A top congressional Republican is blasting a new report concluding that al Qaeda and other terrorist groups had nothing to do with the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
The report, published Sunday in The New York Times, blames the fatal attack on anti-Western militia Ansar al-Shariah — a conclusion that is “misleading,” according to New York Rep. Peter King (R-LI).
“They are saying that al-Shariah is involved, but al-Shariah is a part of the al Qaeda umbrella, the al Qaeda network,” King said, challenging the Times’ conclusion that al-Shariah “had no known affiliations with terrorist groups.”
“Al-Shariah is a pro- al Qaeda terrorist organization,” countered the congressman, a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
The Times piece blames the fatal attack — which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans — on a grass-roots outcry over an American-made, anti-Muslim video that appeared on YouTube.
King said the video had little to do with the attack, which he insisted was carefully planned by terror professionals.
“This was a well-coordinated attack,” he said. “This was not a ragtag group.”