US/FILE: Former CIA Director Petraeus says al Qaeda role known early in Benghazi attack on U.S mission

Record ID: 559691

  • Title: US/FILE: Former CIA Director Petraeus says al Qaeda role known early in Benghazi attack on U.S mission
  • Date: 16th November 2012
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 1st December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4WJ4JMF56KYFCVP3H18MUJHJ8
  • Story Text: Former CIA Director David Petraeus, a week after resigning because of an extramarital affair, tells lawmakers in closed-door hearings that he sought to make clear all along that the Benghazi attack involved an al Qaeda affiliate.


    Former CIA Director David Petraeus told Congress on Friday (November 16) that he and the CIA had sought to make clear from the outset that September's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, involved an al Qaeda affiliate, lawmakers said.
    Petraeus, a week after he quit as CIA chief because of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell -- was able to avoid the throng of media gathered on Capitol Hill for the closed-door hearings.
    Some lawmakers, however, were eager to give their assessment of the testimony.
    Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the House of Representatives intelligence committee's top Democrat, said Petraes testified that "there were extremists in the group" that launched the initial attack on the diplomatic mission, describing them as affiliates of al Qaeda and other extremist groups.
    "He clarified that after more information came in it was not a protest," said Ruppersberger. "But he also did clarify - which is very important and relevant because this has been a debate for a long time - that he made in this statement to us that there were extremists in the group and that they were al Qaeda affiliates, some were al Qaeda affiliates, and that was very important because that's been a debate for the last three or four weeks."
    Another lawmaker, Republican Representative Peter King, said Petraeus's account in the session differed from the assessment that the CIA chief gave to Congress two months ago, just days after the Sept. 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
    "His testimony today was that from the start he had told us that this was a terrorist attack, there were terrorists involved at the start," said King. "I told him my questions had a very different recollection of that. The clear impression we were given was that the overwhelming amount of evidence was that it rose out of a spontaneous demonstration and was not a terrorist attack."
    Petraeus, a retired Army four-star general, later appeared before the Senate intelligence panel.
    The assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi has turned into a flash point between President Barack Obama and Republicans, who accuse the White House of misleading the public in the days following the attack.
    Some Republicans have suggested that Obama and his aides wanted to downplay the idea they had failed to prevent a terrorist attack, which might have dampened the president's re-election chances on Nov. 6. Obama has denied that implication.
    Petraeus' testimony to the House and Senate intelligence committees seems unlikely to dampen the controversy over why the Obama administration had asserted for days after the Benghazi attack that it had sprung from a spontaneous protest prompted by an anti-Muslim film.
    Republicans have targeted Obama's U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, who in five Sunday talk show appearances on Sept. 16 said the assault was prompted by the video and then morphed into a more violent act. But she told CBS's "Face the Nation" that day that it was "clear that there were extremist elements that joined in and escalated the violence."
    After the Senate intelligence hearing, Democratic Senator and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein told reporters that she believed the information provided by Rice was based on "talking points put out originally by the CIA, signed off by the intelligence community" - claim that has also been made by White House officials.
    "I can give you my assessment based on questions, based on my investigation, based on my listening, that what Susan Rice - Ambassador Rice - did was use talking points put out originally by the CIA, signed off by the intelligence community," said Feinstein.
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