13 hours - a new account of Benghazi -
Last edited Fri Sep 5, 2014, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)
There is a new book out about Benghazi. The book is written by a professor at Boston University and co-authored by the "private contractors" hired by the CIA who were working at the CIA annex; two of them died fighting the attackers later that night. All of the private contractors were former members of American Special Forces teams.
According to the book, the CIA station chief, referred to in the book only as “Bob,” was the person who told the private contractors to not immediately go and try to rescue Stevens and Sullivan and others. Bob didn't want to blow the cover of the CIA Annex and so was trying to enlist support from Libyan militia allies to complete the rescue. The Libyans apparently never arrived to help.
These men say that if they were allowed to immediately go to the rescue of Stevens and Sullivan - the two would be alive. I don't know how they can say that because 2 of their own were killed that night. But I would also not be surprised if what they say about Bob is true - that the mission to keep the CIA's presence quiet was so important that they wanted to have the Libyans perform the rescue and avoid blowing their cover.
The book says Bob made the decision on his own - no one told him to do so.
Many aspects of what they say make sense. I am surprised that they don't have a duty of confidentiality to the CIA about this. Also members of the Intelligence Committee surely must know this story and thus it reveals just how sick Republicans are to pervert what happened into something completely different.
People want war and conflict to be neat and tidy - sometimes it ain't. It is tragic but it is conflict. I don't know that what Bob did was wrong or right - or whether the delay would have made a difference.
Book review and other details in NYT at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/05/world/africa/new-book-says-cia-official-in-benghazi-held-up-rescue.html?ref=todayspaper
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