A burnt house and a car are seen inside the US Embassy compound on September 12, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya. (photo: AFP)
US Congress Report Debunks Benghazi Attack Claims
23 November 14
probe by a Congressional committee into the September 11, 2012 attack
on a US compound in Benghazi debunked allegations that President Barack
Obama's administration fell down on the job.
Since the assault on the US mission in the Libyan
city, which left the ambassador and three colleagues dead, the White
House, CIA and State Department have been accused of mishandling their
response.
But the report released Friday by the House
intelligence committee, which is led by some of Obama's fiercest
Republican opponents, cleared the administration of all the most serious
charges.
One claim investigated was that the Central
Intelligence Agency had not provided adequate security for its own
agents at an annex near the diplomatic mission, and Washington had
failed to send support.
But the report, based on "thousands of hours of
detailed investigation" and interviews with both senior officials and
agents who had been on the ground found that this had not been the case.
"CIA ensured sufficient security for CIA activities in
Benghazi and, without a requirement to do so, ably and bravely assisted
the State Department on the night of the attacks," it said.
"Appropriate US personnel made reasonable tactical
decision that night, and the committee found no evidence that there was a
stand-down order or a denial of available air support.
"The CIA received all military support that was available," it added.
The report did conclude, however, that the State
Department diplomatic compound where Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed
had inadequate security and had needed CIA assistance.
The committee also found that there was "no
intelligence failure prior to the attacks" as the US mission was aware
of the worsening security situation in Benghazi but not of a specific
planned attack.
The 2012 attack, which came on the anniversary of the
September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, was
carried out by Libyan militias and extremists, some with Qaeda ties.
But after it was carried out, then US ambassador to
the UN Susan Rice blamed the attack on a spontaneous local protest
provoked by a privately-made propaganda film that attacked Islam.
- False reports -
During a highly charged presidential campaign, Obama's
critics accused the administration of denying the Al-Qaeda role in the
attack in order to protect the president's counterterrorism record.
But the report concluded that Rice had based her
remarks -- which did indeed prove false -- on an intelligence assessment
that was believed correct at the time.
The report also tried to put to rest a persistent
rumor that began after the attacks that the CIA had been using the
Benghazi base to covertly smuggle Libyan weapons to Syrian rebels.
"The eyewitness testimony and thousands of pages of
CIA cables and emails that the committee reviewed provide no support for
this allegation," it said.
In fact, the report said, the CIA agents at the
facility were tracking on local groups smuggling weapons, not collecting
them themselves.
The report also said that, while some government
agencies were slow to respond to its queries, all eventually cooperated
with the inquiry and no CIA personnel were intimidated by the
administration.
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