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Clinton Sees Link to Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack Clinton Suggests Link to Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack
(about 7 hours later)
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated for the first time on Wednesday that there was an explicit link between the Qaeda franchise in North Africa and the attack at the American diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans, including the ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday suggested there was a link between the Qaeda franchise in North Africa and the attack at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the American ambassador and three others. She was the highest-ranking Obama administration official to publicly make the connection, and her comments intensified what is becoming a fiercely partisan fight over whether the attack could have been prevented.
She also said American intelligence and law enforcement agencies were working not only with Libya but also with other nations in the region to investigate the attack in Benghazi on Sept. 11. That indicated that the attack’s planning and execution might not have been the local, spontaneous eruption of violence that the administration had initially described. Mrs. Clinton did not offer any new evidence of a Qaeda link, and officials later said the question would be officially settled only after the F.B.I. completed a criminal inquiry, which could take months. But they said they had not ruled out the involvement of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb — an affiliate of the international terrorist group with origins in Algeria — in an attack the administration initially described as a spontaneous protest turned violent.
Mrs. Clinton made her remarks at a special United Nations meeting on the political and security crisis in the swath of North Africa known as the Maghreb and the Sahel, a crisis that is particularly affecting northern Mali, which has been overrun by Islamic extremists since a military coup divided that country earlier this year. Her remarks added to the administration’s evolving and at times muddled explanation of what happened on the evening of Sept. 11 and into the next morning. Republicans in Congress have accused President Obama of playing down possible terrorist involvement in the midst of a re-election campaign in which killing Osama bin Laden and crippling Al Qaeda are cited as major achievements.
She said Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which originated in Algeria, was now using the region as a haven to support extremism and terrorist violence in countries like Libya. Mrs. Clinton made her remarks at a special United Nations meeting on the political and security crisis in the parts of North Africa known as the Maghreb and the Sahel, particularly in northern Mali, which has been overrun by Islamic extremists since a military coup helped lead to the division of that country this year.
“Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions,” Mrs. Clinton told world leaders assembled at the United Nations meeting. “And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.” Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has long operated in the region, she said, and was now exploiting a haven in Mali to export extremism and terrorist violence to neighbors like Libya.
She did not detail any new evidence of the linkage. Some Republican critics in Washington have argued that the administration played down the possibility of any connection to Al Qaeda, especially with President Obama in the midst of a re-election campaign in which the killing of Osama bin Laden is a major talking point. “Now with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions,” Mrs. Clinton told leaders assembled at the meeting, including President François Hollande of France and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. “And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.”
“The United States is stepping up our counterterrorism efforts across the Maghreb and the Sahel,” Mrs. Clinton added, “and we’re working with the Libyan government and other partners to find those responsible for the attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi and bring them to justice.” Mr. Ban called the meeting to lay the groundwork for a possible international military intervention — to be led by African troops — to help the new military government in Mali re-establish control over a part of the country that Mr. Hollande noted was the size of France and is now under the grip of Islamist extremists imposing their vision of law and order.
Libya’s president, Mohamed Magariaf, who met with Mrs. Clinton and other American officials on Monday, also attributed the attack to what he called “Al Qaeda elements who are hiding in Libya,” citing the sophistication of the attack on the mission in Benghazi and the date, Sept. 11, the anniversary of the attacks in New York and near Washington in 2001. “We cannot stand by and allow terrorists to take over an entire territory,” Mr. Hollande said.
He also did not disclose any evidence, saying he did not want to interfere with the investigations under way. From the start, however, Libyan officials have sought to shift the blame to foreigners, even as they move to crack down on extremist militias that took part in the armed uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi last year and clearly had a role in the attack. Top militia leaders in Benghazi have dismissed the possibility that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb played a role in the attacks or had a foothold in eastern Libya. Benghazi residents have said they believe the brigade that conducted the attack could not have managed the assault on its own, because it included more than 100 heavily armed fighters.
“It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens,” Mr. Magariaf said in remarks broadcast on NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday. Mrs. Clinton’s connection of the turmoil in the Sahel with the violence in Benghazi, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, echoed remarks made last week by Matthew G. Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He said that intelligence analysts were investigating ties between local Libyan militias and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, but had not yet come to any conclusions.
Mrs. Clinton’s remarks appeared to go beyond comments made last week by Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who said intelligence analysts were investigating ties between local Libyan militias and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, but had not yet come to any conclusions. A senior administration official said that Mrs. Clinton intended to underscore the rising threat that the Qaeda affiliate and other extremist organizations pose to the emerging democratic governments in countries like Tunisia and Libya, adding that the group clearly intended to make contact with extremists in Benghazi and elsewhere. The final determination of the group’s role, the official said, would await the investigation by the F.B.I.
“We are looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have had connections to Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda’s affiliates, in particular, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” Mr. Olsen told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Sept. 19. Mrs. Clinton has also ordered a review of diplomatic security that is being led by Thomas R. Pickering, a veteran diplomat and former undersecretary of state.
When asked which group or groups were involved in the attack, Mr. Olsen said, “The picture that is emerging is one where a number of different individuals were involved, so it’s not necessarily an either/or proposition.” It was not clear whether Mrs. Clinton’s remarks foreshadowed any possible retaliation against those who carried out the attack, whether they operated in sympathy with, or on orders from, Al Qaeda leaders. But she reiterated the administration’s vow to bring those responsible to justice, telling the conference that American intelligence and law-enforcement agencies were working not only with Libya but with other nations in the region to investigate the attack.
At that same hearing, Mr. Olsen said the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex in Benghazi was a “terrorist attack,” the first time the administration had ascribed the attack to terrorists. The next day, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said on Air Force One, “It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.” He added, “Our embassy was attacked violently, and the result was four deaths of American officials.” The cooperation with other nations beyond Libya in the investigations also seemed to indicate that the attack’s planning and execution might have crossed international borders and not simply have been a local, spontaneous eruption of violence in response to an amateurish Internet video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.
A senior administration official said on Wednesday that Mrs. Clinton intended to underscore the rising threat that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other extremist groups posed to the emerging democratic governments in countries like Tunisia and Libya, adding that the group clearly intended to make contacts with extremists in Benghazi and elsewhere. The final determination of the group’s role, the official said, would await the investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mrs. Clinton has also ordered a review of diplomatic security that is being led by a veteran diplomat and former under secretary of state, Thomas R. Pickering. “The United States is stepping up our counterterrorism efforts across the Maghreb and the Sahel,” Mrs. Clinton said, “and we’re working with the Libyan government and other partners to find those responsible for the attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi and bring them to justice.”
Mrs. Clinton’s comments caught intelligence and other administration officials off guard, with some saying there was not yet conclusive evidence that the operatives from the Qaeda affiliate were involved in the attacks. Questions about the attack in Libya have become politically charged, even as the State Department has grieved over the loss of four employees — including the first American ambassador killed on duty since 1979 — and tried to contain the outrage over the video that spread to dozens of countries.
A spokesman for the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on Mrs. Clinton’s remarks. Officials initially described the attack as a protest, though one administration official acknowledged what Libyan witnesses have said in interviews: that the attack was deliberate and organized. Five days after the attack, the American representative to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, in an appearance on the Sunday talk shows, continued to describe it as a spontaneous protest, and it was only on Sept. 19 that Mr. Olsen of National Counterterrorism Center called it a terrorist attack.
Eight House chairmen on Wednesday wrote Mr. Obama seeking information on the intelligence American officials had before the Libyan attack. In the letter, circulated by Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, they suggested that the  Obama administration had “a pre-9/11 mind-set — treating an act of war solely as a criminal matter, rather than also prioritizing the gathering of intelligence to prevent future attacks.” Four Republican Senators — John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — released a blistering letter to Ms. Rice on Wednesday, accusing her of making “several troubling statements that are inconsistent with the facts and require explanation.”
Representative Peter T. King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that in the days after the attack he and many others on Capitol Hill believed that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was probably behind the attack because it has such a stronghold in eastern Libya. “The administration’s position seems to be evolving with the pass of each day,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and a ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview. Ms. Collins, who has received briefings from administration, counterterrorism and defense officials, said that shortly after the attack it was evident to her that terrorists had been behind it. She said she was convinced both because the attack took place on the anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington in 2001 and because the gunmen were reported to be so heavily armed.
“Understandably, there was a lot of uncertainty in the days immediately following the attacks in Benghazi,” he said. “And while the administration was saying definitively it wasn’t a terrorist attack, those of us who believed there had to be significant terrorist involvement believed it was almost certainly A.Q.I.M. because they are such a major force, the major force, in that part of Libya. If it was terrorism, which we believed had to have played a role, it almost certainly had to be them.” “I have been perplexed that the administration has been slow in coming to that same conclusion,” she said.
Mr. King, a New York Republican, said some reports had indicated that smaller elements of Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan rebel brigade, played a role in the attack, although he described the group as a “grab bag of jihadists” that is far less organized and sophisticated than the Al Qaeda affiliate. The Republican criticism was bolstered by Libya’s president, Mohamed Magariaf, who met with Mrs. Clinton and other American officials in New York on Monday. In an interview broadcast on Wednesday, he also attributed the attack to what he called “Al Qaeda elements who are hiding in Libya,” citing its sophistication and the date of the attack.
“It was very irresponsible for the administration to say in the days after the attack that it wasn’t a terrorist attack when all the information was not in,” he said. From the start, Libyan officials have sought to blame foreigners, even as they move to crack down on extremist militias that took part in the uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi last year and clearly had a role in the attack. Mr. Magariaf said at least 40 suspects had been questioned, but there was no definitive conclusion about those involved. “It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens,” Mr. Magariaf said in remarks broadcast on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.

The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, defended the administration’s evolving version of events. “Over the course of the past two weeks, this administration has provided as much information as it has been able to,” Mr. Carney told reporters traveling on Air Force One to Ohio on Wednesday. “We made clear that our initial assessment and interim reports were based on information that was available at the time.”

David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from Benghazi, Libya, and Michael S. Schmidt and Eric Schmitt from Washington.