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New Reports Emerge on Ransacking of U.S. Embassy in Tripoli
(Washington Post) Simon Denyer - Looted, ransacked and burned, the U.S. Embassy complex in Tripoli stands in ruins, a testament to the violence unleashed in the name of Moammar Gaddafi's regime and its disregard of international law. Throughout the embassy compound, everything that could have been broken has been. Whole floors were doused in gasoline and burned. The embassy was ransacked on May 1, as were those of Britain and Italy, in response to the death of Gaddafi's son Saif in a NATO airstrike. Witnesses said 20 people arrived at the U.S. Embassy complex about 2:30 a.m. in the Toyota Tundras favored by the Libyan security forces and that some were in army uniforms. They used a shotgun or heavy machine gun to blast open the compound's steel doors. In the subsequent hours, busloads of cheering and chanting Gaddafi supporters showed up in what looked like an organized excursion. By morning, smoke was rising from several buildings in the embassy compound.