U.S. turned down security requests in Libya

WASHINGTON -- The State Department acknowledged yesterday that it rejected appeals for more security at its diplomatic posts in Libya in the months before a fatal terrorist attack in Benghazi as Republicans suggested that lapses contributed to the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Republicans also tried to use a congressional hearing to blow holes in the Obama administration's public explanations for what happened in Benghazi on Sept. 11, accusing the White House of playing down the possibility that the attack was a successful al-Qaida assault.

The highly charged congressional oversight session included sharp accusations from Republicans that the State Department was more interested in presenting a picture of an improving situation in Libya than in ensuring the safety of its staff.

"They repeatedly warned Washington officials of the dangerous situation" in Libya, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said. "Washington officials seemed preoccupied with the concept of normalization."

Democrats on the committee defended the administration, saying Republicans had voted to cut some of the very funding for security that they suggest was lacking in Libya. Democrats also accused Republicans of running an overly partisan investigation leading up to the hearing.

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other government employees were killed when militants attacked two U.S. compounds in eastern Libya. In the days after the attack, administration officials said the assault appeared to grow out of a protest outside the main compound over an anti-Islamic video.

More recently, the administration has termed the attack a premeditated terrorist assault and acknowledged that earlier incidents and warnings about threats had not led to beefed-up security in Benghazi.

President Barack Obama sought to explain the evolving explanations in an interview yesterday on ABC News. "This has all been well-documented and recorded: As information came in, information was put out," he said of the shifting narrative. "The information may not have always been right the first time. And as soon as it turns out that we have a fuller picture of what happened, then that was disclosed.