Reps. Rogers, McCaul Critical Of Criminal Case In Benghazi Attack, Say Intelligence Should Have Been Priority

House Intelligence Committee member Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said Sunday Benghazi attack suspect Ahmed Abu Khatallah has not provided his interrogators with any useful information and Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said it was "shameful" the suspect wasn't arrested much earlier.

Rogers said on CNN "State of the Union" said Abu Khatallah has been "compliant but not cooperative."

Rogers said investigators need more time to question the suspect and, like other Republicans, has said Abu Khatallah should be tried in a military, not a civilian, court.

Abu Khatallah, who is accused in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans dead including Ambassador Chris Stevens, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington Saturday.

"Ten days is not enough (for interrogation). And you'll find no investigator, interrogator, that would say I know I can do it in 10 days," he said. "Everybody's different. You can get that rapport building and that cooperative spirit, but sometimes it takes a month or two months."

Abu Khatallah was captured by U.S. special operations forces June 15 and was interrogated aboard the Navy ship that ferried him to the United States.

"You can imagine that he was not obstinate, he was not pushing back, but he was likely not providing information ... not to the point where an FBI agent would say, 'Hey, bingo, here we go. We've got something that would turn into actionable intelligence,'" Rogers said.

In arguing Abu Khatallah should have been taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Rogers said if all suspected terrorists are going to be tried in civilian courts, "we'd better start building prisons up by the dozens," Reuters reported.

McCaul told CBS "Face the Nation" he agreed, saying he doesn't think using the civilian courts is "the right approach," Politico reported.

“I'm concerned the administration is valuing this rush to criminal prosecutions rather than trying to get the intelligence value out of this,” said McCaul, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. “I do not think that is the right approach in prosecuting the war on terrorism.”

He said obtaining intelligence is more important than a criminal case and criticized the administration for not arresting Abu Khatallah in the immediate aftermath of the attack, noting he was "readily available" and was interviewed by several news organizations.

“Now we are finding out the reason he was not apprehended as quickly is because we were so focused on building a criminal case rather than capturing the suspects who were responsible for attacking Benghazi and killing our U.S. ambassador and three others. That is shameful,” McCaul said. “We have 12 other indictments and 12 suspects out there (for whom a) target list was made two weeks after Benghazi yet we failed to move on that because we are intent on building a criminal prosecution.”