U.S. Presence in Libya: A Brief History

Attack on US consulate in Benghazi kills Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other officials.

Car carrying U.S. Embassy personnel attacked in what might have been an attempted carjacking.

IED attack outside U.S. Office in Benghazi

Chris Stevens returns to Tripoli as Ambassador. It's his third tour in Libya, where he first served as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2007-2009.

U.S. sends diplomats, including Ambassador Gene Cretz, back to Tripoli. American flag raised on Sept. 22. They work out of a temporary workspace because the U.S. embassy was too badly damaged after the May 1 attack.

U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, along with the British and Italian embassies, is ransacked and burned by a mob protesting the NATO bombing campaign and the killing of Gadhafi's son Saif al-Arab

Chris Stevens arrives in Benghazi as liaison to the rebel leaders as the U.S. tries to determine their goals and composition

U.S. shutters its embassy in Libya as the security situation deteriorates. Some embassy staff are evacuated by boat and aboard a charter flight from an airfield near downtown Tripoli

Cretz departs Libya amid concerns over his safety after a spat with the Libyan government about comments in cables published by Wikileaks

Gene Cretz becomes the first U.S. ambassador in Tripoli since 1972

U.S. and Libya agree to upgrade the U.S. Liaison Office in Tripoli to a full embassy, but no ambassador named

U.S. diplomatic presence upgraded to a Liaison Office

Diplomatic relations between U.S. and Libya resume, U.S. Interest Section in Tripoli established after diplomatic breakthroughs convinced Gadhafi to give up his nuclear weapons program.

A bomb aboard Pan Am flight 103 brings the plane down over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members. Another 11 people were killed on the ground. Libya was eventually blamed for the attack.

The United States retaliates for the La Belle attack, bombing Gadhafi's compound outside Tripoli.

President Ronald Reagan calls Gadhafi the "mad dog of the Middle East" following the La Belle bombing.

A bomb exploded in the La Belle discotheque in Berlin, killing three people, including two American servicemen, and injuring dozens. Libya was eventually blamed for the attack

Mob attacks U.S. embassy in Tripoli, prompting U.S. government to pull out its remaining staff

U.S. pulls its ambassador out of Libya.