CIA documents supported Susan Rice’s description of Benghazi attacks (Obama CYA leaks)

The Washington Post ^ | Friday, October 19, 2012 | David Ignatius

[kristinn]

...Romney campaign may have misfired with its suggestion that statements by President Obama and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice about the Benghazi attack last month weren’t supported by intelligence,...

“Talking points” prepared by the CIA on Sept. 15, the same day that Rice taped three television appearances, support her description of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate as a reaction to Arab anger about an anti-Muslim video prepared in the United States. According to the CIA account, “The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.”

The CIA document went on: “This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated.” This may sound like self-protective boilerplate, but it reflects the analysts’ genuine problem interpreting fragments of intercepted conversation, video surveillance and source reports.

The senior intelligence official said the analysts’ judgment was based in part on monitoring of some of the Benghazi attackers, which showed they had been watching the Cairo protests live on television and talking about them before they assaulted the consulate....

...“It was a flash mob with weapons,” is how the senior official described the attackers. The mob included members of the Ansar al-Sharia militia, about four members of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, and members of the Egypt-based Muhammad Jamal network, along with other unarmed looters.

...official said the only major change he would make now in the CIA’s Sept. 15 talking points would be to drop the word “spontaneous” and substitute “opportunistic.” He explained that there apparently was “some pre-coordination but minimal planning.”

[basalt]

WOW...DOUBLING DOWN ON THIS STORY...UNREAL. i want them to explain all the prior attacks...the British pulled out...the Red Cross pulled out. In the testimony of Col Wood...’WE WERE THE LAST FLAG FLYING”. The sad part of all this is that Gen David Petraeus is up to his neck in this.

[sargon]

individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons, weapons that as you know in -- in the wake of the revolution in Libya are -- are quite common and accessible.

And the reason for that is because the 0bama administration helped create the chaos which allowed extremists to get access to these weapons. Libya was an ally who had supposedly gotten rid of their WMD, and now extremist elements have filled the vacuum created by the US-backed overthrow of Khaddafi. That is the basis on which the 0bama Mideast/Libya policy should be criticized.

I expect Romney to be thoughtful, deliberate, and skillful in his criticism of 0bama's foreign policy, and I also expect him to offer an alternative vision of his own with respect to Mideast policy as well as foreign policy in general. Romney can probably make the best points with respect to his and 0bama's significantly different visions regarding Israel and Iran.

[rfp1234]

Petraeus should have known better and resigned in protest before becoming part of this charade. I wonder what dirt the thugs have on him.

[yldstrk]

complete garbage.

[yldstrk]

Hillary and obama planned a fake kidnapping of the ambassador which would give them cover to exchange the blind sheik for the ambassador. That is why no one was dispatched to help. There was unexpected intervention by Navy Seals in the area and the whole thing went South.

there were no “demonstrations” and printing a bunch of lies in different newspapers will not change the truth.

[PhilDragoo]

If the cia will paint iranian nukes as an issue of the past in 2007 to prevent bush from having evidence to act, why wouldn’t it be possible they would write talking points to make obama look less pathetic?

The calls for more security were many and all unheeded in the run-up.

In six hours (per Col. David Hunt to Howie Carr) hundreds at the WH Situation Room, the Pentagon, CIA, Counter-Terrorism Center, State Department, and elsewhere watched while no principal of the executive branch, not the president, the Secretary of State, no commander of military or special forces authorized action to save American lives.

Are the dead less dead if one of the hundred fifty "flash mob" with mortars and RPGs had a sign or shouted a slogan?

Had we had some journalists in the Embassy to be drug through the street, raped and murdered, would we be carrying water for the Twelfth Imam from Chicago?

[what's up]

Everybody knows now that Romney was right about the Rose Garden transcript.

The WH and MSM have got 3 days to come up with something to make "Romney's fault" before the foreign policy session on Monday.

Thus, these WaPo attempts to pitch it back toward Romney.

[kevao]

So now the video is — once again — the cause of Benghazi? But didn’t Obama just say in this week’s debate that he *never* said Benghazi had *anything* to do with the video? Candy, get the transcript!

[kevao]

Boehner's desk must be flooded by letters from citizens demanding some action.

And given Boenher's track record as Speaker these past two years, all those letters went straight into the circular file.

[dixiechick2000]

The CIA has talking points?.

I thought talking points was a political thing.

That’s not even mentioning that I didn’t see a named source.

Get on with your bad selves, Obama shills.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Looks like Ignatius bought the coverup story from the CIA, or State, or Mickey Mouse. I was always a little suspicious of his writings but this one leaves no doubt in my mind that he has been “had” or “bought and paid for” by the Administration.

Of course, the Wash. Compost has no standards so this is to be expected.

[Ann Archy]

Gen. Patraeus LIED also when he said it was because of a movie....SOOOOOOOO, now we have a BIGGER SCANDAL that could take down Obama, Clinton, Rice AND Patraeus!!!

Was it ILLEGAL WEAPONS (read "Weapons Hunting") the reason that Stevens and the 2 SEALS were in Benghazi when Stevenes SHOULD have been in Tripoli??? Up to 20,000 MANPANDS are missing and in ENEMY HANDS!!

REPORTERS....WHERE ARE YOU????

[Ann Archy]

PATREAUS is HEAD of the CIA!!!!!! He LIED to us, just like the REST of them!! He MUST be a Democrat!

[Kickass Conservative]

Actually, they are so far up there they are suckling on Obama’s Tonsils.

[Ann Archy]

Actually, what the hell difference does it make if it was a spontaneous riot or a planned attack?? Our Amb. and 3 others were KILLED and Obama, Hillary and maybe even Patreaus have BLOOD on their HANDS!!!!

We need the TIME in DC when these 4 were being killed, not Benghazi time!!

Our Amb. and Gen Wood asked over and over for more SECURITY and were turned down and what little security they did have was depleted!! And then they were guarded by LIBYANS!!! WHY????? WHY???

ANd Eric Nordstrom said "I feel like the Taliban is in the BUILDING"! WHAT BUILDING, Eric....the WHITE HOUSE???? The STATE DEPT??? The PENTAGON?? The CIA???? Tell us, Eric.

[Ann Archy]

Patraeus is head of the CIA....he has already laid down for Obama. VERY SAD and disappointing!

[Ann Archy]

Patraeus came out and said it was the VIDEO!!! Right when this blew up!!

[kevao]

My question was, Where the hell has Patreaus been hiding out for the past month? Why hasn’t his ass been hauled before Congress?

[Ann Archy]

Why hasn’t HILLARY, RICE AND PAtraeus been hauled before Congress????<P.WHERE ARE THE REPORTERS????? WHY aren’t they camped in front of RICE’S HOUSE??? PATRAEUS’s HOUSE???