Is BenghaziGate Finally Being Thrown Wide Open?

It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;

but to climb back again ,to retrace one’s steps to the upper air,

there lies the problem, the difficult task. ~Virgil

CNN is reporting that they have uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA and how the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret after it became known that dozens of CIA operatives were on the ground in Benghazi the night of the attacks which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty.

According to the report, some of the CIA operatives involved, have been “subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations” and the goal of the questioning “is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress”, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings.

Last October, less than a month after the attacks, FOX News reported that CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack. An urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. Mission and the attack a few hours later on the annex was denied by the CIA chain of command who, according to FOX News, “also told the CIA operators twice to ‘stand down’ rather than help the ambassador’s team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.”

Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. mission where Ambassador Stevens and his team came under attack. When Woods and others heard the shots fired, they requested permission to go to the consulate to help out but were to “stand down.”  The stand down orders were repeated, but Woods and at least two others ignored the orders and went to the consulate which was then on fire. The rescue team from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the Stevens at the time, so they returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house but the request was denied. At least one of the team members was on the roof of the annex shooting back at attackers when mortars were fired. The target who was firing had a laser on him, and requests for back-up support from a Spectre gunship were repeatedly made and denied. CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood claimed, “No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate.  In fact, it is important to remember how many lives were saved by courageous Americans who put their own safety at risk that night-and that some of those selfless Americans gave their lives in the effort to rescue their comrades.”

All of this was reported less than a month after the attack, so it’s not news that CIA operatives were on the ground at the time of the attack.  In fact, even earlier than the FOX piece, the New York Times reported on September 23, that the attack in Libya “Was Major Blow to C.I.A. Efforts”.

According to the Times, more than a dozen CIA operatives and contractors were among those who were evacuated from Benghazi after the attack and an American official who had served in Libya and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the ongoing investigation by the F.B.I. stated, “It’s a catastrophic intelligence loss… We got our eyes poked out.”

It was reported that the CIA’s surveillance targets in Benghazi and eastern Libya included Ansar al-Sharia, as well as suspected members of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa, known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Spokesmen for the CIA, the State Department and the White House refused to comment.

The C.I.A. began building a covert presence in Benghazi in February of 2011, during the first months of the start of the Libyan uprising, in which the rebels were working to over throw Qaddafi.

After Qaddifi’s death and a temporary interim government was in place, the agency had been cooperating with them.  The deputy Prime Minister, Mustafa Abushagour, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal that he had learned about some of the delicate American operations in Benghazi only after the attack on the mission, in large part because a surprisingly large number of Americans showed up at the Benghazi airport to be evacuated.

More could have been reported but the Times agreed to withhold locations and details of the CIA operations at the request of Obama administration officials, who said that disclosing such information could jeopardize future sensitive government activities and put at risk American personnel working in dangerous settings.

In October of last year, it was reported that news agencies held back on reporting about the CIA operations and involvement at the CIA’s request.  The Huffington Post reported that the Benghazi compound had been described as a consulate or diplomatic mission yet it had also been reported that just seven of the more than 30 people evacuated from the city were working for the State Department.

Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told The Huffington Post that the paper “did get this request from the CIA and honored it because of the safety concerns they raised…Doing so did not impact our ability to tell the broader story about how the CIA’s operations were severely impacted by this attack.”

Washington Post National Editor Kevin Merida also confirmed getting a request saying, “We learned shortly after the Sept. 11 incident that two of the dead were CIA employees and that the agency maintained a base in Benghazi…  We agreed to withhold this information because the government argued that publication could endanger American lives and facilities. When intelligence officials yesterday identified Woods and Doherty, we made the decision to identify the annex as the agency base and informed the agency that we would do so.”

On October 26, a little over one month after the attacks, the UK Mail Online claimed there was full communication between the CIA annex in Benghazi and the U.S. military, casting further doubts on the Obama administration’s assertion that there wasn’t enough information to deploy forces, deepening the crisis over their handling of the attack on September 11th and its aftermath.  They then went on to quote the FOX news article about the night of the attack.

Many rumors, allegations and speculations have come out in the past 11 months since the attack. Many sources have indicated that weapons were being sent from the cache in Libya to Syria, via Turkey. Gunrunning to arm the Syrian rebels who are fighting against the Assad regime would explain Christopher Stevens’ presence in Benghazi.  WorldNet Daily reported in March of this year that Sen. Lindsey Graham had said that Stevens was in Benghazi to keep weapons caches from falling into the hands of terrorists.  Graham also stated that Stevens was in Benghazi “because that’s where the action was regarding the rising Islamic extremists who were trying to get their hands on weapons that are flowing freely in Libya… We were desperately trying to control the anti-aircraft missiles, the man pads that were all over Libya, that are now all over the Mideast.”

Then in April WND also reported about Rand Paul R-KY, who questioned then Sec. of State Hillary Clinton about the possibility of gunrunning, and the New York Times piece a few months before about how the CIA had been helping Arab governments and Turkey obtain and ship weapons to the Syrian rebels. Clinton denied knowing about it yet The Times described Clinton as “one of the driving forces advocating for arming the Syrian rebels via Turkish and Arab cut outs.”

It was also reported in the Jerusalem Post that former CIA operative Claire Lopez claimed Benghazi was about gunrunning.  When asked if she believed that this administration was smuggling weapons to Al-Qaeda, she replied, “The short answer is yes. They were working with the very same Al-Qaeda linked relationships in Libya to gather up and buy back and collect weapons from Gaddafi’s stock pile that were missing from the revolution in Libya last year and what it looks like is that they were shipping them onwards to Syria.”

I reported early last month that the attack may have been a failed kidnapping attempt on Ambassador Stevens so the Muslim Brotherhood could then demand the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, AKA The Blind Sheikh.

Now with CNN’s explosive story about the CIA involvement, earlier tonight, Trey Gowdy R-SC appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s show to talk briefly about it.  He remarked, “Stop and think what things are most calculated to get at the truth? Talk to people with first-hand knowledge. What creates the appearance and perhaps the reality of a cover-up? Not letting us talk with people who have the most amount of information, dispersing them around the country and changing their names.”

We must demand that a Select Committee be allowed to hold more hearings, and also be given subpoena power.  Rep. Frank Wolf introduced on January 18 of this year House Resolution 36, to establish a select committee to investigate and report on the attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  It has yet to be passed, and John Boehner has denied the resolution in the past. More Congress members are signing however, realizing that this is the only way to get to the full truth of everything that happened that night on September 11, 2012.

Heavy CIA involvement in Benghazi would certainly explain why orders for help never came, why so much was covered up, and why so few witnesses have come forward before now to testify at previous hearings.  If Frank Wolf’s resolution could pass, especially with subpoena powers, witnesses would be able to testify knowing that they really have no choice but to be open and honest.  Higher ups such as Hillary Clinton would have to tell the truth or face heavy consequences.

With the exception of independent Internet news and commentary sites, the only TV outlets that have continuously covered Benghazi are FOX News, and CNN’s Jake Tapper. Most of the alphabet stations have had very few stories about Benghazi other than just after 9/11/13, when they were pushing the “blame the video” story.

Be sure to watch Jake Tapper’s special investigation “The Truth About Benghazi” Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET.  And this coming week, before and after watching the report, contact your representatives and demand that they sign on HR 36.  And then we must flood John Boehner’s office demanding he begin proceedings immediately to get this passed. The Stevens’, Smith, Woods’ and Doherty families all deserve the truth once and for all. They have waited long enough.

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