U.S. denies premeditation report in Libya attack
By: Mike Allen
September 13, 2012 09:36 PM EDT
The Obama administration is flatly denying a blaring British newspaper report that the U.S. diplomats in Libya were killed as a result of a “continuing security breach,” and that “credible information” about possible attacks had been ignored.
A U.S. official told POLITICO: “There's no intelligence indicating that the attack in Benghazi was premeditated.”
(PHOTOS: Anti-U.S. attacks in Cairo and Libya)
The newspaper, The Independent, plastered its cover with the headline, “Revealed: inside story of US envoy’s assassination,” and reported inside: “The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach … American officials believe the attack was planned."
The article continued: "According to senior diplomatic sources, the U.S. State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and ‘lockdown’, under which movement is severely restricted."
Shawn Turner, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, emailed: “This is absolutely wrong. We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”
(Also on POLITICO: Top lawmakers briefed on Libya attack)
The Drudge Report gave the story banner, red-type, siren treatment, with a photo of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “PAPER: U.S. WARNED OF EMBASSY ATTACK BUT DID NOTHING.”
