In Libya, the man who would avenge Amb. Stevens
| Benghazi, Libya
The camera captured a clamor of voices, a crush of bodies in a corridor, and then the blond hair and white T-shirt of a man lying on the floor.
Amateur videographer聽Fahed聽Bakoush didn鈥檛 know it then, but the blond man, Christopher Stevens, was聽about聽to become聽the first US ambassador killed while on duty in more than three decades.
The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi last month was, for Bakoush, a call to action. Part of a young generation of activists who cut their teeth in last year鈥檚 revolution, he was spurred to redouble his efforts to help build a stable country.
Ambassador Stevens鈥檚 death, a result of the consulate attack, has left Washington focused on the fear that militant Islamists are gaining a foothold in post-Qaddafi Libya. Bakoush says armed groups of all stripes are holding Libya back.聽In the wake of the attack, he helped organize demonstrations that gave new voice to Libyans鈥� growing weariness of guns and instability.
At one such demonstration, the anger directed toward a local militia was so fierce that the group withdrew from its compound without a fight.聽
鈥淚 want to see political parties, not militias with guns,鈥� says Bakoush, 21.聽
It鈥檚 still unclear how a protest at the consulate over an anti-Islam film made in the US became the occasion for the attack that killed Stevens. But for many Libyans, it highlighted a fundamental problem: War has flooded the country with weapons, while the fledgling government has struggled to absorb militias into national security forces.
A personal revolution聽
Bakoush鈥檚聽own聽revolution started small: following exiled dissidents via the Internet and聽an instance of聽modest civil disobedience in December 2010, when he was an engineering student.聽
When the director of the engineering institute asked聽the class聽if anyone had the then-national anthem on his mobile phone, Bakoush聽saw a chance for聽dissidence. He went to the intercom, and聽the director told him to press play. Seconds later, the pre-Qaddafi anthem resounded through the classrooms.
鈥淲hat are you doing?鈥� the director cried. 鈥淕et out!鈥�
Bakoush was expelled the next day. But聽two months later, he had a new occupation as revolt聽erupted. He joined a militia and went to the front. Later, he traveled the region as an activist to聽promote聽Libya鈥檚 revolution.
On Sept. 11聽of this year, a friend called with urgent news: A mob was burning the US consulate. Bakoush rushed to the scene.
鈥淚 heard them crying 鈥榃e have entered!鈥�,鈥� he says. 鈥淪ome were looting the buildings, others seemed afraid. It was chaos.鈥�
Clutching his mobile phone with its video camera feature running, he followed young men into the depths of the consulate, where they discovered the prone body of a blond-haired man.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 know who he was, just that he was foreign,鈥� says Bakoush. 鈥淭hey wanted to protect him. He was alive, still breathing.鈥�
The video clip he uploaded afterwards to YouTube shows the young men carrying Stevens toward an exit. The ambassador was brought to a hospital, where he was found to have died of smoke inhalation聽
'The last straw'
For Bakoush 鈥� as for many Libyans 鈥� the attack was a last straw.聽The following week, he and other activists had one of Libya鈥檚 two mobile phone operators send a mass SMS urging customers to demonstrate聽that Friday聽against violence and 鈥渕ilitias not integrated into the army.鈥�
Details of the attack remain murky, but it underscored the persistence of armed groups despite the end of revolution.
On Sept. 21, thousands marched in Benghazi to call for peace. Among them was the engineering institute director.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e like a son to me!鈥� he said when he saw Bakoush. 鈥淚 only expelled you because we were under pressure."聽
The Benghazi marchers proceeded to a compound occupied by Ansar al Sharia, a hardline Islamist militia accused of involvement in the consulate attack.聽Perhaps swayed, or at least awed, by the show of people power, the group peacefully聽left聽the compound. Today it stands empty.
However, some marchers later clashed with members of the Rafallah al Sahati brigade, an officially pro-government militia that was apparently targeted by mistake. Eleven people were killed when members of the brigade opened fire.聽
Bakoush has not rejoined his old militia since war ended last year. He is planning to take an engineering exam to complete his studies, and in July run unsuccessfully in congressional elections.
鈥淭he revolution is over,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ow, we must build Libya.鈥�
