Sunday 18 November 2012

Ex-CIA chief Petraeus testifies Benghazi attack was al Qaeda-linked terrorism

Washington (CNN) -- Former CIA Director David Petraeus testified on Capitol Hill Friday that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September was an act of terrorism committed by al Qaeda-linked militants.
That's according to U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, who spoke to reporters after a closed hearing in the House, which lasted an hour and 20 minutes.
King said Petraeus' testimony differed from an earlier assessment the former CIA director gave lawmakers just days after the September 11 attack, which left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
"He (Petraeus) ... stated that he thought all along he made it clear that there was significant terrorist involvement, and that is not my recollection of what he told us on September 14," King said.

"The clear impression we were given (in September) was that the overwhelming amount of evidence was that it arose out of a spontaneous demonstration, and was not a terrorist attack," he said.
U.S. officials initially said the violence erupted spontaneously amid a large protest about a privately made video produced in the United States that mocked the Prophet Mohammed. The intelligence community later revised its assessment, saying it believes the attack was a planned terrorist assault.
King said that the word spontaneous was minimized during Petraeus' testimony Friday, which was given one week after he resigned from the CIA. Lawmakers said they didn't ask him about why he left the agency. Petraeus has admitted an extramarital affair with his biographer.
Critics of the administration have suggested that his resignation might be linked to fallout over the attack.
The Benghazi attack became a political hot button during a presidential election year and raised questions regarding issues such as security at the compound and the Obama administration's initial description of the events.
King told reporters that he likes Petraeus and that it was uncomfortable, at times, to interview a man he considers a friend.
"He was a strong soldier. Very professional, very knowledgeable, very strong," King said. "He's a solid guy. I consider him a friend, which made the questioning tough. You realize the human tragedy here."
After he spoke at the House Intelligence hearing, Petraeus testified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was ushered into both sessions without reporters being able to get a camera shot of him, and after he testified he left the premises, CNN learned.
Petraeus was not asked to testify under oath, King said.
King and other lawmakers said Petraeus testified that his resignation had nothing to do with the consulate attack.
That matches what Petraeus told Kyra Phillips of HLN, CNN's sister network. He said his resignation was solely a result of his extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. He added that he never passed classified information to her.
Prior to Friday's hearings, it was thought that Petraeus would tell lawmakers that the CIA knew soon after the attack that Ansar al Sharia was responsible for it, according to an official with knowledge of the case. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.
Ansar al Sharia is more of a label than an organization, one that's been adopted by conservative Salafist groups across the Arab world.
It was not known whether Petraeus spoke specifically about Ansar al Sharia during Friday's sessions.
After the House committee hearing, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland, said the confusion over the consulate incident arose from there being essentially two threads of violence: one caused by the protest, which was chaotic, and a second that was orchestrated by terrorists, which was highly coordinated.
There were "two different types of situations at play," Ruppersberger said, explaining that in the hours and days after the attack, it was naturally difficult to clearly discern what happened.
Intelligence evolves, he said, and new information comes out when agents obtain it. He played down the idea that there was something untoward going on.

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