2 Navy warships moving toward Libyan coast, U.S. officials say

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WASHINGTON – U.S. officials say the Pentagon is moving two warships to the Libyan coast, in the aftermath of the attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador and three others.

Officials say one destroyer, the USS Laboon, moved to a position off the coast Wednesday, and the USS McFaul is en route and should be stationed off the coast within days. The officials say the ships, which carry Tomahawk missiles, do not have a specific mission. But they give commanders flexibility to respond to any mission ordered by the president.

The destroyers have crews totalling about 300. There have been four destroyers in the Mediterranean for some time. These moves will increase that to five.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss troop movements.

President Barack Obama vowed in a White House address that the U.S. would bring to justice those who killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

“Make no mistake we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.”

Intelligence officials said the attack on the Benghazi consulate was “too co-ordinated or professional to be spontaneous,” according to a U.S. counterterrorism official.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said it would be premature to “ascribe any motive to this reprehensible act.”

The attack, which came hours after a mob stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down the U.S. flag, was presumed to have been triggered by a movie, whose trailer has gone viral on YouTube, depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in disrespectful ways. Since the posting of the YouTube trailer, the filmmaker based in California has gone into hiding. The trailer, mocking Islam’s prophet, has sparked outrage in Egypt and Libya.

In an extraordinary move, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called anti-Islamic preacher Terry Jones and asked him to stop promoting the film. A spokeswoman said the church would not show the film Wednesday evening.

Obama ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic missions overseas, particularly in Libya, and said he condemned “in the strongest possible terms the outrageous and shocking” attack.

White House, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was particularly appalled that the attack took place in Benghazi, which the U.S. had helped liberate from dictator Moammar Gadhafi during the Arab Spring revolution in Libya this year.

In Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said the government will be reviewing the security situation at its embassy in Tripoli.

“As you would expect, we’ll re-evaluate the environment for our personnel in Tripoli,” he said.

He condemned the killing as “senseless.”

“We extend our sympathies to the family and friends of the four American diplomats killed,” he said.

The aftermath of the two attacks also stirred the U.S. presidential campaign, where until Wednesday, foreign policy had taken a back seat to the struggling economy.

Obama spoke shortly after the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, criticized the administration for statements issued before and after the Cairo attacks that expressed sympathy for those insulted by the video.

“I also believe the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions,” Romney told a morning news conference. “It’s never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values.”

Obama and Clinton made a rare joint visit to the State Department, where grieving colleagues of Stevens and the other three Americans killed in Benghazi gathered in a courtyard. The president also ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff at government and military buildings and vessels around the world until sunset on Sept. 16. Flags had already been lowered in many places to commemorate the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Clinton denounced those who might kill over an insulting movie.

“There is no justification for this,” Clinton said.

“None. Violence like this is no way to honour religion or faith and as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace.”

Underscoring the administration’s frustration, Clinton wondered aloud about the attack in Benghazi, which Gadhafi had once threatened to destroy.

“This is not easy,” she said. “Today, many Americans are asking, indeed I asked myself, how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, just how confounding, the world can be.”

“But we must be clear-eyed in our grief,” she said, saying the attack was carried out by a “small and savage group” not representative of the Libyan people. She noted that Libyan security guards had tried to fight off the attackers, had carried Stevens’ body to the hospital and led other consulate employees to safety. Several of the Libyan guards also were killed.

Stevens, a 52-year-old career diplomat, was killed when he and a group of U.S. employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as the building came under attack by a mob wielding guns and rocket propelled grenades. Stevens is the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan.

Three other Americans were also killed and the State Department identified one of them as Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria. Smith was also well-known in the video game community.

Smith formerly served in the American consulate in Montreal.

The identities of the others were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

“The mission that drew Chris and Sean and their colleagues to Libya is both noble and necessary, and we and the people of Libya honour their memory by carrying it forward,” Clinton said.

U.S. officials said some 50 Marines were being sent to Libya to reinforce security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.

Stevens spoke Arabic and French and had already served two tours in Libya, including running the office in Benghazi during the revolt against Gadhafi. He was confirmed as ambassador to Libya by the Senate earlier this year.

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