McCain says Libya strike a 'terrorist' attack, joins others in challenging protest claim

Sen. John McCain joined other top lawmakers Friday in claiming that the strike on the U.S. Consulate in eastern Libya was a "terrorist attack" and not just a protest spun out of control. 

McCain made the comment following an intelligence briefing on Capitol Hill Friday. The Arizona senator said it's hard to know what exactly took place, but stressed that it was not a mob but a calculated act by a small group. The perpetrators, he said, were "terrorists." 

The comments by the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee come on top of assertions by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers that the strike was coordinated. 

"It just seemed too organized, too well-structured," Rogers, R-Mich., said again Friday, in an interview with Fox News. He said there was "a high degree of command and control," calling it an "act of terror." 

Rogers said many factors challenge the claim that the attack was spontaneous. 

"I get a little suspect when we conveniently sweep it by -- saying, 'Oh it was spontaneous, next question,'" Rogers said. He acknowledged that "might be the end conclusion" but said that appears extremely unlikely based on available intelligence. 

The lawmakers were casting heavy doubt on the narrative, which has lived for days, that the attackers were protesting an anti-Islam film in the U.S. That film has been linked to other demonstrations raging across the Middle East and North Africa all week, but Rogers and McCain suggested Libya was an entirely different situation. 

The Libya strike resulted in the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens. The bodies of those killed were returned to the U.S. on Friday, in a ceremony attended by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. 

The president is back in Washington Friday after a week on the campaign trail. He briefed top lawmakers on the situation Thursday and has held a series of phone calls with the leaders of Libya and Egypt. 

Still, some Republicans have questioned Obama's response, claiming he hasn't shown leadership in this crisis. The Mitt Romney campaign, looking to gain a political edge on the foreign policy front, has taken to calling the administration's handling of the crisis "amateur hour." 

But Republicans outside the Romney campaign are also calling for a tougher response out of Obama, and calling into question the explanation that the heavily armed attackers were merely protesting over an anti-Islam film. 

"They've got to get out of campaign mode and get into leadership mode," said Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., a member of the House Armed Services Committee. "And they really haven't done that, they haven't done it in this situation." 

Speculation about the true root of the attack grew following a report in Britain's Independent claiming officials believe the attack was planned, that the State Department may have had warnings in advance and that sensitive documents have since gone missing from the Benghazi consulate. 

The Obama administration pushed back on the report. 

A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence called the article "absolutely wrong." 

"We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Post in Benghazi was planned or imminent," he said. 

"We have no intelligence suggesting this attack was premeditated," another U.S. official told FoxNews.com. 

Yet a State Department official reportedly told lawmakers Wednesday that he did think the assault was planned. 

The Independent report quoted a Libyan troop leader who assisted in the rescue operation that night saying "I don't know how they found the place to carry out the attack. It was planned, the accuracy with which the mortars hit us was too good for any ordinary revolutionaries."
Eastern Libya's deputy interior minister was quoted Thursday saying the attacks may have been timed for the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Seth Jones, former adviser at U.S. Special Operations Command, connected it to a call by Al Qaeda's leader to avenge the drone-strike killing of a terror operative in Pakistan. 

"This was not just about any sort of a spontaneous revolt. This was an organized attack," he said. 

Meanwhile, the top lawmakers on the Senate homeland security committee wrote a letter Friday to the Office of Inspector General for the State Department requesting an investigation into security measures at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, were the latest officials to express concern about the security protocol at the post. 

Outside the growing questions in Washington, the Obama campaign has also aggressively defended itself against sustained criticism by the Romney campaign. It slammed Romney's advisers Friday for their earlier "amateur hour" comment, repeating the argument that Romney is improperly politicizing a sensitive situation. 

"It is astonishing that the Romney campaign continues to shamelessly politicize a sensitive international situation," the Obama campaign said in a statement Friday. "The fact is that any president of either party is going to be confronted by crises while in office, and Governor Romney continues to demonstrate that he is not at all prepared to manage them." 

Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

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US officials investigate whether strike on Benghazi post 'coordinated,' timed for 9/11 anniversary

U.S. officials are investigating whether the murder Tuesday of the U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American officials was a "coordinated" strike timed for the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks -- and not the result of a protest against an anti-Islam film.

A senior administration official told Fox News they are exhaustively investigating every angle of the attack in Benghazi, and an earlier assault on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and there are early signs the Benghazi assault may have been planned. The official cautioned, though, that the administration has not jumped to any conclusions about what happened, saying it would be "premature" to do so. 

But current and former U.S. lawmakers, and others, claimed Wednesday that the attack looked like a coordinated strike. 

"Absolutely, I have no doubt about it. It was a coordinated, military-style, commando-type raid," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told Fox News. Based on his own briefings, Rogers said "military movements" were involved. 

"This was a well- planned, well-targeted event. No doubt about it," Rogers said. He said the Al Qaeda-linked Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades is one group being looked at by officials. 

Pete Hoekstra, former chairman of the House intelligence committee, told FoxNews.com the attack appeared to have the markings of an Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda-affiliated strike. 

"We've been talking for years about the desire of Al Qaeda, radical jihadists to celebrate the anniversary of 9/11," he said. "All my background, all of the conversations that I've had over the last 18 hours lead many people to believe that this was just more than a mere coincidence." 

Hoekstra noted that the supposed protesters -- purportedly angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad -- didn't attack in Tripoli. They attacked in Benghazi, "where it so happens our ambassador is." And they happened to be "fully armed and fully equipped," he said. 

Hoekstra noted that Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri had recently released a video calling on militants to attack Americans in revenge for the killing of an operative in Pakistan. The message said his "blood is calling on you, inciting you to fight and kill the crusaders." 

Hoekstra said the film may have been just a cover to carry out such an attack. 

Two intelligence officials also said the attack looked "coordinated." 

London-based think tank Quilliam reached the same conclusion, saying the Benghazi strike appeared to be a "well-planned terrorist attack that would have occurred regardless of the demonstration (over the film)." 

Also, the brother of Zawahri was nearby during the separate protest at the American Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday. 

A few lawmakers on Capitol Hill appeared skeptical of the film explanation. "The timing of this on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11 is more than just coincidence," Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said in a statement. 

The FBI is investigating the attack and the deaths of American personnel. A U.S. military aircraft is expected to leave from Libya soon with the wounded and bodies of the dead aboard. 

President Obama, meanwhile, condemned the "outrageous and shocking" attack Wednesday, as he and other officials vowed to "bring justice" to the killers while moving quickly to bolster security in Libya and at other diplomatic posts. 

"Make no mistake. Justice will be done," Obama said, speaking from the Rose Garden alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

Obama and Clinton both condemned the killers, while stressing that the U.S. bond with the Libyan government would not suffer as a result. 

"Make no mistake. We will work with the Libyan government to bring justice to killers who attack our people," Obama said, adding:  "There is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None." 

Stevens was killed Tuesday night when he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff. The protesters were firing gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades. 

Obama and Clinton offered new details Wednesday about the chaotic aftermath. They said some Libyans tried to fight to defend the U.S. post while it was under attack, even carrying Stevens' body to a hospital. The Libyan doctor who treated Stevens also told The Associated Press that he died of severe asphyxiation, apparently from smoke inhalation, and that he tried for 90 minutes to revive him. There continue to be conflicting reports about the circumstances of Stevens' death. 

Clinton, speaking from the State Department, called the tragedy "an attack that should shock the conscience of people of all faiths."
Obama, in a statement Wednesday morning, said he's directed the administration to provide "all necessary resources" to support security for U.S. personnel in Libya and to increase security at diplomatic offices around the world. 

The White House and Congress ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in the wake of the tragedy. The House also held a moment of silence for the victims Wednesday afternoon. 

The State Department identified one of the other three Americans killed as Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, a husband and father of two who had worked for the State Department for 10 years. The U.S. government is still notifying the next of kin for the other two individuals killed, and has not identified them. 

Stevens was appointed as ambassador to Libya in May 2012. 

He served as a special representative to the Libyan Transitional National Council during the revolution in 2011, and as the deputy chief of mission from 2007 to 2009. 

U.S. officials remain on alert for violence at other diplomatic posts. 

Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Ed Henry and Bret Baier and FoxNews.com's Judson Berger and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Chicago teachers to go on strike after talks with district fail

CHICAGO –  Chicago teachers went on strike Monday for the first time in 25 years after their union and district officials failed to reach a contract agreement despite intense weekend negotiations that the union said were productive but still failed to adequately address issues such as job security and teacher evaluations.

The two sides were not far apart on compensation, but were on other issues, including health benefits -- teachers want to keep what they have now -- and a new teacher evaluation system based partly on students' standardized test scores, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said.

"This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided," she said. "We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel condemned the union's decision, and said the negotiations could be resolved if the two sides kept talking, "given how close we are."

"This is not a strike I wanted," Emanuel said. "It was a strike of choice ... it's unnecessary, it's avoidable and it's wrong. "

More than 26,000 teachers and support staff were expected to hit the picket lines early Monday, while the school district and parents carried out plans for keeping nearly 400,000 students safe and occupied while classes remain empty in the coming days in the nation's third largest school district.

Both Emanuel and union officials have much at stake. The walkout comes at a time when unions and collective bargaining by public employees have come under criticism in many parts of the country, and all sides are closely monitoring who might emerge with the upper hand in the Chicago dispute.

The timing also may be inopportune for Emanuel, a former White House chief of staff whose city administration is wrestling with a spike in murders and shootings in some city neighborhoods and who just agreed to take a larger role in fundraising for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

As the strike deadline approached, parents spent Sunday worrying about how much their children's education might suffer and where their kids will go while they're at work.

School officials said they will open more than 140 schools between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. so children can eat lunch and breakfast in a district where many students receive free meals. The district asked community organizations to provide additional programs for students, and a number of churches, libraries and other groups plan to offer day camps and other activities. But it's not clear how many families will send their children to the added programs.

"They're going to lose learning time," said Beatriz Fierro, whose daughter is in the fifth grade on the city's Southwest Side. "And if the whole afternoon they're going to be free, it's bad. Of course you're worried."

Eric Ferrer, a cook, said his children can stay home Monday with his wife, who works in a store. But if the strike goes more than one day, they would have a problem -- one that he sees no way to solve.

"My wife is off tomorrow, (so) we can keep them at home," said Ferrer, as he sat in a McDonald's restaurant on the city's Southwest Side with his wife and their 8-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. "She works the next day (and) so do I."

School board President David Vitale first announced Sunday night that talks had broken off, despite the school board offering what he called a fair and responsible contract that would cover four years and meet most of the union's demands. He said the talks with the union had been "extraordinarily difficult."

Emanuel said the district had offered the teachers a 16 percent pay raise over four years, doubling an earlier offer.

Lewis said she would not prioritize the issues, saying that they all were important to teachers.

That included concern over a new evaluation that she said would be based too heavily on students' standardized test scores, which she said would be unfair to teachers because it could not adequately account for outside factors that affect student performance, including poverty, violence and homelessness.

She said the evaluations could result in 6,000 teachers losing their jobs within two years.

City officials said they did not believe that was true, but said the union would not tell them how they came to that conclusion.

Emanuel said the evaluation would not count in the first year, as teachers and administrators worked out any kinks. Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said the evaluation was mandated by state law but "was not developed to be a hammer," but to help teachers get better.

Emanuel said the union should have postponed the strike because an agreement is close. He also said his negotiating team would be available all night if the union was willing to talk, but Lewis said negotiations would resume Monday.

The strike is the latest flashpoint in a very public and often contentious battle between the mayor and the union.

When he took office last year, Emanuel inherited a school district facing a $700 million budget shortfall. Not long after, his administration rescinded 4 percent raises for teachers. He then asked the union to reopen its contract and accept 2 percent pay raises in exchange for lengthening the school day for students by 90 minutes. The union refused.

Emanuel, who promised a longer school day during his campaign, then attempted to go around the union by asking teachers at individual schools to waive the contract and add 90 minutes to the day. He halted the effort after being challenged by the union before the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

The district and union agreed in July on how to implement the longer school day, striking a deal to hire back 477 teachers who had been laid off rather than pay regular teachers more to work longer hours. That raised hopes the contract dispute would be settled soon, but bargaining continued on the other issues.

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