Timeline of comments on attack on US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed 4 Americans:
Sept. 11, 2012:
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a statement on the attack on Benghazi, notes that “some have sought to justify this vicious behaviour as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.”
Sept. 12:
From the Rose Garden, President Barack Obama calls Benghazi an “outrageous and shocking attack.” He says the U.S. rejects efforts to denigrate religious beliefs of others, but that there is no justification “to this type of senseless violence.” He adds that “no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation...”
In Washington, Clinton addresses the “video circulating on the Internet that has led to these protests in a number of countries.” She later returns to the “small and savage group in Benghazi” and says again “some seek to justify this behaviour as a response to inflammatory, despicable material posted on the Internet.”
In Libya, Wanis el-Sharef, then eastern Libya’s deputy interior minister, said the attacks were suspected to have been timed to mark the 9-11 anniversary and that the militants used civilians protesting an anti-Islam film as cover for their action. Infiltrators within the security forces may have tipped off militants to the safe house location, he said.
Sept. 14:
At the repatriation ceremony for the victims of the attacks, Clinton calls Benghazi a “heavy assault” and adds: “We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with.”
Sept. 15:
In his weekly address, Obama stresses that the U.S. “has a profound respect for people of all faiths” and rejects the denigration of Islam. “Yet there is never any justification for violence,” he says. “There is no excuse for attacks on our embassies and consulates.”
Sept. 16:
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, goes on morning shows at NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and CNN. Based on the administration’s best information, she says, the Benghazi attack was a “spontaneous — not a premeditated — response” to the anti-video protests in Cairo. A small number of protesters came to the consulate “and then as that unfolded, it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons,” she said. Rice called the attack a “direct result of a heinous and offensive video that was widely disseminated, that the U.S. government had nothing to do with.” She said the U.S. had no information at the time “that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned.”
Sept. 20, 2012:
At a town hall event in Miami, Obama said: “What we’ve seen over the last week-and-a-half is an offensive video or cartoon directed at the prophet Muhammad. And this is obviously something that then is used as an excuse by some to carry out inexcusable violent acts directed at Westerners or Americans. What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests.”
thank you