Ali Ahmida interviewed by Maine media on the killing of U.S. diplomats in Libya

Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, Ph.D., professor and chair of the 51品茶political science program, was interviewed by WCSH6, WGME13, WMTW8 television and MPBN public radio about the  killing of four U.S. diplomats at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi this week.

Ahmida told WCSH that "I don't think Libyan people endorsed this thing. I think they were horrified as we are." But he explained that the Libyan people don't understand how American society functions and the role of free speech as part of a larger open society. Watch , the and the .

Ahmida told MPBN that a radical Islamist group called Ansar Al-Sharia is thought to be behind the attacks. He added that he thinks the incident might be an isolated incident in the Libyan transition but if the new government can't resolve the question of arms and national reconciliation, then radicalization will take place. He's pessimistic in the short term but optimistic in the long term.

Ahmida is the author of The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonialization and Resistance, and several other books on Libya and North Africa.  Find out more about Ahmida and read and listen to a number of his other recent interviews.

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