Benghazi Attack Details Aired

[morningfog]

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Like the hearings planned for Friday, Thursday's were held behind closed doors. But interviews with lawmakers indicated that over several hours, they were given a detailed description of the Sept. 11 assault by intelligence and law enforcement officials. The officials also spent about 30 minutes discussing the investigation that uncovered the Petraeus affair, lawmakers said.

Mr. Ruppersberger said officials described tandem attacks that targeted the U.S. consulate complex and, later, an annex building used by the CIA. The briefings revealed the far greater sophistication of the second attack on the CIA annex, which began hours after the first attack had ended, he said. The intelligence officials also provided a detailed explanation of conflicting intelligence reports that spurred intense political criticism in the lead-up to last week's presidential election.

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The CIA's first analysis, prepared on the morning after the attack, said the assault appeared intentional and indicated it didn't appear to stem from a peaceful protest. That analysis also mentioned the possibility of connections to an al Qaeda affiliate.

By the next day, however, the assessment shifted. When Mr. Petraeus briefed lawmakers on Sept. 13 and 14, his briefing papers showed the CIA believed the attack stemmed from a protest. The CIA began receiving new information on Sept. 15 that casted doubt about the protest, but after vetting the intelligence, the agency maintained the assessment that there had been a protest.

The CIA maintained that assessment until Sept. 20, when intelligence officials told counterparts at the White House that it had changed. It took two more days for that change to be reflected in the briefing provided to President Barack Obama.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323551004578119773412120776.html

[morningfog]

1. Lawmakers get first look at Benghazi attack video

(CBS News) WASHINGTON -- A congressional investigation viewed video Thursday that was recorded by security cameras the night of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The first video of the attack was captured by cell phones. But it took about 10 more days for the FBI to get its hands on video taken by security cameras at the consulate. That classified video, shown to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, answers some of the many questions surrounding the attack.

There has been a lot of controversy about whether the Sept. 11 attack -- which killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador -- was planned by terrorists or the result of a mob angered by an internet movie ridiculing Islam.

A U.S. intelligence official said the first video shows no sign the assault arose -- as first thought -- out of a demonstration. But it also indicates the attack, though intentional, was not well planned.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57550799/lawmakers-get-first-look-at-benghazi-attack-video/

[DURHAM D]

2. Hmmmmh -

Did Petraeus change his "assessment" when he talked to lawmakers on the 13th and 14th for some political reason or to hide something?

[morningfog]

3. That is what raised my eyebrows.

It could have been either or both. Maybe hiding the secret prison there. Maybe wanting to disrupt the presidential race.

[Thinkingabout]

4. Young Rep Murphy will be an old man when the repubs stop whining.