• After decades in exile, Libyan president Magarief ready to die for democracy

    Libya's new president, Mohammed Magarief, tells NBC's Ann Curry that the recent trouble in Libya is the unfortunate price of creating a democracy after decades of dictator-rule. Magarief lived in exile for 20 years in Atlanta before returning to Libya and becoming president.

    By Becky Bratu, NBC News

    He was wanted by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, he survived seven assassination attempts and he lived in exile in Atlanta for two decades, but now that he is the new president of Libya, Mohamed Magarief says he is ready to sacrifice his life for his homeland.


    "I'm determined. I'm determined to even sacrifice my life for that ... to see Libya as free, democratic," Magarief, an economist and former Libyan ambassador to India, told NBC's Ann Curry in an exclusive interview.

    Libyan president to NBC: Anti-Islam film had 'nothing to do with' US Consulate attack

    "I have always been ready to sacrifice my life for-- for my dream of Libya," he said.

    Magarief's dream of a democratic Libya began to take shape in 1980 with the founding of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, a group that pushed for democratic reforms in Libya and opposed Gadhafi's rule.

    Magarief, who participated in the group alongside former Libyan diplomats, ambassadors and army generals, said that was his first jump into the fire.

    "I started in 1980, when I decide to defect from the regime and call for, openly, for its downfall and toppling and participated with my colleagues for so many years in a very comprehensive program of action to achieve this, to topple Gadhafi and to build a new democratic Libya," he said.

    Because of his open opposition of the regime, Magarief was forced into exile, first to Morocco, where Gadhafi went after his family and friends, even killing and disappearing some of those linked to him. When Morocco decided to extradite him to Libya, Magarief sought refuge in Egypt.

    In an interview with NBC's Ann Curry, Libya's president Mohammed Magarief said there's 'no doubt' the attack that killed four Americans in Libya was preplanned, and not a result of the controversial anti-Islam movie that sparked violent protests.

    He lived in Egypt for seven years, but had to seek refuge yet again when former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak wanted to send him back to Libya, where he was still wanted. In 1991, Magarief and his family moved to Atlanta, where he lived until Gadhafi was toppled in October, 2011.

    "I didn't leave home to stay for good in Atlanta. I left my home to return, to hope to return to it after it's liberated from Gadhafi. Having  being liberated now, it's my duty to, it's my dream and my hopes to return to my home, Libya, and to die there, to be buried in Libya," he said.

    A transitional leader
    Libya's national assembly picked     Magarief as its president in August. He is the leader of the National Front party, an offshoot of the old opposition movement he helped start. Magarief, who is from Benghazi, won 113 votes against independent Ali Zidan, who got 85 votes.

    The path Magarief envisions for Libya includes free and open elections and a new constitution. He said he has no desire to stay in power beyond the transitional period, and hopes his successor will be a democratically elected leader. Magarief disagrees with the idea that fundamentalists will be allowed to fill the power vacuum in Libya following the toppling of Gadhafi, adding that Libyans will stand against extremist views.

    "These fundamentalists, these extremists, these trends that are, first of all, it has nothing to do with true Islam, real Islam," he said. "The interpretation that these people introduced is not accepted by majority of Muslims."

    Magarief discounted claims that the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi earlier this month was in response to an anti-Islam movie produced in California and available on YouTube. He noted that the assault happened on Sept. 11 and that the video had been available for months before that.

    "Reaction should have been, if it was genuine, .... six months earlier. So it was postponed until the 11th of September," he said. "They chose this date, 11th of September to carry a certain message."

    "We consider the United States as a friend, not only a friend, a strong friend, who stood with us in our moment of need," he added.

    Magarief admitted it would not be easy for Libya to shake off the legacy that decades of Gadhafi's dictatorship has left behind, but he strongly believes that every country deserves to enjoy democracy.

    "This should not continue. If it continues, we'll all pay a heavy price. The solution is freedom, is democracy," he said. "Giving people the chance to -- and I'm sure we'll mature. We'll mature quickly, very quickly. And we'll prove that we are responsible human beings, who deserve freedom and democracy."

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  • Libya arrests four suspected in deadly US Consulate attack in Benghazi

    Esam Omran Al-Fetori / Reuters

    Demonstrators hold a message during a rally to condemn the killers of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and the attack on the U.S. consulate, in Benghazi on Wednesday.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Libyan authorities have made four arrests in the investigation into the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in which the U.S. ambassador and three embassy staff were killed, the deputy interior minister said on Thursday.

    "Four men are in custody and we are interrogating them because they are suspected of helping instigate the events at the U.S. Consulate," Wanis Sharif told Reuters.

    He gave no more details.

    The United States and Libya has agreed to cooperate to find out who was responsible for the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in which the ambassador to the North African state and three other Americans died.

    President Barack Obama and Libyan President Mohamed Magarief spoke on Wednesday evening and decided "to work closely over the course of this investigation," the White House said in a statement.

    TODAY's Matt Lauer speaks with security analyst Michael Leiter about the likelihood that the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya was a pre-meditated act by a group of al-Qaida sympathizers rather than a spontaneous uprising over an anti-Muslim Internet video.

    Magarief "expressed appreciation for the cooperation we have received from the Libyan government and people in responding to this outrageous attack, and said that the Libyan government must continue to work with us to assure the security of our personnel going forward," the White House statement said.

    "The President made it clear that we must work together to do whatever is necessary to identify the perpetrators of this attack and bring them to justice," it added.

    In Yemen, protesters breach the of the U.S. Embassy compound in the capital, Sanaa, as a wave of anti-American demonstrations sweeps across several Middle East nations. NBC's Richard Engel reports from Cairo.

    U.S. and Libyan officials, independent analysts and postings on Islamist websites from known militant activists suggested that the attack — which officials had previously suggested was retaliation for release of a movie critical of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad — may have been a pre-planned, orchestrated assault.

    Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith — a Foreign Service information management officer — and two other Americans, who have not yet been formally identified, were killed.

    A deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was staged by militants who set the building on fire. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    Destroyers sent to Libya coast
    A U.S. official told Reuters that the U.S. military was moving two destroyers toward the Libyan coast, giving the Obama administration flexibility for any future action against Libyan targets.

    Timeline: Political fallout from the attack on diplomats in Libya

    The military is also dispatching a Marine Corps anti-terrorist security team to boost security in Libya, and Washington has ordered the evacuation of all U.S. personnel from Benghazi to Tripoli.

    An unnamed senior U.S. official told the AFP news agency that U.S. officials suspected the attack on the consulate was a well-planned assault by militants rather than a rampaging mob.

    NBC's Richard Engel and Ambassador Marc Ginsberg discuss the latest in Libya and Egypt as protest continue outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

    "That's the working hypothesis at the moment," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    "This was a complex attack," he added. "They seemed to have used this (protest) as an opportunity."

    Among the assailants, Libyans identified units of a heavily armed local Islamist group, Ansar al-Sharia, which sympathizes with al-Qaida and derides Libya's U.S.-backed bid for democracy.

    Reuters cited U.S. officials as saying that there were reports from the region suggesting that members of al-Qaida's north Africa-based affiliate, known as Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, may have been involved.

    The attack on the Libyan consulate, as it happened

    On Wednesday, Obama vowed to catch those responsible for the attack and said he had ordered an increase in security at U.S. diplomatic posts around the globe following the assault.

    "The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack," Obama said, while insisting it would not threaten relations with Libya's new government. ... And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people."

    Slideshow: Anger over film spreads around Middle East

    Zoubeir Souissi / Reuters

    The U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed after protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad stormed the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, as protests spread across the region.

    Launch slideshow

    Doctor tried to save ambassador's life
    Ziad Abu Zaid, the duty doctor in the emergency room at Benghazi Medical Center on Tuesday, said Stevens was alive when he arrived at the hospital.


    "He came in a state of cardiac arrest. I performed CPR for 45 minutes, but he died of asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation,” he said.

    Stevens' body was later returned to U.S. custody at Benghazi airport, a senior U.S. official said. Images of Stevens, purportedly taken after he died, circulated on the Internet. One showed him being carried, with a white shirt pulled up and a cut on his forehead.

    Smith died inside the consulate building and the two other Americans died when a squad of U.S. troops sent by helicopter from Tripoli to rescue the diplomats came under mortar attack, said Captain Fathi al-Obeidi, commander of a Libyan special operations unit ordered to meet the Americans.

    Obama: Egypt not an ally of US, but not an enemy

    Witnesses said the mob at the consulate included tribesmen, militia and other gunmen. Hamam, a 17-year-old who took part in the attack, said Ansar al-Sharia cars arrived at the start of the protest but left once fighting started.

    "The protesters were running around the compound just looking for Americans, they just wanted to find an American so they could catch one," he told Reuters. "We started shooting at them, and then some other people also threw hand-made bombs over the fences and started the fires in the buildings."

    "There was some Libyan security for the embassy outside but when the hand-made bombs went off they ran off and left," he added.

    Hamam said he saw an American die in front of him in the mayhem that ensued. He said the body was covered in ash. 

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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