I think it already fell apart, but whatever -
obama
by Eli Lake Sep 21,
2012 4:45 AM EDT
Sources say the attack on the Libyan
ambassador was pre-meditated, with the possible collaboration of a Libyan
politician. Eli Lake on the continuing collapse of the official U.S. line.
Ten days after the attack on the
U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the White House’s official story about the
incident appears to be falling apart.
In the
days following the killing of the U.S. ambassador and two ex-Navy SEALs,
President Obama and top State Department officials portrayed the attack as a
spontaneous reaction to an Internet video depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammad
as a lascivious brute. The protests, White House spokesman Jay Carney said last
week, were “in response to a video—a film—that we have judged to be
reprehensible and disgusting.”
Now
there is mounting evidence that the White House’s initial portrayal of the
attacks as a mere outgrowth of protest was incorrect—or, at the very least,
incomplete. The administration’s story itself has recently begun to shift, with
Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, telling
Congress on Wednesday that the attackers may have had links to al Qaeda and
Carney characterizing the incident as a “terrorist attack.” (Hillary Clinton
announced on Thursday that she was putting together a panel to look into the
incident.)
But other indications that the
White House’s early narrative was faulty are also beginning to emerge. One
current U.S. intelligence officer working on the investigation into the
incident told The Daily Beast that the attackers had staked out and monitored
the U.S. consulate in Benghazi before the attack, a move that suggests
pre-planning.
What’s more, two U.S.
intelligence officials told The Daily Beast that the intelligence community is
currently analyzing an intercept between a Libyan politician whose sympathies
are with al Qaeda and the Libyan militia known as the February 17 Brigade—which
had been charged with providing local security to the consulate. In the
intercept, the Libyan politician apparently asks an officer in the brigade to
have his men stand down for a pending attack—another piece of evidence implying
the violence was planned in advance. (Plenty of Libyans, of course, did try to
protect the consulate. “Many of those Libyans died in the gunfight fighting off
the attackers,” one of the officials said. “But there were some bad apples
there as well.”)
“I think this is a case of an administration
saying what they wished to be true before waiting for all the facts to come
in,” says one senior retired CIA official.
On the other hand, a U.S.
intelligence official stressed that it was still early days for the
investigation. “It is important to accept that with events like this it takes
time to figure out what happened and determine which data points are relevant
and accurate,” this intelligence official said. “That process is happening
right now.” The National Security Council declined comment, and the State
Department did not respond to requests for comment.
One other aspect of the
administration’s story appears shaky as well. Speaking to ABC News on Sunday,
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice responded to allegations that
there wasn’t enough security at the embassy by saying, “Tragically, two of the
four Americans who were killed were there providing security. That was their
function. And indeed, there were many other colleagues who were doing the same
with them.”
Rice was
referring to two ex-Navy SEALs, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, who died during
the violence.
But two former special operators
and a former intelligence officer, two of whom had worked with Doherty, told
The Daily Beast that Doherty and Woods’s job was not to protect Ambassador
Chris Stevens. That job falls to Regional Security Officers or RSOs. During the
fighting, some RSOs who were supposed to protect the ambassador apparently
became separated from him.
“Glen died for Tyrone and Tyrone
died for Glen,” one of the former special operators told The Daily Beast. “They
fought bravely, but they did not die protecting the ambassador.”
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