Quote from futurecurrents:
Ok last excerpt...
"But much of the debate about Benghazi in Washington has revolved around statements made four days later in television interviews by Ms. Rice, who was then ambassador to the United Nations.
âWhat happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo,â she said on NBCâs âMeet the Press,â âalmost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video.â
Republicans, pouncing on the misstatement, have argued that the Obama administration was trying to cover up Al Qaedaâs role. âIt was very clear to the individuals on the ground that this was an Al Qaeda-led event,â Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said last month on Fox News.
âThis was a preplanned, organized terrorist event,â he said, ânot a video. That whole part was debunked time and time again.â
But the Republican arguments appear to conflate purely local extremist organizations like Ansar al-Shariah with Al Qaedaâs international terrorist network. The only intelligence connecting Al Qaeda to the attack was an intercepted phone call that night from a participant in the first wave of the attack to a friend in another African country who had ties to members of Al Qaeda, according to several officials briefed on the call. But when the friend heard the attackerâs boasts, he sounded astonished, the officials said, suggesting he had no prior knowledge of the assault.