At Trial, a Focus on the Facts, Not the Politics, of Benghazi

Almost from the moment that Islamist militants overran the American consulate and assaulted a C.I.A. annex in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012, politics consumed the deadly attacks. Using the event as partisan ammunition, Republicans and conservative media outlets sought to make the city’s name synonymous with Democratic scandal.

But beginning on Monday in a federal courthouse in Washington, prosecutors will put forward an account that focuses not on politics, but squarely on the attacks themselves and a man they say bears direct responsibility: Ahmed Abu Khattala.

“The Benghazi case has been burdened with a lot of politics; now it is the turn of law enforcement, national security professionals and prosecutors to show the world what really happened,” said Carlos T. Fernandez, a former senior F.B.I. counterterrorism official whose agents investigated the attacks.

The trial will serve as the latest test of the civilian court system’s ability to handle foreign terrorism suspects captured by Special Operations commandos under battlefield conditions, rather than subjecting them to military detention and prosecution.

Prosecutors are expected to portray Mr. Khatalla as a ringleader of a local militia of Islamic extremists who was angry about the American presence in Benghazi and played a leading role in directing the attacks. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed, as were three other Americans: Sean Smith, a State Department information officer, and two C.I.A. operatives, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Mr. Stevens, who died of smoke inhalation, was the first American ambassador killed in an attack since 1979.

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