Ex-CIA Analyst Absolutely Rips NYT Benghazi Report

A former analyst for the CIA skewered the New York Times' bombshell report on Benghazi Saturday, contending that it was a "politicized article" aimed at harming the GOP.

Fred Fleitz skewered the New York Times' Saturday report on Benghazi. (Image source: Screen grab via Fox News)

“I thought it was a politicized article,” Fred Fleitz told Fox News. “It tries to say that Anwar al-Sharia — that the Republican attempts to tie that to terrorism is a stretch, when even CNN says they’re at least sympathetic to Al Qaeda.”

Fleitz, who worked as a senior analyst at the CIA for nearly two decades before serving in the State Department, added that he thought the article was simply "an effort to revive this discredited theory that the anti-Islam video was behind" the deadly attacks.

“I read this report and I was really incredulous,” he said. “It seems to be an effort to revive this discredited theory that the anti-Islam video was behind it. But when you read behind the article closely, there’s various statements where the author seems to downplay the links to terrorist groups."

[sharequote align="center"]"It seems to be an effort to revive this discredited theory that the anti-Islam video was behind it."[/sharequote]

"He says the main leader of the attacks did not have clear terrorist links, but he also says that this leader participated in a convoy of trucks in Benghazi in June 2012 where they were flying the black radical Islamist flag," Fleitz added.

The ex-analyst also casted doubt on the report's findings, saying it "really doesn't" pass the smell test because the "article is based on interviews with Libyans."

“Most of the Libyans deny they had anything to do with this attack," Fleitz said. "Well of course they’re going to say that. They don’t want to be prosecuted. They don’t want to be arrested.”

He concluded saying he felt a lot of critical information was left out or downplayed in the report.

“I think there were a lot of statements about terrorism that really don’t add up," he said. "Al Qaeda has changed it’s tactics. It is now a decentralized organization. It is relying on affiliated organizations and franchises. It is encouraging terrorist attacks through this decentralized organization. That should have been discussed in this article so the reader would understand the real threat.”

(H/T: The Daily Caller)

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