Government officials have hit out at CNN for reporting on the personal journal of murdered ambassador Chris Stevens, saying they did so against the wishes of his family.
Anderson Cooper revealed on Friday night that the news channel had used the document as a source after finding it inside the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
But a State Department spokesman on Friday claimed that CNN had promised not to mention the journal, and described their U-turn as ‘disgusting’ and ‘indefensible’.
Mr Stevens died alongside three other Americans on September 11 when militant jihadists stormed the consulate in protest against an American-made anti-Muslim video.
CNN found the ambassador’s personal journal four days later, and used it to report on his state of mind during Mr Cooper’s primetime show on Wednesday. Read more from this story HERE.
Here’s the CNN video:
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2012-09-23 03:53:562012-09-23 03:53:56State Department attacks ‘disgusting’ CNN for using journal of dead ambassador against family’s wishes (+video)
Obama seems to be stuck on stupid or is just plain lying to the American people. On a Spanish network yesterday, Obama again says that “natural protests” arising from the Innocence of Muslims video is what led to the Benghazi attacks. He refuses to blame al-Qaeda or terrorism:
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2012-09-21 03:45:282012-09-21 03:45:28Video: Obama again cites the “natural protests arising from the video” as the cause for Libyan attack
By Erik Ortiz. An ex-Guantanamo detainee once considered a “threat” to America is believed to have been involved in the attack against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya — possibly leading the deadly rampage, intelligence sources told Fox News.
The potential link with the militant, identified as Sufyan bin Qumu, could lead the White House to revise its claim that administration officials saw “no evidence” that last week’s attack on Sept. 11 was preplanned, and was instead a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Islamist film produced in the United States.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official on Wednesday also called the assault a “terrorist attack” — the first time someone in the Obama administration has used that term. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American embassy workers died after the consulate compound was overrun by heavily armed militia and became engulfed in flames, according to reports.
A Fox News report didn’t say how Qumu, a Libyan, may have been explicitly involved with the attack, although his fighting group — Ansar al-Shariah — is suspected in taking part.
Analysts at Guantanamo branded him in 2005 as “medium to high risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies,” the New York Times reported last year. Bin Qumu was transferred from the detention camp to Libya in 2007, and was freed the next year in an amnesty for militants, according to The Times. Read more from this story HERE.
Intel official says al Qaeda link probed in Libya terrorist attack
By Jordy Yager. A senior counterterrorism official told senators Wednesday that the assault on a U.S. consulate in Libya — which left four Americans dead — was definitely a terrorist attack and that some of those involved might be connected to al Qaeda.
“Yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy,” said Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Olsen was responding to a question from Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) during an appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“A number of different elements appear to have been involved in the attack, including individuals connected to militant groups that are prevalent in eastern Libya, particularly in the Benghazi area,” Olsen said.
“As well, we are looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have had connections to al Qaeda or al Qaeda’s affiliates, in particular al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.” Read more from this story HERE.
Al Qaeda, ex-Gitmo detainee involved in consulate attack, intelligence sources say
By FoxNews.com. Intelligence sources tell Fox News they are convinced the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was directly tied to Al Qaeda — with a former Guantanamo detainee involved.
That revelation comes on the same day a top Obama administration official called last week’s deadly assault a “terrorist attack” — the first time the attack has been described that way by the administration after claims it had been a “spontaneous” act.
“Yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy,” Matt Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said during a Senate hearing Wednesday.
Olsen echoed administration colleagues in saying U.S. officials have no specific intelligence about “significant advanced planning or coordination” for the attack.
However, his statement goes beyond White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, saying the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate was spontaneous. He is the first top administration official to call the strike an act of terrorism. Read more from this story HERE.
Here’s the Fox News Video:
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2012-09-19 19:11:542012-09-19 19:11:54Al Qaeda, Ex-Guantanamo Bay Detainee Freed in 2007, Involved in Killing of Libyan Ambassador (+video)
American diplomats were warned of possible violent unrest in Benghazi three days before the killings of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three members of his team, Libyan security officials say.
The claim came as the country’s interim President, Mohammed el-Megarif, said his government had information that the attack on the US consulate had been planned by an Islamist group with links to al-Qa’ida and with foreigners taking part.
However, the American ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, insisted that the killings had resulted from a demonstration against a film about the Prophet Mohamed, replicating protests in Cairo, which had been “hijacked” and got out of control.
The Independent has reported diplomatic sources who said that the threat of an attack against US interests in the region was known to the US administration 48 hours before it took place. The alert was issued by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, but not made public. A State Department spokesman maintained: “We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the US Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”
But President Megarif told the American station National Public Radio: “We firmly believe that this was a pre-calculated, pre-planned attack that was carried out specifically to attack the US Consulate. A few of those who joined in were foreigners who had entered Libya from different directions, some of them definitely from Mali and Algeria.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2012-09-18 03:16:282012-09-18 03:16:28Libya Now Claims that US had 72 Hours Advance Notice of Attack; So Much for Obama’s YouTube Excuse
Posted within the last 24 hours, Amateur footage from the US consulate in Benghazi shows Libyans pulling Ambassador Stevens from the building.
Although a number of outlets are asserting that Stevens was already dead, perhaps in an effort to undercut reports that he was sexually assaulted before death, the New York Times offers the following partial transcript of the Arabic speakers in the above video:
“Bring him out, man! Bring him out,” another says.
“The man is alive. Move out of the way,” others shout. “Just bring him out, man.”
“Move, move, he is still alive!”
“Alive, Alive! God is great,” the crowd erupts, while someone calls to bring Mr. Stevens to a car.
But another observer believes that the ambassador was already dead.
In this video, Dick Morris asserts that Obama had 48 hours notice of the Libyan attack, likely planned in retaliation for the death of an Al Qaeda operative, and did nothing.
Morris’ source is a British paper citing senior diplomatic sources.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2012-09-15 01:10:302012-09-15 01:10:30Video: Obama Had 48 Hours Warning of Libyan Attack & No Marines Were Sent
Government officials have hit out at CNN for reporting on the personal journal of murdered ambassador Chris Stevens, saying they did so against the wishes of his family.
By Erik Ortiz. An ex-Guantanamo detainee once considered a “threat” to America is believed to have been involved in the attack against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya — possibly leading the deadly rampage, intelligence sources told Fox News.
American diplomats were warned of possible violent unrest in Benghazi three days before the killings of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three members of his team, Libyan security officials say.