What Happened to the ‘Sensitive Information’ Stolen in Benghazi? | The Weekly Standard
Thomas Joscelyn
October 16, 2014
No mention of 'Innocence of Muslims' Internet video in indictment of Benghazi suspect.
The Justice Department has released a new, superseding indictment in the government’s case against Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the only suspect held by the U.S. in connection with the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
The indictment, of course, doesn’t come close to telling the whole story. But we do learn a few new facts, and the indictment raises, again, a key question: What happened to the computers and documents captured by jihadists during the raid on the U.S. Mission and Annex?
There is nothing about the trailer for the video Innocence of Muslims in the indictment. Instead, the “objects and purposes” of the conspiracy to attack the compound included: forcing the U.S. to leave Benghazi “through the use of force and the threat of force,” killing American citizens, and ransacking the property.
The indictment includes another reason for the attack that has received little attention. The jihadists wanted to “plunder property from the Mission and Annex, including documents, maps and computers containing sensitive information.”
At some point, Khatallah learned that there was an “American facility in Benghazi posing as a diplomatic post” and “he believed the facility was actually being used to collect intelligence.” Khatallah “viewed U.S. intelligence actions in Benghazi as illegal” and “he was therefore going to do something about this facility.”
This is, of course, a very different story than the one initially told by the Obama administration. Khatallah and his men were not spontaneously motivated to act because of an obscure Internet video. They knew U.S. intelligence – the CIA – was operating in Benghazi and they wanted to force America’s spooks out. They went hunting.
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