U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Americans serving accross the world are a “force for peace and progress in the world” that believe “these aspirations are worth fighting for.”

She said the questions arise, “How could this happen in a country we helped liberate? In a city we helped save from destruction?”

She says the U.S. is “clear-eyed” enough to know this attack was committed by a “small and savage group” of extremists, not by the new Libyan government. She says Libyans stood with Americans during the attack and fought to defend the consulate, taking the body of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens to the hospital and saving others.

Clinton said the relationship between the U.S. and Libya will not be “another casualty” of the attack, and the U.S. will not turn its back on the Libyan transition to a free and democratic nation.