US intelligence officials and the White House knew almost immediately that Ambassador Craig Stevens was killed by a coordinated terrorist strike — and not by mobs, enraged by an anti-Islamic movie, according to broadcast reports today.
The Obama administration privately labeled the attack a terrorist act, setting off proper internal protocol to address the rocket barrage that blew up the US consulate in Benghazi, senior US officials told Fox News Channel.
It’s still not clear, though, why US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice initially connected the Sept. 11 strike in Benghazi to protests over “Innocence of Muslims’’ — a clownish anti-Islamic film made by a Coptic Christian in California.
The movie has sparked angry protests across the Middle East.
Ambassador Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs and security personnel Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed at the consulate in Benghazi.
It’s been more than two weeks since the deadly attack and bureaucratic infighting has prevented American investigators from entering the crime scene, according to CNN.
Squabbles between the FBI, Department of Justice and State Department has thrown a monkey wrench into the probe, sources told CNN.
American investigators are particularly worried that the crime scene has not been secured any evidence in the rocket-ravaged consulate might be gone or no good
“If we get there now, it’s not clear that it will be of any use to us,” a senior law enforcement official told CNN.
FBI agents have spoken to State Department and other US government officials who were in Libya when Stevens was killed, according to the cable news outlet.
But agents have reportedly been denied to chance to grill suspects rounded by Libyan forces.
“And I cannot believe that the FBI is not on the ground yet, and there’s not enough cooperation to get there,” said US Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia.
Earlier this week, Libyan President Mohamed Magarief told NBC that he believes the deadly attacks were coordinated strikes timed for symbolic value, the 11th anniversary of 9/11 attacks.