Stevens: we are seeing targeted and discriminate attacks

A cable signed by Stevens about a month before he was killed focused on the deterioration of security in eastern Libya[1. Reuters – U.S. intended to keep Benghazi mission open through 2012 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-usa-libya-intelligence-idUSBRE89I16J20121019]. It noted there had been an increase in violence in Benghazi but said it was not an organized campaign, and locals were determined to get through it. In the two-page document Steven’s says:

Benghazi has moved from trepidation to euphoria and back as a series of violent incidents has dominated the political landscape.

The individual incidents have been organized,” a function of “the security vacuum that a diverse group of independent actors are exploiting for their own purposes.

Islamist extremists are able to attack the Red Cross with relative impunity

What we have seen are not random crimes of opportunity, but rather targeted and discriminate attacks

There have been abductions and assassinations, but there have also been false alarms and outright fabrications

What we are going through – and what people here are resolved to get through – is a confluence rather than a conspiracy

Attackers are unlikely to be deterred until authorities are at least capable.