Clinton takes responsibility for Libay attack

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said keeping diplomats safe is her primary responsibility.

Clinton made the statement Monday (October 15) while in Peru in reaction to last month's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which has become an issue in the hard-fought U.S. presidential campaign.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON SAYING:

"So what we had to do in the state department was keep focused not on why something happened that was for the intelligence community to determine but what was happening and what could happen and that's what I was very much working on day and night to try to make sure that we intervene with governments we did everything we could to keep our people safe which is my primary responsibility."

The Obama administration initially attributed the violence to protests over an anti-Islam film and said it was not premeditated. Obama and other officials have since said the incident was a terrorist attack.

The Benghazi assault, and the Obama administration's response, has become a contentious election issue and Clinton's comments came a day before the second presidential debate.