UPDATE: U.S. investigators FINALLY arrive at at site of Benghazi consulate attack – more than three weeks after terror massacre

Engineering Evil: This is the current up date to the prior article 24 hours ago. In which the Investigators were still not given permission to leave Tripoli.

• Team that  includes FBI agents shows up at burned out U.S. consulate building on Thursday  morning
• Secretary  of State Hillary Clinton vows full probe into what happened at the facility on  the 11th anniversary of September 11 attacks
• U.S.  ambassador Chris Stevens was killed along with fellow Americans Sean Smith,  Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED:12:58 EST, 4  October 2012| UPDATED:12:58 EST, 4 October 2012

Federal investigators have arrived at the  burned out U.S. consulate in Libya – three weeks after the terror strike that  led to the deaths of four Americans.

Libyan officials said the team, which  included several FBI agents, arrived at the compound early this  morning.

A Libyan defense ministry official told  AFP:  ‘An American investigative committee visited the site where the U.S.  ambassador  was killed.’

 

Remains of the consulate: American investigators,  including FBI agents, arrived at the facility to begin their investigation into  the attack

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens,  as well as fellow Americans Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty perished  in the attack, which occurred on the 11th anniversary of 9/11.

On Saturday, the Obama  administration  admitted that it knew within 24 hours that the strike  was a pre-planned  terrorist attack and not by crazed protestors enraged  by an anti-Islam  film.

A commander in the rebel Libyan Shield  brigade, who did not want to be identified, added: ‘About 20 Americans dressed  in civilian clothing came and we were asked to protect them until they leave  Benghazi.’

The investigative crew arrived as Secretary  of State Hillary Clinton pledged a full and open inquiry into the attack, amid  demands from Congress for speedy answers to questions about the security of the  mission and concerns that the FBI probe into the incident has been  delayed.

 

Flames: The White House has admitted they knew the  deadly assault, pictured, was an act of terrorism within 24 hours

 

Response: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has  promised a full and open inquiry into the attack, which occurred on the 11th  anniversary of 9/11

An independent five-member board  appointed  by Clinton will begin this week looking at whether security at the consulate was  adequate and whether proper procedures were followed  before, during and  immediately after the assault.

‘The  men and women who serve this country as diplomats deserve no less than a full  and accurate accounting wherever that leads and I am committed to seeking that  for them,’ Clinton told reporters at the State Department on  Wednesday.

Republican lawmakers claim security at the  consulate was inadequate. Two House leaders have asserted that the Obama  administration denied repeated requests from U.S. diplomats in Libya to enhance  security at the mission.

Clinton promised ‘a process that is as  transparent as possible’ although she stressed that ‘it will take  time.’

 

Casualty: U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three  other Americans were killed in the consulate attack

Previous inquiries into attacks on diplomatic  missions have taken months to complete.

But faced with Republicans in Congress  impatient for full details of any possible negligence before November’s  presidential election, Clinton pledged that the State Department would share  information as appropriate with lawmakers as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Sensitive documents detailing U.S.  operations in Libya remain left behind at the U.S. consulate more than three  weeks after the attack which killed ambassador Christopher Stevens and three  other Americans.

The documents – some still scattered across  the floors of the looted compound – include information about weapons collection  efforts, emergency evacuation protocols, the complete itinerary of Ambassador  Stevens’ trip, and the names, photographs, phone numbers and other personal  information of Libyans who were contracted to secure the U.S.  mission.

In the days following the attack on September  11, looters were free to roam the remains  of the embassy and other highly sensitive documents are expected to have been  taken.

The compound in Benghazi is now locked, but  only two private security guards – paid  for by the Libyan owner of the complex – watch over the site, the Washington  Post reported.

The compound consists of two adjoining villa  complexes and in some parts is only protected by an eight foot high  wall.

President Obama has ordered both the CIA and  the Pentagon to hunt down the terrorists who attacked the  consulate.

It’s unclear what the president plans to do  once the perpetrators of  the assault in Benghazi are found, but he has  mobilized the military’s Joint Special Operations Command to help carry out the  mission.

In the open: A collection of highly sensitive documents  have remained left behind at the burned out consulate building

JSOC and the CIA teamed up to send Navy SEAL  commandos into Pakistan in 2011 for a raid that killed Osama bin  Laden.

The White House plans for retaliation come  after it was revealed that security officials missed key signs that the  consulate and Stevens were in danger.

The New York  Timesreported that Obama has now  ordered intelligence operatives to gather  ‘target packages’ on the perpetrators  and track them down in Benghazi or wherever they might have fled.

‘They are putting together  information on  where these individuals live, who their family members  and their associates  are, and their entire pattern of life,’ one US  official said.

Once the targets and their locations  are  confirmed, Obama could order any number of actions – from drone  strikes to  commando raids to joint operations with the Libyans.

The Times reported that the operations is  focusing on at least a dozen targets, though the exact number is not known.

 

Assault: The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was burned  during a protest by an armed group on the eleventh anniversary of the September  11 attacks

As with the raid that took out Osama bin  Laden, Obama would likely make the final call on an raids or strikes to kill or  capture the perpetrators.

The consulate, located in the city of Benghazi, was reportedly bombed twice in the months leading up to the  attack,  which occurred on the 11th anniversary of the September 11  terror  attacks.

The Daily Beast  reported that various whistleblowers  have come forward since the attack to testify about prior attacks and a series  of threats, which are described in a letter from Rep Darrel Issa and Rep Jason Chaffetz to  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The letter, obtained by the site, says that  both the consulate and Stevens were prime terror targets because threats had  been made against both on Facebook.

One such post mentioned the route that  Stevens took on his morning jog, prompting the diplomat to briefly stop running  for his own safety.

 

Deadly attack: The consulate was reportedly bombed twice  in the months leading up to the attack, which occurred on the eleventh  anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks

 

Destruction: A man walks in the rubble of the consulate  after the attack that claimed four Americans

The letter also mentions two separate  bombings on the consulate – one on April 6 (when two former security  guards  hurled improvised explosives at the building) and another on June 6.

Neither attack resulted in deaths or  injuries.

The revelations came as the White House  announced it was pulling all U.S. personnel out of Benghazi, Libya’s  second-largest city.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland  told The Washington Post: ‘Everybody who was in Benghazi and posted there has  been withdrawn.’

Yesterday, new evidence suggested that there  were obvious clues that terrorism was involved in the attack, despite initial  claims by officials that it was a protest gone wrong.

Stevens and three other Americans – Sean  Smith, Tyron Woods and Glen Doherty – perished in the assault.

Confusion over what sparked the Benghazi  violence may have stemmed from the CIA, which distributed ‘talking points’ to  top officials on September 14.

The unclassified documents, obtained by The  Daily Beast, said in  part: ‘The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in  Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in  Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. diplomatic post in  Benghazi and subsequently its annex.’

‘There are indications that extremists  participated in the violent demonstrations.’

Likely working off the CIA document,  government officials like UN Ambassador Susan Rice and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, said there was little evidence the violence was  planned.

However, the document went on to say that the  ‘assessment may change as additional information is collected’ and that the  investigation is ‘on-going.’

Documents left behind at the consulate includes the  names, photographs, phone numbers and other personal information of Libyans who  were contracted to secure the U.S

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