Fox News reported Tuesday that, according to multiple sources, the United States consulate in Benghazi warned the State Department that an Islamic militia group had moved in next door to them, less than a year before the terrorist attack that left four Americans dead. At the time, Hillary Clinton, who said earlier this year that she saw no reason to continue investigating the attack, was serving as secretary of state.
The militia group was connected to Ansar al-Sharia, the terrorist group suspected in the attack. They moved in a few weeks after the United States procured the compound.
One intelligence source told Fox, “We warned D.C. about the guys who moved in next door, but nobody knew what to do and nothing was done.”
The sources had requested sandbags and belt-fed machine guns to fortify the consulate, but claim they were told the weaponry would not be “aesthetically pleasing” and would distress their neighbors.
Former State Department official Christian Whiton called the administration’s inaction “Part of this administration’s pattern of ignoring anyone but Al Qaeda. Not realizing that there are other terrorist groups, there are other Islamist jihadists. And allowing them to rent a building next to a U.S. diplomatic property and not doing anything about it is, again, just negligence.”
Fox News also reported the the United States hired a local militia to provide security the night of the attack. The militia leader abandoned Benghazi while the consulate went up in flames.
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The State Department initially called Fox’s report “dubious”, but later admitted that the consulate had placed a request for a belt- machine gun.
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