'Troubling' Surveillance Before Benghazi Attack

Sensitive documents found amid the wreckage of the U.S. consulate shine new light on the Sept. 11 assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

BY HARALD DOORNBOS, JENAN MOUSSA | NOVEMBER 1, 2012

 During their short visit, FBI agents apparently mapped the compound by gluing small pieces of yellow paper with different letters on it next to each room in the TOC building. Next to the room where the letters and most documents were found, a yellow paper marks it room "D." Above the paper, somebody has carved a swastika in the blackened wall.

Villa C, which was used as Stevens' residence during his stay in Benghazi, is located 50 meters from the TOC building. Here, an open window leads to the safe haven -- a sealed-off part of Villa C where Stevens and Smith suffocated to death. On the destroyed bed lay the Aug. 6, 2012, copy of the New Yorker. The magazine's cover carries a label with Stevens's name and his diplomatic mailing address.

A few meters to the right is the safe haven's bathroom. Everything here is blackened by smoke. One of the two white toilets is covered with bloodstains. On the mirror in the bathroom, an unknown person has written a macabre text in a thin layer of ash. "I am Chris from the dead," it reads.

Harald Doornbos and Jenan Moussa

 

Harald Doornbos is a journalist based in Islamabad, Pakistan, covering the greater Middle East. Follow him on @HaraldDoornbos. Jenan Moussa is the roving reporter for Dubai based Arabic Al Aan TV. Follow her on @jenanmoussa.