[On September 11, 2012,] Diplomatic Security Service agents/Regional Security Officers informed their headquarters in Washington about the attack just as it was beginning at about 9:40 local time (3:40 pm Eastern Time (ET)). At the time, they were informed that the attack was a "terrorist attack". By 4:30 pm ET, Pentagon officials had informed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about the attack. The Pentagon ordered an unmanned aerial vehicle that was in the air conducting surveillance on militant camps to fly over Benghazi. The drone arrived at 11:10 pm local time (5:10 pm ET) and began providing a video feed to Washington. At 5:41 pm ET, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned CIA Director David Petraeus to coordinate. The CIA, which made up most of the U.S. government's presence in Benghazi, had a ten-member security team at its annex and the State Department believed that this team would assist the consulate in the event of an attack.
Assault on the CIA annex
Just after midnight, the CIA annex came under machine gun, rocket and mortar fire. The CIA defenders held off the attack until the morning. That same morning, Libyan government forces met up with a group of Americans, reinforcements from Tripoli including Glen Doherty, that had arrived at the Benghazi airport. The team, which included two active-duty JSOC operators and five CIA personnel, had commandeered a small jet in Tripoli [...] After being held up at the airport for a few hours, the Libyan forces and newly arrived Americans went to the CIA annex at about 5:00 am to assist in transporting approximately 32 Americans at the annex back to the airport for evacuation. [...]
[...] a JSOC operator was using a hand-held device displaying images from a Predator drone above, which had been sent by the DOD's Africa Command after request. The defenders agreed to evacuate to the airport and were attacked with small arms fire along the route. The evacuation of about 30 Americans included 6 State Department personnel and Smith's body – they were unable to locate Ambassador Stevens at the time.
[links and footnote refs omitted; italics added] So, most of the U.S. Benghazi presence were CIA, not State, and about 30 of them were evacuated [6 being from State]. What were they up to then, and what had they been up to before (dating back to the beginning of a Libyan insurgency)? Up to no good can be guessed, but specifically, how and in what detail?
At any rate, they were there during the Petraeus watch atop CIA. Doing bidding from headquarters. CNN has reported the outbreak events of the Libyan Civil War:
Timeline:
February 15, 2011 - Libyan security forces crack down on protesters as anti-government demonstrations take place in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city.
February 16, 2011 - Protests break out in Benghazi.
February 17, 2011 - Demonstrations continue and spread from Benghazi to other towns.
February 18-19, 2011 - Thousands more take to the streets in Benghazi; dozens of people now have reportedly been killed by security forces.
So, presuming that "annex" was in Benghazi at the instigation of hostilities, it predated the Petraeus CIA appointment by at least half a year. Gen. DP thus inherited a situation going on, and continued things well past the autumn 2011 defeat of Col. Gadhafi [choose your spelling, differing reports spell his Anglicized written name differently].
Still there, still humming a year after Gadhafi's death. Collecting merchandise.
At that time, Petraeus for months had been boss at CIA headquarters calling shots along with DoD and State (Clinton).
Before that, Petraeus was Mr. Iraq Surge. Now, roughly two weeks ago and quaintly, the gun bunny faction at Townhall.com trash Gen. DP, thusly, "Petraeus Gun-Control Effort Is Unhelpful and Untimely," stating:
Petraeus was a highly respected military leader; the commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, and later serving as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Sorrowfully, human foibles undid the Great Man -- shamed and prosecuted for revealing classified national security information during an affair with his biographer.
Now, rather than atoning for his betrayal by standing up for the Constitution he swore to defend and the men and women of the Armed Services he failed by violating his oath, the disgraced general is doubling-down on his poor judgement. Petraeus has joined forces with gun-control Leftists, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Astronaut-turned-activist Michael Kelly, and launched yet another gun control advocacy organization.
Well, I can fault the fine gentlemen on other grounds; specifically, wtf is this guy to decry gun usage; given this?
Either call the good Gen. DP a butcher's butcher; or from that video say he gladly used one. Screwing Broadwell was the least of his transgressions. Whoever "highly respected" him, it was never me. My wonder, is James Steele a part of that gun restraint posturing that Townhall.com disdains? It would not surprise.
_______________UPDATE__________________
Two interesting Piers Morgan YouTube items - Machael Hastings and others, here, and curiously somewhat after that appearance Hastings was dead; and Oliver Stone, here. Seeming agreement beteen the two commentators.
FURTHER: Two interesting items - Gen. DP was not made head of the Joint Chiefs; but given CIA and the responsibility of keeping his mouth shut. Here and here.
___________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
The man himself, speaking on very friendly ground and in supportive circumstances, after the ouster, no uniform besides a suit - clearly a uniform but without obvious rank badging - this link; and readers should decide, BS or insight. The surge worked, he says. Did it? I was not there. I can guess. Politics being politics is my guess. First question from the audience, former Republican governor of California; a clearly set up question. Phony? What do you see it as?
____________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
Second question - again a clear plant - and look at the surrounding audience when the two planted questions get asked; who do you trust? What are they doing - their intent in the event? Who are they? What are their constituencies?
No friendly fire problem or worry, that venue. Davos online video publishing seems less circumspect, less contrived. Both. Then, do you trust Davos, and should you?
____________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
Three hours, seven thousand viewings; I only could take scan watching but if you've a stronger constitution than I have, hound for punishment and all, view this. Hearings and posturing, speeches as questions. At two hours fourteen minutes in or so, discussing of all things, oil markets.
___________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
Jumping around in time, the Gen. DP misdemeanor plea deal discussed March 2015 here;
Former military commander and CIA Director David Petraeus agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of removing and retaining classified material, admitting to providing his mistress with that material while he headed the CIA.
The plea deal, revealed in documents filed in federal court in the Western District of North Carolina, means that Petraeus will likely avoid prison time. Federal prosecutors will ask for two years of probation and a $40,000 fine under the terms of the plea agreement.
Petraeus was long believed to have given classified information to Paula Broadwell, a woman he had an affair with who also wrote a biography on the general. According to a court document laying out the factual basis for the plea agreement, Petraeus maintained eight "black books" that contained classified information, including notes from his discussions with President Barack Obama. He provided the books to Broadwell and delivered them to a residence in Washington, D.C., where she was staying in 2011.
The books were later recovered at Petraeus' home in Arlington, Virginia, a court filing said, by FBI agents executing a search warrant in April 2013.
_____________FINAL UPDATE_____________
Michael Hastings, Buzzfeed, here; unfavorable to Gen. DP; then this item putting the Hastings buzzfeed timeframe at Nov. 2012. Hastings dead a half year later, June 18, 2013.