The Benghazi Report III

What Exactly Happened in Benghazi?

“If you guys don’t get here, we’re all going to f----ing die.” Diplomatic Security Agent in Benghazi during the attacks (“I: Terrorist Attacks on U.S.”).

Just under a year after Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was killed, an attack was launched in Benghazi, Libya, effectively the headquarters of the revolution, where Islamic militants stormed the American diplomatic outpost, overtaking U.S. and Libyan forces providing security and killing the U. S. Ambassador and his information officer (Kaphle). Ambassador Stevens and Smith took refuge behind a protective reinforcement, but the building was set on fire and the two were asphyxiated by smoke inhalation. Hours later, at the CIA Compound Annex nearby, militants launched mortar rounds at security forces and Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were killed (Kaphle). 

Ambassador Stevens sought to make the post in Benghazi a permanent consulate (Alvarez). Clinton was coming to Libya in December, and Stevens wanted to have the consulate ready for her arrival (Jeffrey). Generally, the United States was considered an ally in Libya, because the locals appreciated the support received in overthrowing the Muammar Gaddafi regime (Alvarez). Yet major hazards still remained, and warning signs existed. Gadhafi loyalists did not go away, and the new Libyan government was struggling. U. S. diplomats and others sought extra security, but the request was not addressed, the staffing levels for security in the area remained the same. Ambassador Stevens once had to evacuate a hotel he and his team were staying at due to a potential threat that had been discovered. 

On September 11, 2012, Ambassador Stevens, his security officer and information management officer were trapped in a location described as a “safe area”, but no, it was not (Alvarez). The crowd outside increased in size, guns were blasting and the fire had been set. The billowing smoke prevented the trapped men from being able to see as the militants got closer banging as they approached. The security officer gave his phone to Stevens, who tried to warn others about the siege. He contacted the U.S. deputy chief in Tripoli, and advised that they were under fire, at which point the phone went dead. Yet, it was actually too late. As a result of the smoke, the three had to abandon the safe room and crawled to a bathroom (Alvarez). Towels were placed under the door and they opened the window, but opening the window made things worse. They were now in total darkness and the officer realized that they had to flee the bathroom in order to survive. The security officer left the bathroom and crossed the hallway instructing, in fact yelling for the Ambassador and information manager follow. He was able to get through another window, but then noticed that the two men had not followed him. The security officer went back in and tried to find the pair, despite the smoke and the intense heat, to no avail. He eventually went to the roof of the building and radioed for help. The smoke had all but destroyed his ability to speak and those that received his call could not figure out what he was trying to say. But he finally got it out. He did not have either man, Stevens and Smith were missing (Alvarez).

Three officers in another building were under barricade, when the attackers seemed to retreat, they drove their armored car to the villa from which the security officer on the roof had called (Alvarez). They found their comrade on the roof, vomiting and ready to pass out. The three officers crawled inside the villa building where Stevens and Smith were last seen. They were able to find Smith, they dragged him out, but he was dead. Members from the nearby annex went into the building and searched for Stevens, but to no avail. They returned to the annex without him. Through bullets flying, they made it back to the annex. Once at the annex, after about thirty minutes or so they were besieged by armed militants, bullets sprayed the annex. The battle lasted about an hour. A new attack started again, hours later, this time with mortar fire, security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty had been killed (Alvarez). In the end, it was Good Samaritans who took Ambassador Stevens to the hospital in the hopes of getting him medical care (Greenberg). He was found at the Mission Facility, and the local Libyans did not know who he was, but they called the number that had been dialed on his phone to advise whoever answered of his location. But despite their best efforts, and that of the Libyan doctors who worked on him for 45 minutes, the Ambassador had no heartbeat – he had died from smoke inhalation. 

The Benghazi Report

"We're under attack." Ambassador Christopher Stevens, on the evening of September 11, 2012. (“I: Terrorist Attacks on U.S.”).

The House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi released its investigation. Part I of the report indicates that President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave specific orders for the military to deploy assets to Benghazi, but no assets were on their way to Libya, even at the point where security team members, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods had been killed, approximately eight hours after the attacks began on the consulate (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). The report also says that while Stevens was missing, the White House had a meeting which focused on the appropriateness of terminology used in some videos and the potential perception of the Libyans regarding it. The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not attend this meeting because he was hosting a dinner for foreign dignitaries. The Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST), who were in Rota, Spain, at the time, were on a plane where they changed from uniforms to non-uniforms four times. Deployment timelines were not met by any of the key military forces. Americans who were evacuated from the CIA Annex, where Doherty and Woods were killed, were moved by former Gadhafi loyalist, not by the militias which would have been the factions expected to lend aid (“Select Committee on Benghazi”).

Part II of the report indicates that several of the action items stemming from the White House meeting that addressed the video had no relationship to the Benghazi attack (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). Senior officials at the State Department who attended this meeting had real-time accounts from witnesses. Diplomatic Security Agents who were in Benghazi were in ongoing contact with the Diplomatic Security Command Center and were continuously updating the Center about what was transpiring, in addition to sending out a Terrorism Event Notification. Jake Sullivan and Cheryl Mills were notified by the State Department Watch Center that direct communications had been set up to Tripoli. No one mentioned the existence of the video from those who were on the ground. Greg Hicks, who spoke to the Ambassador before he died, said there was little mention of the video during the time before the attacks. After the attacks, an email was sent out by the National Security Council’s Deputy Spokesperson originating from White House, Defense Department, State Department and others advising that the President and Secretary Clinton had made statements earlier and to refer to those statement for any comments for the moment, so that they were consistent with their messaging that day, at least until the conference call by Ben Rhodes at 9:15. Just prior to Obama giving his speech, Jake Sullivan emailed Rhodes and others that “there was not really much violence in Egypt. And we are not saying that the violence in Libya erupted ‘over inflammatory videos.’” (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). 

Susan Rice, who was expected to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State at the time, was prepared for her appearance on the Sunday talk shows by Ben Rhodes and David Plouffe (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). The CIA, FBI, nor the Department of Defense participated in the prep call. Rhodes testified that Plouffe was a normal participant on Sunday talk show prep calls, yet Rice indicated that she did not remember Plouffe being on any previous calls and wondered why he was on this particular call. Once she appeared on the shows, Rice commented that the FBI had started their investigation in an attempt to unearth evidence, and that they were already investigating, though on Monday, the Deputy Director, Office of Maghreb Affairs emailed others indicating that McDonough had advised the Secure Video Teleconference group that they had to ‘shut their pieholes’ on Benghazi because of the FBI investigation, expected to start the next day (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). Jake Sullivan advised the Secretary of State after the appearances that Rice had not been asked if they had any intelligence, though she had clarified that things started spontaneously and then evolved from there. Rice’s statements made on the shows were like a bombshell to employees of the State Department. The senior desk officer on Libya wrote that Rice was off course on this matter. The Deputy Director responded that she was off course on all the stations. A senior advisor wrote that the White House was concerned about the politics, and further stated that it was all their doing. The CIA’s intelligence assessment report was filled with errors, their supporting details were, in some instances, referencing articles that were from the wrong time frame. A headline in this same report referenced the wrong city using Benghazi instead of Cairo which allowed the administration to give a different tilt to the messages about the attack (“Select Committee on Benghazi”).

In Part III of the report it stated that during internal deliberations within the State Department, Jake Sullivan said that the important goal was to avoid creating a “failed state” where Islamic extremist would be able to find a sanctuary (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). Due to the administrations “no boots” policy in Libya, the type of assistance the State Department could receive was controlled by that policy (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). The Department of Defense and the State Department communicated about the fact that Defense Department’s security team needed to wear plain clothes, so as not to offend the Libyan people. Senior officials in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security were not included in discussions about the extension of the State Department’s presence in Benghazi in December 2012. In February 2012, the head of diplomatic security at the Tripoli embassy advised his associate in Benghazi that security agents were not going to be provided, per those in charge, due to the fact that “‘substantive reporting’ was not Benghazi’s purpose” (“Select Committee on Benghazi”). A review of the emails show that Ambassador Stevens was preparing the Mission location in Benghazi, to make it a permanent consulate and was ensuring that it would be ready for the Secretary of State’s trip. Signs of trouble arose in August of 2012, a month before the attacks, when ground security deteriorated. Ambassador Stevens cancelled a trip he had planned to Benghazi for reasons related to Ramadan and security. Former Secretary of Defense Panetta and former CIA Deputy Director Morell both advised the committee that there was an intelligence failure regarding Benghazi (“Select Committee on Benghazi”).

The Benghazi Report is difficult to read. Not because of the complexity of the narrative, or the difficulty of the issues, but because when read, it is painfully obvious that the Benghazi attack was the result of the perfect storm. Almost every minute circumstance that took place seemed a perfect contributing factor to the death of each of the victims. Sadly, Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were victims of a foreign policy that provided them insufficient security protection in the face of ongoing threats from ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other militant groups who are all on jihadist revenge missions and are always seeking easy entrée into weak and struggling nations. Even after the attack occurred, there was a failure to respond to orders given by President Obama and Secretary of Defense Panetta which made good people, loyal to their country and to their missions, effectively sitting ducks in a violent world, where it is hard to know who is your friend, and who is your enemy. One diplomatic security agent, when testifying to members on the Select Committee on Benghazi said that essentially, Ambassador Stevens, Foreign Services Information Management Officer Smith, and CIA security team members Doherty and Woods were “on a suicide mission” (“Select Committee on Benghazi”), and for that we should all feel grief-stricken because they really never had a chance.

Works Cited

"I: Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Facilities in Benghazi."  U.S. House of Representatives - The Select Committee on Benghazi. 28 June 2016. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://benghazi.house.gov/sites/republicans.benghazi.house.gov/files/2%20Part%20I%20Redacted%20DR_0.pdf>.

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Alvarez, Priscilla. "What Happened the Night of the Benghazi Attack." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group. n. d. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/house-republicans-benghazi-report-hillary-clinton/489125/>.

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Collinson, Stephen. "Benghazi panel caps 2-year probe: No bombshell, faults administration." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. 28 June 2016. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/politics/benghazi-report-hillary-clinton/>.

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Greenberg, Jon. "Laura Ingraham: U.S. ambassador 'was dragged through the street' in Benghazi." PolitiFact. Tampa Bay Times. 5 May 2014. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/may/05/laura-ingraham/ingraham-recycles-incorrect-benghazi-claim/>.

Herszenhorn, David, M. "House Benghazi Report Finds No New Evidence of Wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton." The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 28 June 2016. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi.html?_r=0>.

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Jeffrey, Terence, P. "Testimony: Stevens Went to Benghazi Mission on 9/11/12 So Clinton Could Announce on Upcoming Libyan Visit It Had Become Permanent U.S. Post." CBS News. CBS Interactive, Inc. 9 May 2013. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/testimony-stevens-went-benghazi-mission-91112-so-clinton-could-announce-upcoming-libyan>.

Kaphle, Anup. "Timeline: How the Benghazi attacks played out." The Washington Post. Nash Holdings LLC. 17 June 2014. Web. 28 June 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/timeline-how-the-benghazi-attack-played-out/2014/06/17/a5c34e90-f62c-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html>.

Mungin, Lateef. "Benghazi siege: The ambassador's last minutes." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. 19 December 2012. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/19/us/benghazi-what-happened/>.

O'Connor, Brendan. "Republicans Fail to Pin Benghazi Attack on Hillary Clinton." Gawker. 28 June 2016. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://gawker.com/republicans-fail-to-pin-benghazi-attack-on-hillary-clin-1782731461>.

Raju, Manu, Walsh, Deirdre  and Kopan, Tal. "House Republicans repudiate McCarthy comments on Benghazi probe." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. 1 October 2013. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/politics/kevin-mccarthy-benghazi-committee-speaker/>.

"Select Committee on Benghazi Releases Proposed Report." U.S. House of Representatives - The Select Committee on Benghazi. 28 June 2016. Web. 28 June 2016. <http://benghazi.house.gov/NewInfo>.