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Top Dem demands intel on Benghazi timeline

WASHINGTON — The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday became the highest-ranking congressional Democrat to call on the Obama administration to explain why it initially failed to label the assault on the Benghazi consulate a terrorist attack.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wants to know why the White House initially said the attack was the result of a spontaneous protest over a US video mocking the Prophet Mohammed.

“We gave the direction yesterday that the whole process is going to be checked out,” Feinstein said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’re going to find out who made the changes to the original statement.”

Libya Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11 attack.

Much of the battle over the administration claim focuses on UN Ambassador Susan Rice, who went on TV five days after the attack to proclaim the incident part of a spontaneous protest over the video.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said yesterday he wants to hear from Rice, who has been floated as a possible successor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when she steps down next year.

“She’s going to have to come in and testify at some point, whether it’s in a closed hearing or an open hearing,” Chambliss said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Democrats have defended Rice, saying she was merely relaying the information that the administration had at the time.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the chamber, called Republican criticism of Rice “fundamentally unfair.”

Durbin pointed to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who he said was not taken to task by Democrats for her role regarding faulty Iraq war intelligence.

“To say that [Susan Rice] has to be held accountable when intelligence agencies didn’t tell the whole story initially for reasons of national security is unfair,” Durbin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said the intelligence community relayed early on to him that the attack was terrorist-related.

“I’ll tell you with a high degree of confidence today, there was no intelligence failure,” Rogers said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They had it right and they had it right early.”

Rogers wants to know where the disconnect between the intelligence community and Susan Rice took place, suggesting information was withheld from the public for political reasons.