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| Obama lied, embassy staff died |
(Yahoo! News) -- President Barack
Obama on Friday forcefully denied deliberately misleading Americans
about the deadly attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of
Benghazi, telling radio host Michael Smerconish,
"I've always been
straight with the American people."
Speaking to Smerconish during a 15-minute Oval Office interview,
Obama also declared he was "absolutely" prepared to kill those behind
the assault but would prefer to capture them and "bring them to
justice."
Asked whether the Administration's shifting explanation for the September 11th
strike reflected the intelligence he was receiving, Obama replied:
"What's true is that the intelligence was coming in and evolving as more
information came up.
"And what is true," he continued,
"...This is something that the American people can take to the bank --
is that my administration plays this stuff straight. We don't play
politics when it comes to American national security," the president
said. "As information came in we gave it to the American people. And as
we got new information, we gave that to the American people."
When and if the location of those
behind the attack is known, Smerconish asked, "Will you take that
person out without regard for the election timetable?"
"Absolutely," Obama replied. "But I think our goal would be to bring them to justice."
Questions have arisen about Obama's response to the "Arab Spring"
occurring in countries across the broader Middle East. State Department
officials have acknowledged turning down requests for more security in
Libya. And Republicans have questioned the president's truthfulness
after the administration spent days, they say, blaming the assault on
reaction to an Internet film that ridicules Islam.
Yahoo News reported
in late September American officials had concluded on "Day One" that terrorists were behind the siege. But The Wall Street Journal reported Monday
that Obama's "presidential daily brief" from the CIA tied the assault
to on a spontaneous protest linked to the video — despite intelligence
contradicting that scenario.
Asked whether he knew Americans
in Libya had asked for more security, Obama replied: "I was not
personally aware of any request. Obviously we have an infrastructure
that's set up to manage requests like that," in reference to the State
Department.
"But we're going to find out
exactly what happens," he said. "Ultimately, though, any time there is a
death of an American overseas, I want to find out what happened,
because my most important job as president is keeping the American
people safe."
"And we will get to the bottom of
what happened, and we're going to make sure most importantly that those
who carried it out, that they are captured," Obama said.
He also said he takes "full
responsibility" for the circumstances in the attack, in which Ambassador
Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
The suspects have
not been publicly or conclusively identified, though Egyptian officials
say a man suspected to have been involved was killed Wednesday in a
shootout in the capital, Cairo.
"My biggest priority right now is
bringing those folks to justice. And I think the American people have
seen that's a commitment I always keep," the president said, an apparent
reference to the bin Laden raid.
