Washington (AFP) - A
probe by a Congressional committee into the September 11, 2012 attack on
a US compound in Benghazi debunked allegations that President Barack
Obama's administration fell down on the job.
Since the
assault on the US mission in the Libyan city, which left the ambassador
and three colleagues dead, the White House, CIA and State Department
have been accused of mishandling their response.
But
the report released Friday by the House intelligence committee, which
is led by some of Obama's fiercest Republican opponents, cleared the
administration of all the most serious charges.
One
claim investigated was that the Central Intelligence Agency had not
provided adequate security for its own agents at an annex near the
diplomatic mission, and Washington had failed to send support.
But
the report, based on "thousands of hours of detailed investigation" and
interviews with both senior officials and agents who had been on the
ground found that this had not been the case.
"CIA
ensured sufficient security for CIA activities in Benghazi and, without
a requirement to do so, ably and bravely assisted the State Department
on the night of the attacks," it said.
"Appropriate US personnel
made reasonable tactical decision that night, and the committee found no
evidence that there was a stand-down order or a denial of available air
support.
"The CIA received all military support that was available," it added.
The
report did conclude, however, that the State Department diplomatic
compound where Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed had inadequate
security and had needed CIA assistance.
The
committee also found that there was "no intelligence failure prior to
the attacks" as the US mission was aware of the worsening security
situation in Benghazi but not of a specific planned attack.
The
2012 attack, which came on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001
Al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, was carried out by Libyan
militias and extremists, some with Qaeda ties.
But after it was carried
out, then US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice blamed the attack on a
spontaneous local protest provoked by a privately-made propaganda film
that attacked Islam.
- False reports -
During
a highly charged presidential campaign, Obama's critics accused the
administration of denying the Al-Qaeda role in the attack in order to
protect the president's counterterrorism record.
But
the report concluded that Rice had based her remarks -- which did
indeed prove false -- on an intelligence assessment that was believed
correct at the time.
The report also tried to put to rest a
persistent rumor that began after the attacks that the CIA had been
using the Benghazi base to covertly smuggle Libyan weapons to Syrian
rebels."The eyewitness testimony and thousands of pages of CIA cables and emails that the committee reviewed provide no support for this allegation," it said.
In fact, the report said, the CIA agents at the facility were tracking on local groups smuggling weapons, not collecting them themselves.
The
report also said that, while some government agencies were slow to
respond to its queries, all eventually cooperated with the inquiry and
no CIA personnel were intimidated by the administration.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-congress-report-debunks-benghazi-attack-claims-010500067.html
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