During a talk last month at the University of Denver, Broadwell raised eyebrows when she said the CIA had detained people at a secret facility in Benghazi, Libya, and the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate and CIA base there was an effort to free those prisoners.
Obama issued an executive order in January 2009 stripping the CIA of its authority to take prisoners. The move meant the CIA was forbidden from operating secret jails across the globe as it had under President George W. Bush.
CIA spokesman Preston Golson said: "Any suggestion that the agency is still in the detention business is uninformed and baseless."
Broadwell did not say who told her about CIA activities in Libya. The video of Broadwell's speech was viewed on YouTube.
That part of the story is what should grow legs. What was the CIA up to in Benghazi, and how does that relate to events and deaths on Sept. 11; and was the ambassador's visit to Benghazi then an ordinary thing, or unusual, and possibly related to CIA and/or military detention practices that the State Department knew or did not know about? Was there a US military presence in Libya that was being kept secret? Doing what? What is the story of the US landing troops at the Benghazi airport and two Libyan militias having a turf battle over which would escort the troops to the situation?
It was not public until after the election, with Romney bleating for political gain in ways that may have compromised what the CIA was up to, whatever that might have been.
Who in Colorado was present at the Broadwell presentation/speech, and where did she get her "facts" from to be saying such things; and how did it end up on YouTube?
Legs appear to be growing, this Google. E.g., this link. UPDATE: Here. Trust this one if you will, Brietbart's minions.
UPDATE: YouTube video, this link. This link. There was at least one link in online press reporting where the underlying YouTube video had been scrubbed offline.
FURTHER UPDATE: CNN broadcast media devoted much coverage to the uncertainties, and presumably other broadcast outlets did the same. I was watching the Wolves-Dallas game and Monday Night Football, as less speculative. Was Broadwell tasked with getting a Petraus version of things on the public record, but at a deliberately low key venue; having it documented for possible later developments; and if so, who did the tasking - if she was being managed as an information/disinformation source, who was pulling her puppet strings.
How will all of this play out in terms of contraction of the military budget? Romney's mystery math was to cut taxes and spend more on the military, and he lost the election; so what's next, but a hive cleaning?
FURTHER UPDATE: Empty Wheel, here. Trying to make sense of a situation that seems seeded with disinformation and blind alleys.