WASHINGTON – Hillary Clinton’s State Department knew within 24 hours that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was an organized terror attack in retaliation for the killing of an al Qaeda member.
The federal government’s Defense Intelligence Agency sent the Department of State Command Center word that the “well coordinated” attack was al Qaeda-related in a September 12, 2012 cable obtained Thursday by the group Judicial Watch.
“A Salafi group (NFI) is believed to be responsible for the 11 September, 2012, attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attack was in retaliation for the killing of an Al Qaeda operative. The Salafi group attended the [initial] protests and returned at night using overwhelming firepower to overtake security forces of the Consulate,” according to the cable.
“There has [sic]been no reports of any continuation of the protests or violence, but source suspects there could be additional violence since the attack seemed well coordinated,” the cable added.
Breitbart News reported that Clinton received a memo on September 12, within 24 hours of the attack, identifying the Ansar Al Sharia terrorist group as the Benghazi culprits, and that the terrorists were using protests about an anti-Muslim Youtube video as “cover” for their terrorist activities.
However, Clinton and the Obama administration went ahead and blamed the attack on spontaneous reaction to a Youtube video, including in Clinton’s statement on the matter on the morning of September 13.
Clinton said in her testimony at Thursday’s House Benghazi Committee hearing that her agency did the best it could with the intelligence that was available.
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