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Oh, got to include this:

U.S. intended to keep Benghazi mission open through 2012

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WASHINGTON | Fri Oct 19, 2012 5:21pm EDT

(Reuters) - Newly released government papers show U.S. officials intended to keep open a mission in Benghazi, Libya, for at least the rest of this year in hopes of having a "calming effect" on the region, before the building was overrun and burned by militants last month.

Locals in Benghazi wanted the Americans to stay permanently in the eastern Libyan city, the cradle of last year's revolution against Muammar Gaddafi, according to one memo written by the former top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman.

The documents were made public on Friday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has been investigating the September 11 assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that took the lives of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Other lawmakers raised more questions about the aftermath of the Benghazi events. The leading Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee questioned why U.S. spy agencies and government spokesmen initially played down suspected al Qaeda links to the September 11 attack on the mission there.

In public statements soon after the September 11 attack, administration officials said it could have been a spontaneous protest against a U.S.-made anti-Muslim video. Ultimately the administration declared the Benghazi incident to be a "deliberate and organized terrorist attack" carried out by "extremists" affiliated with or sympathetic to al Qaeda.

The Obama administration's statements have "been strange from Day One on this," the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Saxby Chambliss, said in a telephone interview with Reuters on Friday.

Chambliss said the intelligence committee would investigate further. Another panel, the Senate Homeland Security Committee, sent letters on Friday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, demanding information about Benghazi.

The Benghazi attack has turned into election-year fodder in the United States, with Republicans charging that the Democratic Obama administration was caught unprepared for the assault, and Democrats claiming that Republicans are trying to exploit tragic events for political gain.

"A SALUTARY, CALMING EFFECT"

Feltman's memo, written December 27 to Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy, urged the U.S. to continue its presence in Benghazi - which began during the anti-Gadaffi revolt - through the end of 2012. Feltman said this would emphasize U.S. interest in the eastern part of Libya, which he said sometimes feels ignored by Tripoli.