Hillary Clinton urges caution on newly released emails detailing Libya attack

Washington Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton cautioned that a newly released State Department communication sent during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is "not in and of itself evidence" that the administration had definitively assessed the assault as a terrorist attack from the beginning.

On Tuesday, CBS News obtained three email alerts that were put out by the State Department as the attack unfolded. Four Americans were killed in the attack, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

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Emails paint picture of Benghazi attack

The third, sent at 6:07 p.m. ET -- roughly two hours after the initial attack began -- contained the subject line "Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibilty for Benghazi Attack," referencing an Islamist group operating in the country.

The body of the text continued the message: "on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli."

The document may fuel Republican efforts to show that the White House knew it was a terrorist attack, even as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was saying — five days afterward — that it appeared to be a protest gone awry.

• Tunisia: Libya consulate attack suspect arrested
• Emails detail unfolding Benghazi attack on Sept. 11
• Read the emails (PDF)
• Ambassador warned Libya was "volatile and violent"

The Obama administration's account of the Benghazi events has become a presidential campaign issue, with Republican challenger Mitt Romney and GOP lawmakers accusing the White House of misleading Americans about the nature of the attack.

Clinton told reporters on Wednesday that the claim of responsibility noted by department officials was posted on Facebook and "is not in and of itself evidence and I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time, and continued for some time to be." She cautioned against "cherry picking one story here or one document there" and said it is critical to look at the totality of information before coming to any conclusions.

The messages were sent from the State Department Operations Center to a number government and intelligence agencies. Included were the White House Situation Room, the office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the FBI.

The first one, sent at 4:05 p.m. ET, read: "US Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack" -- "approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well. Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four COM (Chief of Mission/embassy) personnel are in the compound safe haven."

At 4:54 p.m., less than an hour later, another alert was sent: "the firing... in Benghazi...has stopped...A response team is on site attempting to locate COM (embassy) personnel."

The emails are just a few in what are likely a large number traded throughout the night.

White House press secretary Jay Carney likewise said the emails represented just one piece of information the administration was receiving at the time.

"There were emails about all sorts of information that was becoming available in the aftermath of the attack," Carney said. "The whole point of an intelligence community and what they do is to assess strands of information and make judgments about what happened and who is responsible."

Nearly from the beginning of the investigation into the attack, there have been questions surrounding the administration: whether the State Department had provided adequate security for its diplomatic team in a nation struggling to control powerful militias; and how quickly it concluded the attack was the work of organized militants and not simply a spontaneous outgrowth of protests against an anti-Islam film.

Meanwhile, there were some developments regarding the investigation.

U.S. investigators are in possession of at least some of the security video, of decent quality, from the consulate attack in Benghazi and are reviewing it, a U.S. government official told CBS News.

The video comes from 10 cameras and was retrieved by the FBI from the Libyans who removed them from the compound days after the attack, reports CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan. The video, from non-infrared cameras, isn't complete and the feeds aren't simultaneous.

And Tunisian authorities said they had arrested a 28-year-old Tunisian reportedly linked to the U.S. consulate attack in Libya.

Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Tarrouch Khaled said Wednesday that Ali Harzi was in custody in Tunis. Khaled tells The Associated Press "his case is in the hands of justice." He did not elaborate.

In Washington, the State Department had no comment. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. has been looking into the arrests of two Tunisian men being detained in Turkey reportedly in connection with last month's attacks on the consulate.

[Onevocie]

What concerns me about all this is that I am even more uncomfortable with the thought of Joe Biden stepping in as president and this all gets dragged out to after the election and Obama squeaks in only to get impeached later. My heart is in my knees as I am praying that this does NOT happen.

[Onevocie]

What concerns me about all this is that I am even more uncomfortable with the thought of Joe Biden stepping in as president and this all gets dragged out to after the election and Obama squeaks in only to get impeached later. My heart is in my knees as I am praying that this does NOT happen.

[square_deal_]

I would be urging caution too; common sense has a strange, mystical power.

[Healthforeverybody]

I wish CBS would let go of their ankles for the BO Regime and report the news. FOX is breaking live now that BO denied three times help as the emails were sent in. What an embarrassment this donkey is for America

[donotfear2012]

She knows full well that this was the ONLY real information they had available. Everything else was pure speculation.

[wmsshields]

Since day one, there has been enough spin on this issue coming from 0b0z0 and his clowns, to stop the rotation of this planet.
Can't afford to come clean now, this close to November elections, can they?

[RSpringfield]

We've pretty much connected all the dots. This just another attempt to save the administrations hide. Hillbillery has learned how to spin a story from the master himself. "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

[Healthforeverybody]

Actually, she was the Master, she taught Bill how to do it!

[mjvwsr]

Of course she's urging caution. Afterall, they haven't finished making stuft up yet.

[airtight2]

These political partisan amateurs really need to stop. First figure out what accusation you are trying to make before you start arguing. Are you claiming coverup or are you claiming security was not adequate? I think you can throw the first out and if you like pursue the latter. Fact is intelligence is not always clear and you would of been claiming irresponsibility on the part of President Obama, Rice, and Cinton if they had taken the initial claim as fact. and you might be steppng into territory you dont understand.

[Outsidejim]

Obviously security was inadequate. The requests for additional security were denied by the WH and Americans lost their lives. That is the inspiration for the coverup. If you don't think there was a coverup, where did all of America get the idea that this was a spontaneous riot based on a little viewed youtube video? That information was provided by the administration, was pure fiction, and was specifically to cover up the truth. Americans didn't make that stuff up.

[wfw3536]

Time for Clinton to resign, and for Obama to stop the cover up. How sad for the families of these 4 brave Americans that the White House and State Dept knew almost from the beginning of the attack and could have had the military come in to help as they were one hour away while the battle raged on for several hours. So did Obama go to bed that night, knowing brave Americans were killed, but he did have time to go to Las Vegas the next day and in an interview on TV called it a speed bump.

[Golfimbul]

You read that one of the e-mails says that the fighting had ended, an hour after the first news of the attack, right? Washington was obviously getting conflicting and confused information.