[NYDAILYNEWS] The suspected ringleader of the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks, who was captured by U.S. forces over the weekend, was actually interviewed by multiple media outlets last year -- a stunning revelation that could raise questions over why it took the U.S. so long to arrest the man.
Ahmed Abu Khattala, a leader of the Benghazi branch of the terror group Ansar al-Sharia
...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active...
in Libya, was captured by American special forces in Libya Sunday for his suspected involvement in planning the fatal Sept. 11, 2012, assault that left four people dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
But Abu Khattala, whom the U.S. had charged for the crime last summer but didn't apprehend until now, has conducted multiple media interviews with U.S. outlets in recent months and years, with news hounds claiming he wasn't hard to find.
I'm sure Champ, ValJar, Hildebeast and Jahwn knew exactly where he was. That wasn't the issue... | Last August, CNN's Arwa Dawson interviewed Abu Khattala for two hours "in public at a coffee shop of a well-known hotel" in Benghazi, she explained during the segment.
"For a suspected terrorist, who may have been involved in the murder of four Americans, he's really not that difficult to find," Dawson said during her report, adding that Abu Khattala "seemed to be confident, his demeanor most certainly not that of a man who believed he was going to be detained or targeted any time soon."
Champ is trying to change the topic of conversation. Again. What's that phrase they use at the White House? | In the audio interview, Abu Khattala, through a translator, didn't deny he was at the compound the night of the attack, but said the gunfire and chaos had already erupted before he arrived. |