It is astounding that what really happened in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012 has been so thoroughly buried by the mainstream media.

In an article from Reuters dated September 12, 2012, Alastair MacDonald reported that "U.S. troops dispatched by helicopter across the Libyan desert to rescue Ambassador Chris Stevens and other diplomats in Benghazi ran into a fierce overnight ambush that left a further two Americans dead."  MacDonald quotes Capt. Fathi al-Obeidi (Libya special operations) as saying that "after his men and the Marines had found the American survivors who had evacuated the blazing consulate, the ostensibly secret location in an isolated villa came under an intense and highly accurate mortar barrage."

A detailed timeline of the attack is here.

Now, I'm confused.  Helicopters?  Apparently, as the consulate came under attack, the occupants contacted someone (it isn't specified who), and the Marines were dispatched.  The Marines then ran into an ambush when they tried to helicopter to the consulate location from "across the Libyan desert."  Meanwhile, Capt. al-Obeidi said that "it began to rain down on us," just as his security force was heading out to evacuate the 37 Americans in the ten pickup trucks and sedans they had brought to take the Americans to the airport.  Capt. al-Obeidi said that he was "being bombarded by calls from all over the country by Libyan government officials who wanted me to hurry and get them out."

Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said Stevens and another diplomat died in the first series of incidents around the consulate, while the other two Americans died during the attempt to evacuate from the safe house to the airport.  "[The ambassador] died as a result of suffocation by the fumes of the fire inside the embassy and one was also killed by gunfire before around 37 people were moved to a place we thought was safe," Sharif told Reuters in Benghazi.  Speaking of the rescue mission, he said: "A team of commandos arrived by air and went to a farm which we thought was a secret location. Once they got there, they came under heavy fire from heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, which resulted in the death of two others."

Wow. Now I am even more confused. I am going to try to sort this out.

1) The consulate is attacked.

2) The 37 Americans inside the consulate contact someone (unspecified as to who).

3) The Marines are dispatched from "across the Libyan desert."

4) Libyan security forces are dispatched to evacuate the Americans to the nearest airport to get them out of there.

5) The Marines run into an ambush.  Apparently they were expected.  This confirms that this was a coordinated terrorist attack.

6) Libyan security forces arrive, thinking that there are some Americans at the consulate, and find 37 Americans who need transport.  They don't have enough trucks and sedans to get all of these people out.

7) Ambassador Stevens is already dead when the Libyan security forces arrive.  He did not die from smoke inhalation at the hospital.  He was already deceased when they arrived.

8) The attackers knew the location of the "safe house" where the Americans were transported to after leaving the consulate.  This too came under attack.

And what did we hear from Barack Obama?  "The movie did it."

The movie wasn't mentioned by anyone other than Obama and Clinton, whereupon everyone started mentioning it.  And now, fully two weeks after the attack, the administration has finally admitted that it most likely was a terrorist attack, but they cannot comment on an ongoing FBI investigation.  Well...how is it that the FBI hasn't arrived at the location yet?  Don't forget that the Obama administration was warned about possible terrorist attacks three days in advance.

To say that this was a result of a "movie" is a lie, and a big lie at that.  Obama knew about the failed helicopter rescue, the attacks on the safe houses, and the number of people at the consulate and so has been lying since the attack.  The movie claim is a "look squirrel" distraction that Obama knew wouldn't be challenged by the MSM (since they're in his pocket).  And he was right.  They parroted his claims about the movie as the cause and went back to criticizing Mitt Romney.

And the "investigative reporting" from CNN, NBC, CBS, PBS, and the rest of the alphabet media?  Crickets.