EXCLUSIVE: AIG CEO defends holiday, slams "lynch mob" attacks

"We have the ability. I know that I am telling people we are allowed to," he said. "What I don't know is if people (employees) are willing to. A lot of them feel hurt, embarrassed, a lot of people have lived in fear because of what I call lynch mobs with pitchforks."

Benmosche was referring to severe criticism of the bonuses paid to some AIG staff at the financial products unit at the center of its meltdown. The verbal assaults by politicians and in the media led to several demonstrations, including a bus tour of employee homes near the unit's Wilton, Connecticut headquarters, and threats to others.

"People think it is funny but it is not when it is your children," he continued, his voice rising in anger. "It is not when you come home and you find people in front of your home and you had to sneak your children out in the middle of the night so that they are not attacked in a country called America."

"It was wrong. I think that when you do that, when you incite that kind of feeling in people, it makes it difficult to come to work the next day and say 'I'm going to work hard.'"

"It was a horrible period of time and I am hopeful that it is over."

A year from now, Benmosche said he hopes to wow people with AIG's performance.

"I think we will be clear as to what the vision is, what the reality of that vision is. We'll have a better sense of what our strategic companies will be worth, and what the marketplace will be worth, and people will say, wow, AIG is performing well," he said.

(Reporting by Adam Tanner in Dubrovnik, Croatia; Additional reporting by Lilla Zuill in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)