The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Fifty U.S. Marines are on their way to Libya following attacks that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three American members of his staff.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday condemned the attack in the "strongest possible terms," saying the U.S. will work with the Libyan government to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. He says "no acts of terror" will shake America's resolve.
Obama said the U.S. rejects any efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, but says there is "absolutely no justification" for violent attacks.
The attacks occurred Tuesday night in the eastern city of Benghazi by protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad, according to Libya officials. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed when he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff as the building came under attack by a mob guns and rocket propelled grenades.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Stevens and the three other Americans who were killed in an attack on a U.S. consulate last night had been "committed to helping the Libyan people reach for a better future."
Stevens was a career diplomat who was confirmed as ambassador to Libya by the Senate earlier this year. He had already served two tours in Libya, and had run the office in Benghazi during the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.
Clinton said Stevens had a "passion for service, for diplomacy and for the Libyan people." She says he was dedicated to "advancing closer ties with the people of the Middle East and North Africa."
The secretary of state says Stevens "risked his own life to lend the Libyan people a helping hand to build the foundation for a new, free nation"
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