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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. had early indications Libya attack tied to organized militants
(Reuters) - Within hours of last month's attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, President Barack Obama's administration received about a dozen intelligence reports suggesting militants connected to al Qaeda were involved, three government sources said.
Despite these reports, in public statements and private meetings, top U.S. officials spent nearly two weeks highlighting intelligence suggesting that the attacks were spontaneous protests against an anti-Muslim film, while playing down the involvement of organized militant groups.
It was not until last Friday that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's office issued an unusual public statement, which described how the picture that intelligence agencies presented to U.S. policymakers had "evolved" into an acknowledgement that the attacks were "deliberate and organized" and "carried out by extremists."
The existence of the early reports appears to raise fresh questions about the Obama administration's public messaging about the attack as it seeks to fend off Republican charges that the White House failed to prevent a terrorist strike that left a U.S. ambassador and three others dead.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/03/us-usa-libya-intelligence-idUSBRE89201220121003
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)And being out of town and away from the Embassy isn't too smart, not on 9/11.
And especially not if there were warnings.
But as much as the RW would love to distract us, I'm not going to get excited over this.
+1
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Un Ambassador Susan Rice said early on that initially it appeared that protests were motivated by the offensive video, but that appropriate agencies were investigating to determine what really happened. She was well aware of the early raw intel reports, but it would have been irresponsible to jump to a conclusion and make a public statement based on that before investigating further.