Graham: Spontaneous Libyan attack ‘defies common sense’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday joined calls for Congress to launch its own investigation into the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. He said it “defies common sense” that the attack was unplanned, as Obama administration officials contend.

Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday that the attack appeared to have spiraled out of a spontaneous protest in reaction to the anti-Islam video that first sparked protests in Cairo last week.

“Soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution,” Rice said. “And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.”

But Libya’s interim President Mohammed Magarief contradicted Rice on “Face the Nation,” saying there was “no doubt that this was preplanned, predetermined.”

Graham said in a statement Monday that he was siding with the Libyan leader. He called for a congressional investigation into “severe lapses of security.”

“It is my belief, as stated by the Libyan president, that this was a coordinated attack by al-Qaeda or like-minded groups, and it points to severe lapses of security in a region where likely attacks can be anticipated,” Graham said. “The bottom line is statements by the Obama Administration must be properly scrutinized, and that is the proper role of Congress.”

In the aftermath of the Benghazi attack that left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead, Graham suggested that the administration would not look as bad if the attack was spontaneous, rather than premeditated.

“A planned and coordinated assault points loudly to a security lapse, and the problems associated with such a scenario are much deeper than a violent riot over a film,” he said.

Other lawmakers also called for an investigation into the Libya attack, including Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who introduced a bill Thursday that would require an investigation.

The FBI has begun its investigation into the attack for the United States, although officials have not yet reached the site of the attack in Benghazi, Rice said Sunday.

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