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Libyans, diplomats: CIA's Benghazi annex a secret
Seattle Times ^ | 11/12/2012 | Nancy A. Youssef -- McClatchy

Posted on 11/18/2012 12:38:24 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Just more than a mile from the group of villas that served as the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was another set of U.S.-leased villas — — an...

Just more than a mile from the group of villas that served as the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was another set of U.S.-leased villas — an annex where the CIA had set up shop, and from where would-be rescuers set out on the night of Sept. 11 in response to the attack at the consulate.

Despite speculation to the contrary, no Libyan or non-American diplomats stationed in Benghazi say they knew of the existence or purpose of the CIA annex.

Top Libyan security officials in Benghazi and Tripoli, as well as diplomatic representatives who worked closely with Americans here, said they had no idea about the compound, which unlike the consulate had no signs of American life outside its tall gates. There were no concrete barriers in front or barbed wire on the top of its concrete wall.

Libya's deputy interior minister, Omar al-Khadrawy, and the deputy interior minister for Benghazi, Saleh Daghman, told McClatchy Newspapers they didn't know that the CIA had kept a base there. Neither did the second in command of Benghazi's largest revolutionary brigade, the Libyan Shield. Two consuls from allied nations who met frequently with Americans said they didn't know the CIA annex existed until after the deadly Sept. 11 attack.

Ahmed Langhi, Benghazi's representative to the country's congress, the General National Council, said he didn't think that anyone in the top levels of the Libyan government knew that the CIA was housed there; neither did he.

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: benghazi; benghaziannex
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Of the dozen people McClatchy asked in Benghazi and Tripoli, only an unarmed 31-year-old security guard who was stationed at the main gate of the consulate on Sept. 11 had heard about a possible second U.S. compound in Benghazi. And he said he didn't know the CIA had been based there.
1 posted on 11/18/2012 12:38:35 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

This info isn’t in the video which pissed ‘em off?


2 posted on 11/18/2012 12:44:25 PM PST by Libloather (The epitome of civility.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Eventually, some idiot reporter will finally stumble upon the question....why would you have a significant number of CIA guys at one site?

The answer is....they ran an interrogation center. This is the great secret to this entire episode....the President doesn’t want to admit that they have such a center or what it does. It begs questions because they probably didn’t let the Senate Committee on Intelligence know about the center.


3 posted on 11/18/2012 12:47:32 PM PST by pepsionice
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Who knew there were villas in Benghazi?


4 posted on 11/18/2012 12:51:04 PM PST by andyk (I have sworn...eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Now that’s pretty darn interesting. All of the CIA compound assets were whisked away and Libyans moved in within a couple of days of the attack. It was shelled by RPGs and mortars, and it’s all nicely fixed up. I wonder where the resources came from for that...?


5 posted on 11/18/2012 12:55:36 PM PST by uncommonsense (Conservatives believe what they see; Liberals see what they believe.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

It wasn’t an “Attack”. It was a “Raid”. Two different missions with two different objectives.


6 posted on 11/18/2012 12:55:48 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: pepsionice; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ASA Vet; BIGLOOK
"Why would you have a significant number of CIA guys at one site? The answer is....they ran an interrogation center. This is the great secret to this entire episode....the President doesn’t want to admit that they have such a center or what it does. It begs questions because they probably didn’t let the Senate Committee on Intelligence know about the center." Imagine if that reality with a real media had gotton out t the American people before the election. Obozo would have been treated worse than LBJ was during the Vietnam years by liberals, who voted for the man who kept Gitmo open, uses drones to kill his designated enemies and knew the CIA had a prison in Benghazi to interogate Islamofacists. He could have lost at least 10% of his voters, if they knew about the prison, he had sanctioned, approved and to stay open. The reality of what happened in Libya in a followup on Broadwell's talk at CU on 10/26/2012: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/12/petraeus-mistress-may-have-revealed-classified-information-at-denver-speech/

First this block buster tid bit out of the report below, which has flying under the radar:

"According to multiple intelligence sources who have served in Benghazi, there were more than just Libyan militia members who were held and interrogated by CIA contractors at the CIA annex in the days prior to the attack. Other prisoners from additional countries in Africa and the Middle East were brought to this location.

The Libya annex was the largest CIA station in North Africa, and two weeks prior to the attack, the CIA was preparing to shut it down. Most prisoners, according to British and American intelligence sources, had been moved two weeks earlier."

Now back to the Fox news story:

Petraeus mistress may have revealed classified information at Denver speech on real reason for Libya attack

By Jennifer Griffin, Adam Housley

Published November 12, 2012

FoxNews.com

Biographer Paula Broadwell could be facing questions about whether she revealed classified information about the Libya attack that she was privy to due to her relationship with then-CIA Director David Petraeus.

At an Oct. 26 speech at her alma mater, the University of Denver, on the same day that Fox News reported that the rescue team at the CIA annex had been denied help, Broadwell was asked about Petraeus’ handling of the Benghazi situation.

Her response was reported originally by Israel’s Arutz Sheva and Foreign Policy’s Blake Hounshell.

Broadwell quoted the Fox News report when she said: “The facts that came out today were that the ground forces there at the CIA annex, which is different from the consulate, were requesting reinforcements."

Broadwell went on to explain more sensitive details from the Benghazi attacks, particularly concerning what the real cause might have been.

“Now, I don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually, um, had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that's still being vetted.”

In the original Oct. 26 Fox News report, sources at the annex said that the CIA’s Global Response Staff had handed over three Libyan militia members to the Libyan authorities who came to rescue the 30 Americans in the early hours of Sept. 12.

A well-placed Washington source confirms to Fox News that there were Libyan militiamen being held at the CIA annex in Benghazi and that their presence was being looked at as a possible motive for the staged attack on the consulate and annex that night.

According to multiple intelligence sources who have served in Benghazi, there were more than just Libyan militia members who were held and interrogated by CIA contractors at the CIA annex in the days prior to the attack. Other prisoners from additional countries in Africa and the Middle East were brought to this location.

The Libya annex was the largest CIA station in North Africa, and two weeks prior to the attack, the CIA was preparing to shut it down. Most prisoners, according to British and American intelligence sources, had been moved two weeks earlier.

The CIA, though, categorically denied these allegations, saying: “The CIA has not had detention authority since January 2009, when Executive Order 13491 was issued. Any suggestion that the agency is still in the detention business is uninformed and baseless.”

Broadwell’s affair with Petraeus was likely known to Holly Petraeus, according to family friends. The FBI reportedly knew about it months beforehand and White House Counterterrorism adviser John Brennan reportedly was aware that there was a relationship as early as the summer of 2011.

The White House strongly denied that Brennan was aware so early.

“It is irresponsible and flat out wrong for Fox News to run an anonymous, unsubstantiated, and blatantly false accusation, as Mr. Brennan was first made aware of the issue last Wednesday," spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

Broadwell, whose affair with Petraeus reportedly ended earlier this year, continued to serve as an informal spokesman for the CIA director. She suggests in her Denver speech that Petraeus knew almost immediately that the attack was a terror attack -- possibly to free militia members.

A few days later, Petraeus testified in a closed session to Congress that the attack was due in large part to an anti-Islam video and a spontaneous uprising, according to reports from the hearing.

Congressional leaders say privately they believe they were lied to by Petraeus when he testified shortly after the attack. Some of these members already considered charging Petraeus with perjury, but said they planned to withhold judgment until he testified this week. After resigning as CIA director, the CIA said Acting Director Mike Morrell would testify in his place.

All of this raises the question: What was the CIA really doing in Benghazi in addition to searching for Qaddafi’s stash of more than 22,000 shoulder-held missiles that could bring down commercial airplanes, and who in the White House knew exactly what the CIA was up to?

7 posted on 11/18/2012 1:01:34 PM PST by Grampa Dave (Tagline space for rent to pay for some of my extra taxes the next 4 years!)
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To: Grampa Dave

Bumps Maximus.


8 posted on 11/18/2012 1:04:55 PM PST by KC Burke (Plain Conservative opinions and common sense correction for thirteen years.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

clandestine or what? remember the old days ,, air america, contra’air, and now, who knows what else was going on in Benghazi?

CYA Airlines.. grab a seat.. looks like a bumpy ride ahead on the road to answers about Benghazi.


9 posted on 11/18/2012 1:08:41 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: blueunicorn6; TigersEye; Marine_Uncle; onyx; Carry_Okie; Fred Nerks; SunkenCiv; NormsRevenge; ...
And the Guard (31 yr old mentioned in the article) at the consulae said of the attackers.....

They came to kill Americans!


10 posted on 11/18/2012 1:10:00 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The plan was to arm 22,000 terrorist with the ability to take out airplanes.

The plan was Ordered by Baraq Hussein Obama.

Not one person in the US Congress or the MSM cared
although even cartoonists saw through the rouse.


11 posted on 11/18/2012 1:17:03 PM PST by Diogenesis (Vi veri veniversum vivus vici)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Somebody in Benghazi knew about it. The ‘annex’ was attacked almost immediately after Woods and his team got back from rescuing people from the main consulate.


12 posted on 11/18/2012 1:28:46 PM PST by TigersEye (Who is John Galt?)
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To: TigersEye

Well if they followed them to find it.....then those dumb Arabs did some quick calculations to get those mortars calibrated correctly....now that is impressive.


13 posted on 11/18/2012 1:32:53 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: NormsRevenge

Very bumpy!!


14 posted on 11/18/2012 1:34:09 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Al Qaeda seemed to know it was there, and whatever it’s purpose in a couple of the first reports that came out from the people at the ‘CIA compound’ said they were surprised they were being attacked with modern laser-guided weapons and the accuracy with which they were hitting. The weapons were not from Ghaddafi’s old weapons cache. After the first couple of articles, nobody was talking about that anymore. And then there was an interview with somebody (Doherty’s brother?) that said in the process of finding the old weapons cache’s which were supposed to be destroyed, the only thing being destroyed was ones that didn’t work, that the good ones were being stored in the warehouses at the ‘compound’. I understood that at least part of their mission was to find Gadaffi’s ‘lost’ weapons. And of course noises now about interrogations and prisoners. I wish the congressional investigation would get off the ‘he said, she said’ stuff and get to the purpose of that ‘compound’ and it’s mission. That is the relevant information.


15 posted on 11/18/2012 1:34:27 PM PST by Ms. Blunt
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To: Grampa Dave

Why were they going to close down the CIA annex in a couple of weeks?


16 posted on 11/18/2012 1:41:41 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Go look at your house on google earth map..... Note longitude and.latitude . One long, one short your bracketed....

You’ve been geotagged by a mortar crew.

Old hat for em now.


17 posted on 11/18/2012 1:42:22 PM PST by Squantos ( Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet ...)
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To: blueunicorn6; Jim Robinson

Precisely.

No wonder General P. has hired a lawyer.


18 posted on 11/18/2012 1:44:08 PM PST by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

BTTT


19 posted on 11/18/2012 1:45:04 PM PST by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Then why didn’t they kill more or all of them? It’s because that wasn’t the purpose of this mission. What was the purpose of this mission? Why stop firing the mortar after you’ve killed the former SEALs on the roof with the machine gun? Why not keep firing and kill more Americans? It’s because that wasn’t the purpose of this mission. I understand national security about as well as anyone in this country, but I can’t imagine any scenario in Libya that I feel would be as dangerous to this country as this collection of liars, thieves and grifters known as the Obama administration.


20 posted on 11/18/2012 1:49:51 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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