US Government Ignored Warnings About Embassy Attacks: Report

The US government had advance notice of impending violence in Egypt and Libya but the Obama administration failed to take appropriate security measures, according to a London newspaper exclusive.

The Independent insists that US officials were warned two days ahead of time about the impending crisis that took the lives of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans:

“According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and ‘lockdown’, under which movement is severely restricted.”

The Independent also claims that the attackers have gained access to sensitive documents in Libya including the names of confidential informants. The newspaper also suggests that the violence was in retaliation for US drone attacks in Pakistan rather than from anger over the Innocence of Muslims video.

A U.S. official has denied the report, according to Politico, that the government did nothing to preempt the attack in Benghazi: “We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”

There are now reports that the Marines protecting the US embassy in Cairo, Egypt, were prohibited from carrying live ammo.

Separately, the Jerusalem Post has reported that in a September 4 letter, “Egypt’s General Intelligence Service warned that a jihadi group is planning to launch terrorist attacks against the US and Israeli embassies in Cairo.”

Do you think the the claims that the US failed to take proper action in Cairo and Benghazi after being warned are plausible?