Hillary: 'Small and Savage Group' Behind Consulate Attack

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned on Wednesday an attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya as the work of a "small and savage group" but said U.S.-Libyan ties would not suffer.

"I ask myself, how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction?" Clinton said. "This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be."

"But we must be clear-eyed even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group, not the people or government of Libya," she added in a brief appearance.

Clinton said a free and stable Libya was in U.S. interests and that ties between the two countries would not be a "casualty" of the attack.