Benghazi attackNo evidence al -Qaeda was involved in Benghazi attack: NYT report

The U.S. mission in Benghazi in flames following the attack // Source: tabnak.ir

In the most detailed examination to date of the origins of the 2012 attack on the U.S. Benghazi facility, the New York Times, in a 6-part, 8,000 word in-depth report found no evidence that al Qaeda or any international terrorist groups played any role in the attack.

The report says that a crude anti-Muslim video, made by an Egyptian with a checkered past now residing in California, in large part fueled the attack. The report says that the attack was not well-planned, but that it also was not a completely spontaneous reaction to the video.

The report says:

Months of investigation by the New York Times, centered on extensive interviews with Libyans in Benghazi who had direct knowledge of the attack there and its context, turned up no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault. The attack was led, instead, by fighters who had benefited directly from NATO’s extensive air power and logistics support during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi. And contrary to claims by some members of Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam.

The Houston Chronicle notes that the Times report is likely to reignite the debate over the attack.

Republicans in Congress have held several hearings in different committees into how the conduct of the Obama administration in the run-up to and aftermath of the attack, which took place just as the 2012 presidential campaign was moving into high gear.

Only last month, Representative Mike Rogers (R-Michigan), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told to Fox News that the Obama administration downplayed al Qaeda’s role in the attack.

“It was very clear to the individuals on the ground that this was an al Qaeda-led event,” Rogers said. “And they had pretty fairly descriptive events early on that led those folks on the ground, doing the fighting, to the conclusion that this was a pre-planned, organized terrorist event.”

“Not a video — that whole part was debunked time and time again, which just leads to questions of why the administration hung with that narrative for so long when all the folks who participated on the ground saw something different.”

The Times report says that Rogers and others who follow a similar line of argument are confusing local extremist organizations like Ansar al-Shariah for al Qaeda’s international terrorist network. That organization was planning the attack when the video was released. According to the report, Ahmed Abu Khattala, an “eccentric, malcontent militia leader,” helped Ansar al-Shariah, although in an interview with the Times he denied playing any role in the attack.

The Times report says that there is only one bit of intelligence connecting al Qaeda to the attack:

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 attacker’s boasts, he sounded astonished, the officials said, suggesting he had no prior knowledge of the assault.

The Chronicle notes that the Times report comes two months after CBS’ “60 Minutes” released its own year-long investigation into the attack in Benghazi. The network was forced to correct its report, which was largely based on an account of events from discredited security contractor Dylan Davies.

— Read more in David D. Kirkpatrick, “A Deadly Mix in Benghazi,” New York Times (28 December 2013)