The protest in Libya that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans last week appears to have begun spontaneously and was "hijacked" by myrmidons, United Nations...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the artillery...
Ambassador Susan Rice said.
| No, Ms. Rice, it was a professionally planned terrorist attack. There were no 'protesters' on scene, and it was not 'spontaneous'. Either you know this and you're lying, or you don't know this and are clueless. These are not exclusive possibilities... |
"We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned," she said, speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation." She said on ABC that a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe aims to determine what happened in the Sept. 11 attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Even so, Arizona Senator
John MaverickMcCain
... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former
foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution...
, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, disputed the contention that the attack on the Benghazi consulate was largely spontaneous.
"How spontaneous is a demonstration when people bring rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weapons?" McCain asked on CBS yesterday. He said there was "no doubt" the attack was waged by "extremists," though he didn't know how long it had been planned.
'Turning Point'
Mohammed Yussef Magariaf, the recently elected head of Libya's General National Congress, said in an interview in Benghazi that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate "is a turning point for the country."
"Confrontation is necessary and inevitable with these elements," Magariaf said. "Today, it is the Americans, tomorrow it is going to be the Libyans."
Magariaf said the assault on the U.S. mission was part of a wider campaign to destabilize Libya, and the forces of Evil must be "confronted" by pro-government forces. He said that communications intercepted by the U.S. ahead of the attack linked al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to another Islamist brigade known as Ansar al-Shariah.
...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends...
He said separately on CBS's "Face the Nation" program yesterday that about 50 arrests have been made in connection with the attack.