrol, Wisconsin Emergency Management and other state agencies.


The Wisconsin State Patrol and National Weather Service have urged people to avoid traveling.


"Mobilizing our state agency resources during this storm will ensure we leave nothing to chance when it comes to protecting the citizens of Wisconsin," Walker said.


In Colorado, adverse weather has closed U.S. Highway 6 at Loveland Pass, the state's Department of Transportation reported Thursday.


A 156-mile stretch of Interstate Highway 70 between Denver and the Kansas state line was closed in both directions for a time Wednesday. U.S. Highway 385 was closed in the Cheyenne Wells region Wednesday but reopened Thursday, Colorado's Department of Transportation said, with warnings of high winds and icy spots.


Airlines were reporting relatively few cancellations or delays in areas affected by the storm Wednesday night, but that may change Thursday.


The storm will race into western Illinois, the weather service said. Rain will quickly change to snow as the storm advances northeast, with the heaviest snow occurring overnight.


"Snow drifts several feet deep will be possible given the strong winds," the blizzard warning states.


Wrapping around the blizzard warning on the north, south and east is a winter storm warning, which will be no picnic either. The winds won't be quite as strong, but residents should expect a strong dose of rain, sleet and snow, with a few hail-packing thunderstorms thrown in for good measure.


A winter weather advisory is in effect for the Indiana-Ohio-Michigan tri-state area, as well as central Missouri and Kansas.


The "intense cyclone" will crawl across the Great Lakes region Thursday and slog into northern New England by Friday evening, the National Weather Service predicted.


Another storm is beginning to affect the Pacific Northwest and northern California, where heavy mountain snow and coastal flash flooding are possible through at least Thursday, the National Weather Service said.


Dodging the heavy precipitation but not the high winds is an area from western Texas and eastern New Mexico through the Oklahoma Panhandle and into southwest Kansas.


Much of the Southwest and Mississippi Valley is extremely dry, and the high winds have kicked up blinding dust near Lubbock, Texas.


At least 17 people were sent to hospitals near Lubbock after a 23-vehicle chain-reaction crash on Interstate Highway 27 north of New Deal, Texas, state safety officials told CNN on Wednesday. There was at least one fatality, said Clinton Thetford, emergency management coordinator of Lubbock County. A stretch of the freeway in Lubbock County remains closed indefinitely.


Meanwhile, the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, issued a tornado warning until 5:30 a.m. CT on Thursday for a cell that was moving directly toward downtown Mobile.


The storm has shown signs of strong rotation and could affect downtown Mobile and the Mobile Regional Airport.


Storm damage reported in Alabama


CNN's Jim Kavanagh, Laura Smith-Spark, Carma Hassan and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.






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Senate GOP proposes much smaller Sandy aid package

WASHINGTONSenate Republicans on Wednesday proposed a $24 billion emergency aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims, less than half of what Democrats hope to pass by Christmas.

The GOP alternative bill would provide more than enough money to pay for immediate recovery efforts through the spring.

Republicans complain that the $60.4 billion Democratic bill being debated in the Senate is larded with money for projects unrelated to damage from the late October storm, which battered the Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Maine.

The Republican version does not include $13 billion Democrats want for projects to protect against future storms, including fortification of mass transit systems in the Northeast and protecting vulnerable seaside areas by building jetties against storm surges.



49 Photos


Sandy's devastation on Staten Island



Republicans said however worthy such projects may be, they are not urgently needed and should be considered by Congress in the usual appropriations process next year, not through emergency spending.

"We want to take care of urgent needs now," said Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, who put forward the bill. "We can look at other needs down the road when we have more time to look at them."

The GOP bill also scraps spending from the Democratic bill that is not directly related to Sandy damages, such as the $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for declared fisheries disasters in 2012 that could go to New England states, Alaska, New York and Mississippi.

The aid will help states rebuild public infrastructure like roads and tunnels and help thousands of people displaced from their homes. Sandy was the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and one of the worst storms ever in the Northeast.

More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent on relief efforts so far for 11 states and the District of Columbia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund still has about $4.8 billion, and officials have said that is enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring.

Earlier this month, Govs. Chris Christie, R-N.J., Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., and Dannel Malloy, D-Conn., argued in an op-ed that "in times of crisis no region, state or single American should have to stand alone or be left to fend for themselves," pointing to the "hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, thousands still left homeless or displaced, tens of billions of dollars in economic loss" as evidence that "It's time for Congress to stand with us."

The governors, while recognizing that "our nation faces significant fiscal challenges," strive to separate the disaster-relief needs of their region from the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations consuming Capitol Hill, arguing that Congress must "not allow this much-needed aid to fall in to the ideological divide."

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal













Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days.


"If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference.


"I would like to think that members of that [Republican] caucus would say to themselves, 'You know what? We disagree with the president on a whole bunch of things,'" he said. "'But right now what the country needs is for us to compromise.'"


House Speaker John Boehner's response: "Get serious."


Boehner announced at a 52-second news conference that the House will vote Thursday to approve a "plan B" to a broad White House deal -- and authorize simply extending current tax rates for people earning less than $1 million a year and little more.


"Then, the president will have a decision to make," the Ohio Republican said. "He can call on Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he could be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history."








Fiscal Cliff Negotiations: Trying to Make a Deal Watch Video









House Speaker John Boehner Proposes 'Plan B' on Taxes Watch Video









'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Deal Might Be Within Reach Watch Video





Unless Congress acts by Dec. 31, every American will face higher income tax rates and government programs will get hit with deep automatic cuts starting in 2013.


Obama and Boehner have been inching closer to a deal on tax hikes and spending cuts to help reduce the deficit. But they have not yet had a breakthrough on a deal.


Obama's latest plan would raise $1.2 trillion in new tax revenue over 10 years, largely through higher tax rates on incomes above $400,000. He also proposes roughly $930 billion in spending cuts, including new limits on entitlement spending, such as slower annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries.


Boehner has agreed to $1 trillion in new tax revenue, with a tax rate hike for households earning over $1 million. He is seeking more than $1 trillion in spending cuts, with significant changes to Medicare and Social Security.


The president said today that he remains "optimistic" about reaching a broad compromise by Christmas because both sides are "pretty close," a sentiment that has been publicly shared by Boehner.


But the speaker's backup plan has, at least temporarily, stymied talks, with no reported contact between the sides since Monday.


"The speaker should return to the negotiating table with the president because if he does I firmly believe we can have an agreement before Christmas," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a White House ally.


Schumer said Obama and Boehner are "not that far apart" in the negotiations.


"If they were to come to an agreement by Friday, they could write this stuff over the Christmas break and then we'd have to come back before the New Year and pass it," Schumer said.


Obama said he is "open to conversations" and planned to reach out to congressional leaders over the next few days to try to nudge Republicans to accept a "fair deal."


"At some point, there's got to be, I think, a recognition on the part of my Republican friends that -- you know, take the deal," he told reporters.


"They keep on finding ways to say no, as opposed to finding ways to say yes," Obama added. "At some point, you know, they've got take me out of it and think about their voters and think about what's best for the country."



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On gun control, look to Biden




Rebecca Puckwalter-Poza says Vice President Joe Biden was a leader on gun control in the Senate.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza: Obama has apparently tapped Biden as gun control point man

  • She says he was leader in Senate on issue, shepherding 1994 gun control legislation

  • It banned manufacture of many semi-automatic guns,criminalized high-capacity magazines

  • Writer: Biden worked across aisle; he's adroit, determined statesman, right man for job




Editor's note: Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza served as deputy national press secretary of the Democratic National Committee during the 2008 election.


(CNN) -- President Obama's poignant speech at Sunday's interfaith vigil in Newtown, Connecticut, set the tone for our mourning. Now, America's path forward will be decided out of the spotlight. The question of whether the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School will linger only in memory or be memorialized by an enduring shift in gun policy can only be answered by the legislature.


Incoming Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Diane Feinstein has announced she will introduce an enhanced assault weapons ban on the first day of the new Congress, but the fate of that legislation is in the hands of Vice President Joe Biden.


Biden will reportedly lead the administration's political response.



Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza

Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza



No politician could be better suited to the challenge of passing federal gun control legislation than Biden. Over the past four decades, Biden has been one of the most consistent and effective advocates of gun control and violence prevention legislation. In 1994, Biden shepherded the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act through the Senate, a near miracle six years in the making.


After Biden wrote the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1988, Republicans quickly filibustered, blocking the bill for four years. He steered "the Biden crime bill" through the lengthy filibuster by negotiating with Republicans and making revisions. "Every single line in that bill was written with every single major Republican a part of it," Biden said in a September 12, 1994, interview on the Charlie Rose show.


The Clinton administration and then-Sen. Biden repeatedly refused to make concessions that would have jeopardized the substance of the act, even after debate over the amendment we know as the federal assault weapons ban imperiled the entire bill. Instead of backing down, Biden took on Republican Sens. Phil Gramm and Orrin Hatch and faced opponents attacking the bill as taxpayer-funded "dance lessons and midnight basketball for robbers and rapists."


France: Where fear and taboo control guns more than laws


Biden did not budge: "Make no mistake, this is about guns, guns, guns." The crime bill passed the Senate in November 1993.



When the bill foundered in the House, Biden persevered. It reached President Clinton's desk thanks to an unexpected, eleventh-hour push from a "Lost Battalion of Republicans" led by Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware. He'd been swayed during a series of meetings with the House Speaker and other House Republicans, at which Biden was the only Senator in attendance.


The resulting legislation banned the manufacture of 19 types of semi-automatic firearms and criminalized the possession of high-capacity magazines. The process taught a critical lesson: When otherwise "pro-gun'" lawmakers have to choose between a crime bill including a gun ban and inaction, it is more than possible for them to vote to protect Americans. Unfortunately, the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. Since then, numerous lawmakers, including Joe Biden, have tried and failed to get the ban renewed.


Congress now has a rare opportunity to take new action on gun control. After Newtown, proponents of stricter gun legislation are backed by public opinion and bolstered by a surge of political support. The "pro-gun" wing of the GOP and the National Rifle Association remain silent even as their supporters are defecting publicly.


Democratic Sens. Harry Reid and Joe Manchin, whose voting record earned them the NRA's "top rating," have backed off their "pro-gun" positions and declared that "everything must be on the table" for legislative debate. The 31 pro-gun senators have not spoken since Friday's tragedy, signaling the possibility that some of them might be changing their minds on guns, too.


Lawmakers are essentially being asked to consider an updated version of the 1994 assault weapons ban. On Sunday, Feinstein promised the legislation "will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession" of assault weapons and ban high-capacity magazines as well as "clips of more than ten bullets."












Biden will likely support a new ban on assault weapons and push for improvements. His 2007 Crime Control and Prevention Act would not only have renewed the ban but required background checks for all gun purchases, closing the "gun show loophole.'" Biden has also called on Congress to address the relationship of mental illness to violence in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings.


Was your gun banned?


The president cautioned Americans Sunday, saying "no single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely, we can do better than this."


In his first term, however, Obama practiced a policy of appeasement, failing to block the expansion of gun rights or promote gun control. To ensure Congress passes tough, comprehensive gun control laws rather than settling for a watered-down version, as with health care, Obama must let Biden lead.


Why? Biden has distinguished himself as an adroit and effective statesman in both the legislative and the executive branches. The former six-term senator has a deft touch with moderate and conservative counterparts: in 2008, he eulogized Strom Thurmond. As vice president, he has spearheaded the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Moreover, Biden has a particular passion for protecting students and educators. His wife, Jill Biden, has been teaching for more than 30 years.


The deaths of 20 first-graders and six adults compel all Americans as sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, to consult their moral compasses. Legislators face a greater responsibility: a moral imperative to pass any legislation that could possibly prevent a future Newtown, Aurora, Oak Creek or Blacksburg.


Opinion: Gun violence is a national security issue


As Obama ministers to the American people and offers words of comfort, Biden must move lawmakers to action. In 1994, Biden warned his colleagues, "we simply can't let the gun lobby deny to the American people the vital benefits in this bill." Biden must once more appeal to Congress to enact gun control. If anyone can succeed in those chambers, it's Joe Biden.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza






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Bank of England votes 8-1 to maintain stimulus






LONDON: Bank of England policymakers voted 8-1 to maintain their quantitative easing stimulus programme at their December meeting, repeating the voting pattern from the previous month, minutes showed on Wednesday.

The BoE's nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) had voted earlier this month to keep the QE stimulus amount at 375 billion pounds ($611 billion, 460 billion euros).

Polcymakers were also unanimous in keeping the bank's key interest rate at 0.50 percent, according the minutes from the December 5-6 gathering. British borrowing costs have stood at this record low level since March 2009.

Lone policymaker David Miles voted again this month for an extra £25 billion for the asset purchasing programme in order to lift economic growth, repeating his call from November.

Under quantitative easing, the Bank of England creates cash that is used to purchase assets such as government and corporate bonds with the aim of boosting lending and in turn economic activity.

- AFP/de



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Libya siege: Ambassador's last minutes






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in September of this year

  • He was the first U.S. ambassador murdered since 1988

  • Along with Stevens, three other Americans were killed




(CNN) -- They were hiding in a place security officers called a "safe area." It was anything but.


Outside an angry crowd grew, gunfire rang out and a fire blazed.


Thick smoke blinded the three trapped men. The intruders banged on the fortified safety gate of the bunker-like villa.


A security officer handed his cell phone to Ambassador Chris Stevens. Prepare for the mob to blast open the locks of the safety gate, the officer said.


Security blog: Benghazi review critical of State's diplomatic security









Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya























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It was a little before 10 at night on September 11, 2012. And time was running out for Stevens.


Vivid new details of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were released Tuesday night by a federal committee trying to come to grips with the violence that led to the first murder of a U.S. ambassador since 1988 and the deaths of three other Americans.


The report spoke of grossly inadequate security, an issue that Stevens had complained about well before September 11.


Read more: nquiry cites 'failures' at State Department


The brief phone call


Instead of blasting their way into the villa, the crowd retreated for some reason. But the fire still blazed.


Stevens used the cell phone to try to alert others about the attack.


Struggling to see, choked by smoke, he dialed.


Read more: Benghazi problems suggest long list of changes


He may have wanted to tell embassy officials in Tripoli that he and the small security detail at that 13-acre compound were in big trouble.


They were outmanned, outgunned. The militants had doused a large area with diesel fuel and started a hideous fire.


He may have wanted to say that he was trapped in a building they called Villa C with a security officer, and Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.


They had to flee to the villa after intruders stormed the walled-in consulate compound armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.


But in that 9:50 p.m. phone call, Stevens could only tell the U.S. deputy chief of the mission in Tripoli that they were under attack.


The call promptly dropped.


Warning signs


Though fierce and sudden, the attack may not have been surprising for some.


U.S. diplomats who worked in Libya, a country struggling to form a government after overthrowing longtime dictator Moammar Ghadafi, had repeatedly asked for more security.


American officials, for the most part, were well-received in Libya, where many locals were grateful for the help the United States provided in overthrowing Ghadafi.


But danger remained.


Read more: State Department: Clinton not dodging Benghazi hearings


There were still many Ghadafi loyalists, there was easy access to guns and the new fledgling government was having a difficult time maintaining security.


On June 1, a car bomb exploded outside a hotel in Tripoli where Stevens was staying.


Read more: Benghazi talking points omitted link to al Qaeda


The same month, Stevens had to move with his security team from the hotel because of a "credible' threat.


On June 6, a roadside bomb exploded near the U.S. compound in Benghazi, hurting no one but blasting a large hole in a wall of the compound.


The threats continued for U.S. officials and diplomats from other countries -- but security staffing remained unchanged.


The ambassador is missing


But now, there was no time to fret about woeful security.


Black smoke was filling up the safe area.


Stevens, Smith and the security officer crawled to a bathroom, hoping to open a window.


The security officer placed towels under the bathroom door and flung open the panes.


It made things worse.


The open window pulled more smoke into the bathroom, making breathing impossible.


Despite the explosions outside, they would have to flee the safe area, the officer thought. The smoke had choked out the lights. They were in total darkness.


The officer left the bathroom, crawled through a hallway, banging on the floor and yelling that the ambassador and Smith follow him.


He slipped though another window and collapsed in an enclosed patio area.


And then he noticed it.


Stevens and Smith were not there.


The officer slipped back through the window several times, even though the intruders were still shooting at him.


The smoke and heat was unbearable. He could not find either man.


He used a ladder to climb to the roof of the villa and radioed for help.


He had been in the smoky room for so long he could hardly speak. It took some time for the officers on the other end of the line to understand what he was saying.


He did not have Smith, he said. And the ambassador is missing.


The battle at the Annex


Three other security officers had barricaded themselves in another building when the siege began.


Once the first wave of attackers seemed to retreat, the officers got out of their "defensive" positions and drove an armored car to the villa. They found their colleague on the roof, vomiting, about to pass out.


The three officers crawled through the smoke inside.


Read more: Ex-CIA chief Petraeus testifies Benghazi attack was al Qaeda-linked terrorism


They found Smith. They dragged his body out. But they were too late.


A team, from a nearby U.S. facility called the Annex, arrived and helped search for Stevens. They could not find him.


Concerned that the large crowd of militants was about to overtake the entire compound, they decided to flee back to the Annex without Stevens.


Men in the crowd began shooting, the bullets almost piercing the armored vehicle and blowing out two of its tires.


They drove on. At least two vehicles followed them.


They made it to the Annex, preparing for another fight. It was about 11:30 at night.


Just before midnight, bullets began hitting the Annex. This started a gun battle that lasted for an hour.


Hours later, another wave of attacks hit the facility with mortars, killing security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.


Finding Stevens


Hours passed and no one knew where Stevens was.


About 2 a.m., the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli received a phone call.


It was from the cell phone of the security officer who had given his phone to Stevens.


The man on the line spoke Arabic, telling embassy officials that Stevens had been taken to a hospital in Benghazi.


Officials could not determine what hospital Stevens was taken to.


Some wondered if the phone call was a trick from militants who wanted to lure U.S. officers to their death.


A Libyan official was sent to Benghazi Medical Center. He said Stevens was there.


Hospital staff said six civilians brought Stevens to the emergency room about 1:15 a.m.


Even though the ambassador showed no signs of life, doctors worked to revive him for 45 minutes.


It was too late.


This narrative account was pieced together from a report released Tuesday night by the Accountability Review Board, an independent panel selected by the State Department.






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