Benghazi by Brandon Webb Read Free Book Online

Benghazi was underprotected. Ambassador Stevens knew that the rise of Islamic extremism in Benghazi posed a threat and allegedly wrote words to this effect in his personal diary, which was recovered four days after the attack.
    Unfortunately, it took the 9/11/12 attack itself and the deaths of four brave Americans to motivate the State Department to improve security in Libya.

 
    4
    9/11/2012
    I T B EGINS . . .
    What you are about to read is a true and accurate account of what happened in Benghazi from the initial attack to the final evacuation. Minor liberties are taken with regard to how the story is told in this chapter, but the truth is at its core. While no one person’s account can represent the entirety of a story, our hope is that by piecing together this complex puzzle, coupling facts with first-person accounts, we can best represent what happened that tragic day. After all, the American people deserve to hear the unvarnished truth.
    In his first visit to Benghazi in almost a year, Ambassador Stevens arrived on September 10th, with Sean Smith and two Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents. The only other Americans in the compound were three additional DSS personnel assigned there temporarily. In total, seven Americans with four local militia guards were left to promote diplomacy in one of the most hostile and unstable places on earth.
    Stevens’s main mission was to promote diplomatic relations with local government officials and pass assessments of Libya’s fragile state of affairs back to Washington. He took one meeting in town on the 10th, but on the 11th, all his appointments were conducted inside the compound as a security measure. The following events are true to the best of our knowledge, and many of the details have never been disclosed before.
    Around 7:40pm, the ambassador escorted a Turkish diplomat to the compound’s main gate. Shortly after, around 8pm, a team of UK diplomatic security professionals dropped off borrowed vehicles and equipment, as had been the arrangement since the UK had suspended diplomatic operations in June 2012 due to the increased threat level.
    At 9pm, the ambassador and Sean Smith retired to their rooms for the night.
    Suddenly: BOOM! A Rocket Propelled Grenade hit the front gate of the compound with thunderous force. The guard stationed at the main gate had long since fled the scene. He was attached to the Supreme Security Council (SSC). The SSC is a loose coalition of militia elements that are providing interim security in Libya. The guard would later tell local press that he drove away under instructions to avoid further civilian casualties.
    At the time of the attack, the following personnel were in the compound:
    â€¢ Ambassador Stevens (Ambassador’s Villa)
    â€¢ Sean Smith (Ambassador’s Villa)
    â€¢ 5 DSS Agents (4 in DSS Villa, 1 in Tactical Operations Center)
    â€¢ 4 Local Security Hired from February 17 Marty’s Brigade (Inside the Front Gate)
    The main gate was practically left open. All four of the local security hightailed it out of there, along with the SSC guard, as soon as the assault began. Though the attack was coordinated, the attackers lacked training, a fact that would later play a role in the CIA team rescue. Many of the shots fired inside the compound were fired in the air and aimed at nothing in particular, mostly due to the fact that there weren’t any targets.
    The American security officer on duty in the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) could see dozens of armed men entering the compound through the main gate, out of which the ambassador had escorted the Turkish diplomat only an hour earlier. He sounded the central alarm over the radios as soon as he noticed the local February 17 guards fleeing the area. It’s worth noting that the local guards hired by the State Department were armed only with bats, not with firearms of any sort; it’s no surprise they fled.
    One of the other DSS agents was