very much alive and at least semi-conscious
Posted on 09/17/2012 9:56:05 AM PDT by indpndtguy
CAIRO—Ambassador Chris Stevens was still breathing when Libyans stumbled across him inside a room in the American embassy in Benghazi, pulled him out and drove him to a hospital after last week’s deadly attack in the eastern Libyan city, witnesses told the Associated Press on Monday.
Fahd al-Bakoush, a freelance videographer, was among the Libyan civilians searching through the embassy after gunmen and protesters rampaged through it last Tuesday night. Al-Bakoush said he heard someone call out that he had tripped over a dead body.
A group of people gathered as several men pulled the seemingly lifeless form from the room. They saw he was alive and a foreigner, though no one recognized him as Stevens, al-Bakoush said.
READ MORE: Arrests made in U.S. embassy attack; operation precisely timed by militants: Libyan minister
He was breathing and his eyelids flickered, he said. “I tested his pulse and he was alive,” he said “No doubt. His face was blackened and he was like a paralyzed person.”
Video taken by al-Bakoush and posted on YouTube shows Stevens being carried out of a small dark room through a window with a raised shutter and being laid on the floor. One man touches his neck to feel for a pulse. Some of the men shout, “God is great.”
The video has been authenticated since Stevens’ face is clearly visible and he is wearing the same white t-shirt seen in authenticated photos of him being carried away one another man’s shoulders, presumably moments later. Two colleagues of al-Bakoush who also witnessed the scene confirmed that he took the footage.
READ MORE: Arab Awakening coverage
Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack on the consulate, part of a wave of assaults on U.S. diplomatic missions in Muslim countries over a low-budget movie made in the United States that denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.
The accounts of all three witnesses mesh with that of the doctor who treated Stevens that night. Last week, the doctor told The Associated Press that Stevens was nearly lifeless when he was brought by Libyans, with no other Americans around, to the Benghazi hospital where he worked. He said Stevens had severe asphyxia from the smoke and that he tried to resuscitate him with no success. Only later did security officials confirm it was Stevens.
A freelance photographer who was with al-Bakoush at the scene, Abdel-Qader Fadl, said Stevens was unconscious and “maybe moved his head, but only once.”
Ahmed Shams, a 22-year-old arts student who works with the two, said the group cried out “God is great” in celebration after discovering he wasn’t dead. “We were happy to see him alive. The youth tried to rescue him. But there was no security, no ambulances, nothing to help,” he said.
The men carried Stevens to a private car to drive him to the hospital since there was no ambulance, all three witnesses said.
Did not notice AK weapons but if so that would argue for them being affiliated with the attackers. However I read that the guy who took the video and perhaps some photos was identified and had a facebook page. If true that guy doesn’t sound like al qaeda. More questions than answers
All of this speculation is interesting. Perhaps more will come out. What is getting lost in all this is who is responsible for lax security on 9/11 in a muslim country? The key question is how did obama allow another 9/11 to occur on his watch. Its not like we didn’t know 9/11 was coming.
So where does the “safe house” come in to play? I am sure the earlier version was that he was taken to the secret safe house, which was also attacked. Didn’t we hear that he was missing for many hours? There needs to be a Congressional hearing, immediately.
Yeah. So stick to first order assumptions and quit trying to be too smart by half.
Who the frack cares whether Ahmed or Ahmad pulled him out, or if Ahmed or Ahmad was involved in the initial raid? HE'S DEAD RIGHT? Mission accomplished.
The target was not the building.
Arabic speaking journalists (Westerners and Lebanese) have interviewed at least 5 guys who were present when the Ambassador was found.
Every person has had a consistent story, the Ambassador was found alive in the room and was still alive in the video of him being pulled out of the window.
It’s been awhile since anybody died working for the Clintons. But it looks like this poor sap got sacrificed in one of Hillary’s schemes. As best I can tell he was a willing party to it, being a professional apologist for Obamuzzie/Hillary and probably had it coming. Everyone in that crowd is going to come to grief most likely.
The story leaves out when the ambassador was raped.
The story leaves out when the ambassador was raped.
Yes - that comment was directed to you. No one knows whether the people pulling Stevens out were the same group that attacked the building.
All the video shows is a man being pulled out of a building, none too gently. It shows nothing of where he was taken after these two minutes or how he was treated. it is certainly not an exoneration of anyone either in the video or in the terrorist thugs who bombed the place in the first place.
He was holding his own head up. Dead people can’t do that.
Isn’t it amazing that we don’t even hear this information from our own government? We have to rely on foreign sources??? Unfreakin-real!!!!
I never saw him holding his own head up.
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Yep. Not much there. My take is people were celebrating he is dead but others could say they were celebrating he was alive so its not conclusive. Need the video of being dragged.
IF they didn’t have any idea who he was why did they all have their cell phones out- so they all wanted pictures of an unknown person that was dying? Sure I believe that...
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