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White House Denies Prior Knowledge of Libyan Attack

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On Friday the White House denied rumors circulated in the media that the Barack Obama administration had “actionable intelligence” of the recent attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, which killed four American diplomats including the U.S. ambassador.

On Friday the White House denied rumors circulated in the media that the Barack Obama administration had “actionable intelligence” of the recent attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, which killed four American diplomats including the U.S. ambassador.

British newspaper The Independent has reported that the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. diplomatic staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuous security breach.

"There was no intelligence that in any way could have been acted on to prevent these attacks ... The report suggested that there was intelligence available prior to this which would lead us to believe this facility would be attacked, and that is false," White House Spokesman Jay Carney said.

He also said that the U.S. administration had no information to suggest that it was a pre-planned attack by terrorists.

“The unrest we have seen around the region has been in response to a video,” Carney said.

The posting on Tuesday of a short film titled "Innocence of Muslims" on a popular video-sharing service sparked protests in Muslim communities around the globe. The movie has been lambasted as offensive to Prophet Mohammed and immoral.

Angered by the anti-Islam film, protesters stormed the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi in Libya on Tuesday, killing American Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

In the past two days, similar attacks on the U.S. diplomatic missions occurred in Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, and Tunisia where protests turned into violent clashes with the police.

Crowds also protested the U.S.-made film for the second day in Malaysia, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Bangladesh and Iraq.

The "Innocence of Muslims" portrays Prophet Mohammed sleeping with women, talking about killing children and referring to a donkey as "the first Muslim animal."

The film has been actively promoted by a Florida pastor, Terry Jones, who gained notoriety for threatening to burn and then burning a Koran, which set off riots in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011.

 

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