Barack Obama's administration has been asserting that the attack in Libya was "spontaneous", not planned, organized or premeditated and was the result of the 14 minute Mohammed movie trailer, "Innocence of Muslims" that has been online for over 2 months but coincidentally sparked enough outrage to have Muslim extremists across the world protest and attack U.S. Embassies all starting on 9/11.
The Libyan government has arrested 50 people so far in what the Libyan president has publicly stated was a preplanned and premeditated assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where a U.S. Ambassador and three others were killed.
Relevant portion of the transcript from the CBS News interview, H/T American Power, who also has some excellent commentary, so click over and read.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Was this a long-planned attack, as far as you know? Or what-- what do you know about that?
MOHAMED YOUSEF EL-MAGARIAF: The way these perpetrators acted and moved, I think we-- and they're choosing the specific date for this so-called demonstration, I think we have no-- this leaves us with no doubt that this has preplanned, determined-- predetermined.
BOB SCHIEFFER: And you believe that this was the work of al Qaeda and you believe that it was led by foreigners. Is that-- is that what you are telling us?
MOHAMED YOUSEF EL-MAGARIAF: It was planned-- definitely, it was planned by foreigners, by people who-- who entered the country a few months ago, and they were planning this criminal act since their-- since their arrival.
As I said just yesterday:
The attack in Libya, the murders there, were preplanned and the Mohammed Movie trailer was used as a convenient cover for those attacks and murders, first by the Muslim extremists hell bent on attacking America again on 9/11, then by the Obama administration that would rather Americans think this was simply a response to an offensive against Islam, than to admit the United States of America was attacked and it's citizens murdered, again, on 9/11.
The question now that Magariaf has gone public is whether the Obama administration will admit that they ignored the warning given to them about a pending attack, will acknowledge the organization of attacking the Consulate and then attacking the "safe house" with RPG's and machine guns, and admit that the movie trailer while used to spark other protests was not the cause of the Libyan assault.
Or do they plan to call the Libyan president a liar and continue to claim this was not a planned terror attack specifically set up for 9/11, the anniversary of the worst attack against America in recent history?
[Update] Related: Libyan reports shred White House claim that Benghazi attack was spontaneous, driven by anti-Islam film
President Barack Obama jets off to campaign events Monday in the critical swing state of Ohio, even as Libyan officials and locals have shredded his defensive claim that a spontaneous protest against a Californian’s anti-Islam video caused the Sept. 11 killing of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.[Update] John McCain: "Most people don't bring rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weapons to demonstrations. That was an act of terror," McCain said on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "For anyone to disagree with that fundamental fact I think is really ignoring the facts."
“The idea that this criminal and cowardly act was a spontaneous protest that just spun out of control is completely unfounded and preposterous,” Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif told the liberal National Public Radio network.
Instead, the killing was a military-style attack, he said.
That attack hit the poorly guarded group of diplomats, who had to be rescued by Libyan reinforcements.