The New York Times on Benghazi
Mike Walker, Col. USMC (retired)
The “spin-meisters” are in full heat so here are some cold facts to dampen the bickering.
What we obtained from the Times was some very good information diminished by some not-so-good analysis.
For example, we now know that there was never any protest of any kind at the Benghazi “consulate” on 9/11 2012.
More importantly, we now know that Ambassador Stevens had publically arrived in Benghazi on 10 September on a routine visit and remained over for 11 September because travel on the anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks was considered unwise.
That arrival, it now seems apparent, set the events in motions. A High Value Target (HVT) was in a highly vulnerable location during a perfect jihadi political storm:
The uproar in Egypt over the “Innocence of Muslims” video was peaking simultaneously with the 9/11 Anniversary, and the day before, on 10 September, al Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri announced in an on-line video that Abu Yahya al-Libi [al Qaeda’s no. 2 leader and a Libyan] had been killed by the U.S. and called on Libyan Muslims to take revenge for his death.
That the situation remained calm in Libya actually made things worse. US Deputy Chief-of-Mission Greg Hicks in Tripoli described the video as “a non-event in Libya,” and official U.S. reports prior to the assault noted nothing unusual, an outcome that apparently gave the Americans in Benghazi a false sense of security.
Dangerous warning signs were plain for anyone willing to see, however.
Ambassador Stevens had been specifically targeted for assassination and on the morning of 9/11 2012, a team was detected conducting a photoreconnaissance of main gate to the Benghazi “consulate” where the Ambassador was waiting. When the scout was approached, he fled in a waiting police vehicle.
As the Times reported, a police security vehicle, normally stationed on the street facing the consulate’s main gate, arrived late that night and then suddenly left a little after 9:40PM. Ominously, its departure left the street completely deserted (for anyone who served in Iraq, an empty street is a bad sign).
Immediately thereafter, a lone enemy scout cased the main gate one last time (a textbook tactical move taken prior to launching a deliberate raid). Seconds after the scout disappeared around the corner, the unnatural calm was broken when the attack was launched against the main gate by a platoon sized unit armed with assault rifles.
The enemy assault force quickly overwhelmed the inadequate security detail and the fates of Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith were sealed. This initiated over SEVEN HOURS of on-again, off-again firefights at the “consulate” and CIA Annex located about one half mile away.
In a sequence of events that reminded this Marine of his bad day near Fallujah on 31 March 2004 (when four Americans employees of Blackwater were killed in firefight there), as soon as the assault on the Benghazi “consulate” started to die down, an armed and violent mob descended on the site to do as much further damage as a lawless mob is capable of.
Fortunately this time, they looted and torched everything in sight but did not desecrate the bodies of the fallen Americans, perhaps only because they did not lay their hands on them.
Tragically, at around 5:00AM, during the last assault on the CIA Annex, an enemy mortar barrage killed Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods. Many other Americans were injured, some terribly. No one has ever reported the losses for the attacking enemy.
The fighting was over.
I have been critical of the manner in which we dealt with the attack and the Times report only strengthens that conclusion.
It was stunning to read just how dangerous the Benghazi was and how woefully inadequate the defenses were at the “consulate.”
Why we never gave the launch order to the in-Theater rapid reaction forces after we learned of the attack, I will never understand. Equally bewildering, no one knew how long the fighting would last and after any major attack, extra security is rushed in as soon as possible, even if it is after the fact.
There should have been a palpable sense of urgency up and down the chain of command to act and even if we had gotten there late then at least we could live with the fact that WE TRIED.
Finally, on 16 September 2012, Ambassador Susan Rice was given a report from Libya President Mohamed Magariaf that stated: “the attack was pre-planned.” That, as they say, was a blinding flash of the obvious.
Yet inexplicably, she subsequently stated: “…the best information and the best assessment we have today is that, in fact, this was not a pre-planned premeditated attack, that what happened initially was a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired in Cairo as a consequence of the video…”
News Flash: That attack was pre-planned and they don’t get any more premeditated than the one that took place in Benghazi on 9/11 2012.
Semper Fi,
Mike
