Mrs. Clinton did not offer any new evidence of a Qaeda link, and officials later said the question would be officially settled only after the F.B.I. completed a criminal inquiry, which could take months. But they said they had not ruled out the involvement of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb — an affiliate of the international terrorist group with origins in Algeria — in an attack the administration initially described as a spontaneous protest turned violent.
Her remarks added to the administration’s evolving and at times muddled
explanation of what happened on the evening of Sept. 11 and into the
next morning. Republicans in Congress have accused President Obama of
playing down possible terrorist involvement in the midst of a
re-election campaign in which killing Osama bin Laden and crippling Al
Qaeda are cited as major achievements.
Mrs. Clinton made her remarks at a special United Nations meeting on the
political and security crisis in the parts of North Africa known as the
Maghreb and the Sahel, particularly in northern Mali, which has been
overrun by Islamic extremists since a military coup helped lead to the
division of that country this year.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has long operated in the region, she
said, and was now exploiting a haven in Mali to export extremism and
terrorist violence to neighbors like Libya.
“Now with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver,
terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in
multiple directions,” Mrs. Clinton told leaders assembled at the
meeting, including President François Hollande of France and the United
Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. “And they are working with other
violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in
North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.”
Mr. Ban called the meeting to lay the groundwork for a possible
international military intervention — to be led by African troops — to
help the new military government in Mali re-establish control over a
part of the country that Mr. Hollande noted was the size of France and
is now under the grip of Islamist extremists imposing their vision of law and order.
“We cannot stand by and allow terrorists to take over an entire territory,” Mr. Hollande said.
Top militia leaders in Benghazi have dismissed the possibility that Al
Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb played a role in the attacks or had a
foothold in eastern Libya. Benghazi residents have said they believe the
brigade that conducted the attack could not have managed the assault on
its own, because it included more than 100 heavily armed fighters.
Mrs. Clinton’s connection of the turmoil in the Sahel with the violence in Benghazi, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens,
echoed remarks made last week by Matthew G. Olsen, the director of the
National Counterterrorism Center. He said that intelligence analysts
were investigating ties between local Libyan militias and Al Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb, but had not yet come to any conclusions.
A senior administration official said that Mrs. Clinton intended to
underscore the rising threat that the Qaeda affiliate and other
extremist organizations pose to the emerging democratic governments in
countries like Tunisia and Libya, adding that the group clearly intended
to make contact with extremists in Benghazi and elsewhere. The final
determination of the group’s role, the official said, would await the
investigation by the F.B.I.
Mrs. Clinton has also ordered a review of diplomatic security that is
being led by Thomas R. Pickering, a veteran diplomat and former
undersecretary of state.
It was not clear whether Mrs. Clinton’s remarks foreshadowed any
possible retaliation against those who carried out the attack, whether
they operated in sympathy with, or on orders from, Al Qaeda leaders. But
she reiterated the administration’s vow to bring those responsible to
justice, telling the conference that American intelligence and
law-enforcement agencies were working not only with Libya but with other
nations in the region to investigate the attack.
The cooperation with other nations beyond Libya in the investigations
also seemed to indicate that the attack’s planning and execution might
have crossed international borders and not simply have been a local,
spontaneous eruption of violence in response to an amateurish Internet
video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.
“The United States is stepping up our counterterrorism efforts across
the Maghreb and the Sahel,” Mrs. Clinton said, “and we’re working with
the Libyan government and other partners to find those responsible for
the attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi and bring them to
justice.”
Questions about the attack in Libya have become politically charged,
even as the State Department has grieved over the loss of four employees
— including the first American ambassador killed on duty since 1979 —
and tried to contain the outrage over the video that spread to dozens of
countries.
Officials initially described the attack as a protest, though one
administration official acknowledged what Libyan witnesses have said in
interviews: that the attack was deliberate and organized. Five days
after the attack, the American representative to the United Nations,
Susan E. Rice, in an appearance on the Sunday talk shows, continued to
describe it as a spontaneous protest, and it was only on Sept. 19 that
Mr. Olsen of National Counterterrorism Center called it a terrorist
attack.
Four Republican Senators — John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of
South Carolina, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Ron Johnson of
Wisconsin — released a blistering letter to Ms. Rice on Wednesday,
accusing her of making “several troubling statements that are
inconsistent with the facts and require explanation.”
“The administration’s position seems to be evolving with the pass of
each day,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and a ranking
member of the Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview. Ms.
Collins, who has received briefings from administration,
counterterrorism and defense officials, said that shortly after the
attack it was evident to her that terrorists had been behind it. She
said she was convinced both because the attack took place on the
anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington in 2001 and
because the gunmen were reported to be so heavily armed.
“I have been perplexed that the administration has been slow in coming to that same conclusion,” she said.
The Republican criticism was bolstered by Libya’s president, Mohamed
Magariaf, who met with Mrs. Clinton and other American officials in New
York on Monday. In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, he also
attributed the attack to what he called “Al Qaeda elements who are
hiding in Libya,” citing its sophistication and the date of the attack.
From the start, Libyan officials have sought to blame foreigners, even
as they move to crack down on extremist militias that took part in the
uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi last year and clearly had a
role in the attack. Mr. Magariaf said at least 40 suspects had been
questioned, but there was no definitive conclusion about those involved.
“It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American
citizens,” Mr. Magariaf said in remarks broadcast on NBC’s “Today” show
Wednesday.
The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, defended the
administration’s evolving version of events. “Over the course of the
past two weeks, this administration has provided as much information as
it has been able to,” Mr. Carney told reporters traveling on Air Force One
to Ohio on Wednesday. “We made clear that our initial assessment and
interim reports were based on information that was available at the
time.”
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