Benghazi E-mail "Smoking Gun" May Not Be Smoking, Nor Gun

Group e-mail claims took credit for attack did not, in fact, take credit for attack

When a set of State Department emails were released Wednesday, one reporting that a local Islamist militia had claimed responsibility for the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans including the US ambassador to Libya, conservatives thought they had the smoking gun that the Obama administration had lied about what had occurred. 

Reuters reported Wednesday that on September 11—the day of the attack—a State Department email with the subject header "Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack" was sent to the White House. The message stated that "Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli." Case closed, conservatives said: The White House had engaged in a cover-up.