The White House said on Thursday it was "self-evident" that last week's assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was a "terrorist attack."White House spokesman Jay Carney repeated what National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen told a Senate committee Wednesday - that the violence was an "an opportunistic attack" that "evolved and escalated over several hours."
Appearing Thursday on the U.S. Spanish-language TV network Univision, President Barack Obama said the investigation into the attack is ongoing. He would not comment on any specific intelligence or other information, but did say it is not yet known if al-Qaida was involved.
Obama said extremists used what he calls the natural protests over an American-made anti-Muslim video as an excuse to harm U.S. interests.
The attack in Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other diplomats. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the State Department had no actionable intelligence the attack was planned or imminent.
There also have been violent protests against the video at U.S. embassies in other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Appearing Thursday on the U.S. Spanish-language TV network Univision, President Barack Obama said the investigation into the attack is ongoing. He would not comment on any specific intelligence or other information, but did say it is not yet known if al-Qaida was involved.
Obama said extremists used what he calls the natural protests over an American-made anti-Muslim video as an excuse to harm U.S. interests.
The attack in Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other diplomats. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the State Department had no actionable intelligence the attack was planned or imminent.
There also have been violent protests against the video at U.S. embassies in other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.