Two  weeks passed since an American post in Benghazi, Libya was attacked and  our ambassador and 3 other American diplomatic corps members were  murdered. The Administration of President Barack Obama is finally  fessing up that it was indeed a planned terrorist attack. This was  something the Libyan government had been saying within hours of the  attack. The hesitancy seems to indicate the White House is only  conceding what everyone already knew, but begrudgingly.

The Washington Post has a great timeline that lays it all out for you to judge and determine for yourself:

“We are still doing an investigation.”

— President Obama, Sept. 25, 2012

In any kind of confused overseas event, initial reports are often  wrong. But the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi,  Libya, in which four Americans were killed, including the ambassador, is  a case study of how an administration can carefully keep the focus as  long as possible on one storyline — and then turn on a dime when it is  no longer tenable.

For political reasons, it certainly was in  the White House’s interests to not portray the attack as a terrorist  incident, especially one that took place on the anniversary of the Sept.  11 attacks. Instead the administration kept the focus on what was  ultimately a red herring — anger in the Arab world over anti-Muslim  video posted on You Tube. With key phrases and message discipline, the  administration was able to conflate an attack on the U.S. Embassy in  Egypt — which apparently was prompted by the video — with the deadly  assault in Benghazi.

Officials were also able to dismiss pointed questions by referring to an ongoing investigation.

Ultimately, when the head of the National Counterterrorism Center was  asked pointblank on Capitol Hill whether it was a an act of terror — and  he agreed — the administration talking points began to shift. (Tough  news reporting — as well as statements by Libya’s president — also  played a role.) Yet President Obama himself resisted using the “t” word,  even as late as Tuesday, while keeping the focus on the video in his  speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

On Wednesday, however,  White House spokesman Jay Carney acknowledged also that Obama himself  believes the attack was terrorism — and so more than two weeks after the  attack the Rubicon finally was crossed.

As a reader service,  we have compiled a comprehensive timeline of administration statements,  showing the evolution in talking points, with key phrases highlighted in  bold. Many readers sent suggestions for this timeline, for which we are  deeply grateful.

We will leave it to readers to reach their  own conclusions on whether this is merely the result of the fog of war  and diplomacy — or a deliberate effort to steer the storyline away from  more politically damaging questions. After all, in a competitive  election, two weeks is a lifetime.

Initially, ‘an attack’ — and focus on a video

“Yesterday, our U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked.  Heavily armed militants assaulted the compound and set fire to our  buildings. American and Libyan security personnel battled the attackers  together. Four Americans were killed. They included Sean Smith, a  Foreign Service information management officer, and our Ambassador to  Libya Chris Stevens. We are still making next of kin notifications for  the other two individuals.”

— Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, State Department Treaty room, Sept. 12

“The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and  shocking attack. We're working with the government of Libya to secure  our diplomats. I've also directed my administration to increase our  security at diplomatic posts around the world. And make no mistake, we  will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who  attacked our people.

“Since our founding, the United States  has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to  denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no  justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must  stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts…No acts of  terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that  character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.”

— President Obama, Rose Garden statement, Sept. 12

(Note: we added this statement to the timeline after Josh Gerstein of  Politico asserted that the phrasing “acts of terror” showed Obama  acknowledged “terrorism” was behind the attack. From our many years of  covering diplomacy we would say there is a world of difference, but  readers can draw their own conclusions.)

“Frankly, we are not  in a position to speak any further to the perpetrators of this attack.  It was clearly a complex attack. We’re going to have to do a full  investigation.”

— Unnamed senior administration official, briefing reporters in a conference call, Sept. 12

“I think it’s important to note with regards to that protest that there  are protests taking place in different countries across the world that  are responding to the movie that has circulated on the Internet. As  Secretary Clinton said today, the United States government had nothing  to do with this movie. We reject its message and its contents. We find  it disgusting and reprehensible. America has a history of religious  tolerance and respect for religious beliefs that goes back to our  nation’s founding. We are stronger because we are the home to people of  all religions, including millions of Muslims, and we reject the  denigration of religion. We also believe that there is no justification  at all for responding to this movie with violence.”

— White House spokesman Jay Carney, news briefing, Sept. 13

“This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our  country. We’ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took  the lives of those brave men. We’ve seen rage and violence directed at  American embassies over n awful Internet video that we had nothing to do  with. It is hard for the American people to make sense of that because  it is senseless, and it is totally unacceptable.”

— Clinton, transfer of remains ceremony, Sept. 14

“I have seen that report, and the story is absolutely wrong. We were  not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on  the U.S. mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent. That report is  false.”

— Carney, news briefing, Sept. 14

“Based on  the best information we have to date ... it began spontaneously in  Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in  Cairo, where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest  outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video. But 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. And that it spun from  there into something much, much more violent.... We do not have  information at present that leads us to conclude that this was  premeditated or preplanned.”

— Susan E. Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sept. 16

“We had a substantial security presence with our personnel and the  consulate in Benghazi. Tragically, two of the four Americans who were  killed were there providing security. That was their function. And  indeed, there were many other colleagues who were doing the same with  them.”

— Rice, on ABC’s “This Week,” Sept. 16

(Note: the U.S. post was not a consulate and its precise role is still a mystery.)

“The way these perpetrators acted and moved, and their choosing the  specific date for this so-called demonstration, this leaves us with no  doubt that this was preplanned, predetermined.”

— Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf, president of Libya’s General National Congress, Sept. 16

QUESTION: “Simply on the basis of what Ambassador Rice has publicly  disclosed, does the United States Government regard what happened in  Benghazi as an act of terror?”

SPOKESWOMAN VICTORIA NULAND: “Again, I’m not going to put labels on this until we have a complete investigation, okay?”

QUESTION: “You don’t — so you don’t regard it as an act of terrorism?”

NULAND: “I don’t think we know enough. I don’t think we know enough.  And we’re going to continue to assess. She gave our preliminary  assessment. We’re going to have a full investigation now, and then we’ll  be in a better position to put labels on things, okay?”

— exchange at State Department briefing, Sept. 17

“Well, you’re conveniently conflating two things, which is the  anniversary of 9/11 and the incidents that took place, which are under  investigation and the cause and motivation behind them will be decided  by that investigation.”

— Carney, news briefing, Sept. 17

Suddenly, a shift to a ‘terrorist attack’

“I would say yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack  on our embassy….The best information we have now, the facts that we have  now indicate that this was an opportunistic attack on our embassy. The  attack began and evolved and escalated over several hours at our embassy  — our diplomatic post in Benghazi. It evolved and escalated over  several hours.

“It appears that individuals who were certainly  well-armed seized on the opportunity presented as the events unfolded  that evening and into the — into the morning hours of September 12th. We  do know that a number of militants in the area, as I mentioned, are  well-armed and maintain those arms. What we don't have at this point is  specific intelligence that there was a significant advanced planning or  coordination for this attack.

“We are focused on who was  responsible for this attack. At this point, what I would say is that a  number of different elements appear to have been involved in the attack,  including individuals connected to militant groups that are prevalent  in eastern Libya, particularly in the Benghazi area, as well. We are  looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have  had connections to al-Qaeda or al-Qaeda's affiliates; in particular,  al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.”

— Mathew Olsen, director of  the National Counterterrorism Center, testimony before Congress, Sept.  19, after being asked a direct question.

CNN reports on Sept.  19 that Ambassador Christopher Stevens had been worried by the security  threats in Benghazi. CNN later acknowledged the information came from  Steven’s journal.

“It is, I think, self-evident that what  happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Our embassy was attacked  violently, and the result was four deaths of American officials. So,  again, that's self- evident.

“He also made clear that at this  point, based on the information he has — and he is briefing the Hill on  the most up-to-date intelligence — we have no information at this point  that suggests that this was a significantly preplanned attack, but this  was the result of opportunism, taking advantage of and exploiting what  was happening as a result of reaction to the video that was found to be  offensive.”

— Carney, news briefing, Sept. 20

CBS News reports there never was anti-American protest.

“Witnesses tell CBS News that there was never an anti-American protest  outside of the consulate. Instead they say it came under planned attack.  That is in direct contradiction to the administration’s account.”

— Margaret Brennan CBS News correspondent, CBS News report aired Sept. 20

But Obama resists saying the ‘t’ word…

OBAMA: “What we’ve seen over the last week, week and a half, is  something that actually we've seen in the past, where there is an  offensive video or cartoon directed at the prophet Muhammad. And this is  obviously something that then is used as an excuse by some to carry out  inexcusable violent acts directed at Westerners or Americans.

“And my number-one priority is always to keep our diplomats safe and to  keep our embassies safe. And so when the initial events happened in  Cairo and all across the region, we worked with Secretary Clinton to  redouble our security and to send a message to the leaders of these  countries, essentially saying, although we had nothing to do with the  video, we find it offensive, it's not representative of America's views,  how we treat each other with respect when it comes to their religious  beliefs, but we will not tolerate violence.”

QUESTION: “We have  reports that the White House said today that the attacks in Libya were a  terrorist attack. Do you have information indicating that it was Iran,  or al-Qaeda was behind organizing the protests?”

OBAMA: “Well,  we're still doing an investigation, and there are going to be different  circumstances in different countries. And so I don’t want to speak to  something until we have all the information. What we do know is that the  natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were  used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm  U.S. interests.”

— President Obama, Univision Town Hall, Sept. 20

“What happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack, and we will not rest  until we have tracked down and brought to justice the terrorists who  murdered four Americans.”

— Clinton, statement at a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Sept. 21, 2012

“As we all know, the United States lost a great ambassador and the  Libyan people lost a true friend when Chris Stevens and three other  Americans were killed in the terrorist assault on our consulate in  Benghazi.”

— Clinton, meeting with Libyan President Magariaf , Sept. 24

QUESTION: “I heard Hillary Clinton say it was an act of terrorism. Is it? What do you say?”

OBAMA: “We are still doing an investigation. There is no doubt that the  kind of weapons that were used, the ongoing assault, that it wasn’t  just a mob action. Now, we don’t have all the information yet so we are  still gathering.”

— Obama, on ABC’s “The View,” Sept. 25

“That is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, as a crude and  disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I  have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do  with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who  respect our common humanity.”

— Obama, speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 25

“It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens.”

— Magariaf, on NBC’s “Today” show, Sept. 26

“For some time, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other groups have  launched attacks and kidnappings from northern Mali into neighboring  countries. Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to  maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their  networks in multiple directions. And they are working with other violent  extremists to undermine the democratic transitions underway in North  Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.”

— Clinton, at the United Nations, Sept. 26

QUESTION: “Is there any reason why the President did not — he was asked  point-blank in The View interview, is this a terrorist attack, yes or  no? Is there any reason why he didn’t say yes?”

CARNEY: “He  answered the question that he was asked, and there's no reason that he  chose the words he did beyond trying to provide a full explanation of  his views and his assessment that we need to await further information  that the investigation will uncover. But it is certainly the case that  it is our view as an administration, the President’s view, that it was a  terrorist attack.”

— Carney, news briefing, Sept. 26

http://washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/from-video-to-terrorist-attack-a-definitive-timeline-of-administration-statements-on-the-libya-attack/2012/09/26/86105782-0826-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_blog.html

From  the Cornfield, Mr. President it is never the initial misstep with which  Americans take issue. It is when the American public learns of a  cover-up or there is a perception of an attempted cover-up that  Americans will not be tolerant.

You be the judge.