US: Loss of CIA Base in Benghazi a Significant Setback

'Safehouse' Was Also Attacked on September 11

by Jason Ditz, October 12, 2012

Adding to details on the September 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, anonymous US government officials have revealed that a second site inside Benghazi was also attacked on the same day, referred to conversely as a “CIA base” and a “safehouse” in reports.

Previous reports had claimed that the CIA had to withdraw around dozens of agents who were staying at a site on the consulate’s compound when it was sacked. Now, the officials say they were staying at the other attacked site.

When the consulate was sacked and the ambassador killed, officials and CIA agents rushed to the safehouse, but were attacked several times en route, and they say that the “secret” safehouse was directly attacked at least three times itself. The site’s existence was revealed in House Intelligence Committee hearings

This has spawned controversy, as politicians dispute which side tricked the State Department into revealing the “secret.” Perhaps the bigger question is how the Obama Administration continued to believe that the attack was a protest gone wrong when it was coordinated against multiple sites and included ambushes en route.

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