by Bill Gertz
The CIA was spying on arms shipments from Libya to Syrian rebels at the time of the 2011 attack on its Benghazi facility, according to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
But a controversial Committee report asserts the CIA did not make “unauthorized” arms shipments to the Syrian rebels, further confusing what the two dozen officers and contractors were doing at the Libyan port city.
Claiming the panel conducted a “comprehensive and exhaustive” probe of the attacks, the report concluded that the committee “found no evidence that the CIA conducted unauthorized activities in Benghazi and no evidence that the [intelligence community] shipped arms to Syria.”
No details on the CIA’s authorized mission in Benghazi were disclosed in the once-secret report. The agency’s relationship to some of the militias operating in Benghazi also was not disclosed in the 36-page report.
Critics have said the report failed to answer several key questions, such as what role the CIA played in facilitating the transfer of weapons from Libya to Syria using intermediaries from Turkey and Qatar. Also, the CIA’s relationship with many of the militia groups in Benghazi also was omitted from the report.
