ABSTRACT
Benghazi means different things to different people. For many Libyans, their second-largest city became a source of pride as the initial site of a daring revolt against the brutal 42-year reign of Muammar Gadhafi. Among the challenges was setting up a facility to house a small team consisting of himself, one other junior Foreign Service officer, a management and communications specialist, and a diplomatic security team, which took its mission extremely seriously despite the sleepy feel of Benghazi compared with Iraq and Afghanistan. If the US coordinates the move with its European partners, and with regional actors so as to induce them to cultivate relations with other prominent Libyan politicians outside Haftar’s circle, he could lose his influence among all but his most ardent supporters, even in the east.
