WASHINGTON — The White House, after more than a week in which it has come under fire from Republicans, is now calling last week’s assault on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, a “terrorist attack.”
“It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters traveling on Air Force One on Thursday. “Our embassy was attacked violently, and the result was four deaths of American officials.”
Later Thursday, President Barack Obama said extremists used an anti-Islam video as an excuse to assault U.S. interests.
Asked on Spanish-language network Univision whether the attack was by al-Qaeda, Obama said, “We don’t know yet.”
Also Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the creation of a panel to investigate the attack. The panel, called an Accountability Review Board, will be led by Thomas Pickering, a veteran diplomat and former undersecretary of state. The board is authorized by a 1986 law intended to strengthen security at U.S. diplomatic missions.
The assault, which actually occurred at the U.S. consulate, resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya. U.S. officials have blamed militants who rushed to take advantage of anger over a video made in the United States that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad.
Obama administration officials initially said the attack had not been planned in advance. But, with the election less than two months away, they have come under criticism from Republican lawmakers who say the administration is playing down a threat for which it was unprepared.
White House officials, until now, have avoided calling the attack a terrorist attack. In congressional testimony Wednesday, Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, described it that way. Neither official offered any additional information on the assault.
On Tuesday, Clinton said there had been no intelligence warnings that an attack was imminent. She said that FBI investigators had arrived in Tripoli and that the United States, with the Libyan authorities, would find those responsible. She did not discuss any potential ties to al-Qaeda but blamed extremists opposed to the democratic changes in places like Libya, Tunisia and Egypt for the violence and protests around the region generally.
Asked whether he drew a connection between the Libyan attack, which occurred on Sept. 11, and the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 11 years ago, Carney said, “The attack occurred on Sept 11, 2012, so we use the same calendar at the White House as you do.”
The deputy U.S. secretary of state, William Burns, attended a memorial service in Tripoli on Thursday for Stevens and the three consulate staffers who died in the attack.
Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif said Stevens had bolstered relations with Washington and helped Libya in its time of need during last year’s uprising against dictator Moammar Khadafy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Latest developments
Los Angeles: Actress Cindy Lee Garcia, who appeared in an anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in the Middle East, lost her legal challenge Thursday to have the 14-minute trailer taken down from YouTube. Garcia wasn’t able to produce any agreement she had with the makers of “Innocence of Muslims.”
Pakistan: More than 2,000 people tried to make their way to the U.S. Embassy inside a guarded enclave that houses embassies and government offices in the capital Islamabad. Riot police kept them away from the enclave.
Tunisia: The government banned any Friday protests against the crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published in a French weekly.
Iran: Hundreds of students and clerics gathered outside the French Embassy in Tehran to protest the publication of the caricatures. Protesters chanted “Death to France” and “Down with the U.S.”
Denver Post wire services
