A look at the Libya safe house that was attacked

(CBS News) BENGHAZI, Libya - We are getting our first inside look at one of the buildings that came under fire in Tuesday evening's deadly attack on U.S. diplomats in Libya. A CBS News crew was the first to reach the supposed safe house and this is what they found.

The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was just the beginning of a terrifying night for the Americans inside. Libyan officials told us their forces helped evacuate 32 Americans out of the consulate as the attackers torched and stormed the compound.

A Libyan commander told CBS News that a convoy of 22 vehicles, two of them armored, raced from the U.S. consulate down a road to a safe house a mile and a half away.

But the safe house they fled to -- which was supposed to be in a secret location -- had become a target.

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Just as the U.S. extraction team of commandos arrived to take the Americans to the airport, the house came under heavy fire. It was intense, deadly and accurate.

Everywhere you look on this rooftop, there's evidence of what must have been a ferocious fight. There's damage from automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, and even mortars.

The precise mortar strikes on the house suggest those who launched them knew exactly where to aim.

Clearly, Americans fighting back from this rooftop were hit. Our escort, Libyan commander Abdu Salam, gathered two bloodstained American flak jackets and a helmet to handover to U.S. investigators for evidence.

Libyan officials say it's clear from the second assault on the safe house that those behind the attack were determined that no Americans made it out alive.

CBS News asked the deputy interior minister how the attackers apparently knew where the safe house was. His answer was there are spies everywhere. He admitted there was a possibility of spies within his own security forces. But he added a convoy of 22 vehicles moving through Bengahzi that night at high speed would not have gone unnoticed.

[fghfdghdfghfgh]

You can come up with a better story than this. Calling Dan Rather. Calling Dan Rather.

[CaringMom46]

Seems that the ambassador was indeed gay, seems that the Secretary of State should not have sent him there. But, then, that's the same Secretary who hears chants of "Monica, Monica," when she goes out in Muslim countries. The most famous cheated-on wife in recent world history is not respected there. We are not respected there. Why would she add fuel to the fire by sending a gay ambassador? http://www.examiner.com/article/did-hillary-clinton-send-gay-ambassador-to-libya-as-intentional-provocation

[hughglass]

Don't know if it's true or not, but some bloggers maintain that our envoy was gay and this contributed to some of members his security force cooperating with the murderers. It would be certainly consistent with AH obama and AH clinton's naive lunacy that there's no such thing as a bad boy and that everyone is open minded and loves gays. See ahnadinejad. See the Marines don't need bullets, See Susan Rice, it was an overly aggressive boy scout troop. Clearly the worst President EVER. The sad truth is that this lazy, incompetant buffoon and his welfare queen wife have preempted any qualified black (Who are legion across America)a chance at the Presidency fordecades tocome.

[Cav16]

bc-1948 Just out of curiosity, what is your Mid-Eat background. I spent over thirteen years there and did not see the Muslims practice as you indicated. What I saw was the worlds greatest hypocrites! Also I saw allot to TCNs (Third County Nationals) that are slaves! Suggest you do more reading, or better yet go live in the mid-East for a few years.

[mark648]

CBS News should be congratulated for going where our illustrious FBI couldn't.

[Kalameredith]

Three days before the deadly assault on the United States consulate in Libya, a local security official says he met with American diplomats in the city and warned them about deteriorating security.

Jamal Mabrouk, a member of the February 17th Brigade, told CNN that he and a battalion commander had a meeting about the economy and security.

He said they told the diplomats that the security situation wasn't good for international business.

"The situation is frightening, it scares us," Mabrouk said they told the U.S. officials. He did not say how they responded.



Inside the U.S. consulate in Benghazi

Slain ambassador returns

Possible security leak in Libya Mabrouk said it was not the first time he has warned foreigners about the worsening security situation in the face of the growing presence of armed jihadist groups in the Benghazi area.

[forumcomments]

Fox reported more info on a possible spy in the security detail at the embassy. "We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/12/diplomat-killed-in-libya-to-fellow-gamers-assuming-dont-die-tonight/#ixzz26dZkJLoM

[tsigili]

They knew it was there. No one in any of those countries can be trusted, at all. Not a single person.

[izzyis1]

The "demonstrations" in the Muslim world are not about a ludicrous film nor is it in anyway spontaneous. When the attackers are armed with machine guns, mortar and grenade launchers and the ambassador was targeted and killed. This is a planned escalating attack on the west and the U.S. The worst of this scenario is that Britain and the U.S. had intelligence warning of what when and where this was going to happen.
The Moslems have successfully infested the west and Mr. Obama says we can wait a year to deal with Iran and the nuclear threat. Wait for what? Armageddon?

[davidd5063]

Wow now, slow down looney. There are demonstrations protesting the film, no Americans hurt and then there was a coordinated terrorist attack in Lybia on the anniversary of 9/11 - try to keep the two straight. It's not the end of the world, there are mass protest in the Muslim world EVERYTIME there's a public insult to their prophet - THIS IS NOT NEW.

[bc-1948]

Thank God there is someone in the white house that doesn't react without facts. Did you ever think there might be a right-wing group in this country that would like nothing better than to start Armageddon? Check out the participants in the "Values Conference" - see what they really are trying to do.

[Cav16]

BC-1948 Hey just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you! Oh, and out of curiosity do you have the facts yet? Doubt it as they are still investigating fast & furious! You re-elect this clown and you might just get a chance to defend your beliefs or either cower and hide as I am afraid it will lead to a civil war. Star Armageddon? Are you serious? A good many of us so called right wingers have fought in combat and know the horrors of war. Can you say that?

[Lerianis4]

Okay, I didn't hear about this: A safe house (which was probably kept 'need to know') was also attacked? This reeks of a planned attack by someone, perhaps terrorists or perhaps a government-supported group.