The Department of Justice is keeping the charges against the suspect, Libyan militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattalah, under seal, but CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reports that the suspect has been living openly in Benghazi since the September, 2012 attack. Khattalah admitted to CBS News last fall that he was at the scene on the night of the attack, but denied a personal role in the violence. “I went to help four men who were trapped inside,” Boukhatala told CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. When he arrived, though, the men were gone, according to the Islamist militant. At the time, Libya’s government had told CBS News that Boukhatala was a “prime suspect” in the attack on the U.S. offices, but asked about that accusation by Palmer, the militant smiled and said, “if that’s what the President is saying, then he should come to my house and arrest me.” But that’s something Libya’s government security forces wouldn’t have dared to do. Khattalah is the chief of a ferocious militia in Benghazi, the Abu Ubaidah Brigades – a sub-group of the larger Ansar al Shariah militia. Palmer reported that the militia — armed to the teeth with weapons looted from deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s arsenals — acted at the time of the attack as both military and police in parts of Benghazi. The government’s security forces, the official police and army, are simply too weak to push them out. Khattalah told Palmer that the attackers were merely ordinary people armed with rocket-propelled grenades and added that he expected a fight should the government move to arrest Islamist militia members suspected in the attack. It remains unclear whether the U.S. has now asked Libyan authorities to arrest Khattalah or whether the FBI has identified the other suspects, pictured alongside Khattalah in a series of photos taken from the security cameras at the consulate. The other men are thought to be members of Khattalah’s militia. Neither the militia nor Khattalah have been specifically identified by the U.S. government as terrorists, according to Brennan. “The investigation is ongoing. It has been and remains, a top priority,” Justice Department spokesman Andrew C. Ames said Tuesday. However, the FBI has not made any arrests in the 11 months since the attack and the Obama Administration faces mounting pressure to take action. Last week, a small but vocal group of eight Republican congressmen sent a message to the newly-confirmed FBI Director James Comey, pressing him to take action. In the letter, initiated by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-U.T.), the legislators called the administration’s investigation thus far “unacceptable” and called for an “aggressive” investigation.”

No Comments on The Department of Justice is keeping the charges against the suspect, Libyan militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattalah, under seal, but CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reports that the suspect has been living openly in Benghazi since the September, 2012 attack. Khattalah admitted to CBS News last fall that he was at the scene on the night of the attack, but denied a personal role in the violence. “I went to help four men who were trapped inside,” Boukhatala told CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. When he arrived, though, the men were gone, according to the Islamist militant. At the time, Libya’s government had told CBS News that Boukhatala was a “prime suspect” in the attack on the U.S. offices, but asked about that accusation by Palmer, the militant smiled and said, “if that’s what the President is saying, then he should come to my house and arrest me.” But that’s something Libya’s government security forces wouldn’t have dared to do. Khattalah is the chief of a ferocious militia in Benghazi, the Abu Ubaidah Brigades – a sub-group of the larger Ansar al Shariah militia. Palmer reported that the militia — armed to the teeth with weapons looted from deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s arsenals — acted at the time of the attack as both military and police in parts of Benghazi. The government’s security forces, the official police and army, are simply too weak to push them out. Khattalah told Palmer that the attackers were merely ordinary people armed with rocket-propelled grenades and added that he expected a fight should the government move to arrest Islamist militia members suspected in the attack. It remains unclear whether the U.S. has now asked Libyan authorities to arrest Khattalah or whether the FBI has identified the other suspects, pictured alongside Khattalah in a series of photos taken from the security cameras at the consulate. The other men are thought to be members of Khattalah’s militia. Neither the militia nor Khattalah have been specifically identified by the U.S. government as terrorists, according to Brennan. “The investigation is ongoing. It has been and remains, a top priority,” Justice Department spokesman Andrew C. Ames said Tuesday. However, the FBI has not made any arrests in the 11 months since the attack and the Obama Administration faces mounting pressure to take action. Last week, a small but vocal group of eight Republican congressmen sent a message to the newly-confirmed FBI Director James Comey, pressing him to take action. In the letter, initiated by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-U.T.), the legislators called the administration’s investigation thus far “unacceptable” and called for an “aggressive” investigation.”

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Assad: I’m no “butcher,” I’m like a doctor who saves livesAssad: U.S. does not have “a single shred of evidence” of chemical weapons attackBashar Assad tells Charlie Rose U.S. should “expect every action” in response to Syria strikesComplete CBSNews.com coverage: Syria crisis The Syrian president again called on the U.S. and Congress to present hard evidence proving a chemical attack was launched within Syria and warned that a strike against Syria would only foster the growth of al Qaeda within his borders. “First of all, because this is the war that is going to support Al Qaeda and the same people that kill Americans in the 11 of September. The second thing that we all want to tell to the Congress, that they should ask and that what we expect, we expect them to ask this administration about the evidence that they have regarding the chemical story and the allegations that they presented,” Assad said. President Assad said he and the Syrian people are “disappointed” by President Obama’s behavior, and compared his foreign policy to that of former President George W. Bush. “We expected this administration [to be] different from Bush’s administration,” he said. However, “they are operating the same doctrine with different accessories. That’s it. We expect if…[this administration] to be strong to say that ‘We don’t have evidence, that we have to obey…the international law, that we have to go back to the security council at the United Nations.'” If he found himself face-to-face with President Obama, Assad told Rose, he would simply tell him:” “Present what you have as evidence to the public. Be transparent.” “He didn’t present because he doesn’t have have [it],” Assad said. “Kerry doesn’t have it.” Responding to Charlie Rose’s claims that evidence has been presented to Congress, including satellite footage and intercepted messages, Assad repeated several times, “nothing has been presented,” eventually adding that even if the U.S. did present seemingly credible evidence, he would doubt its veracity. “We have the precedent of Colin Powell ten years ago when he showed the evidence, it was false and it was forged,” Assad said. “You want me to believe American evidence and don’t believe the indication that we have? We live here.”
Officials at the United Kingdom’s embassy in Berlin couldn’t immediately be reached for comment
He will be buried Saturday in the same cemetery in Tunis as Belaid

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