13 Hours – What Really Happened in Benghazi

You may have seen the movie; and if you’re like me, it stirred emotion in you.

My daughter gave me the book for my birthday and I’ve finally had some focused time (where I don’t have a massive headache) to crack it open and digest the depth of the event.

60 pages into the 303 page account of September 11, 2012 had my soul stirred.

The book gives background – on the operatives and other staff, on the CIA compound and diplomatic annex, on the history of Libya and it’s very divided people. The movie shows some of this, but doesn’t give as sufficient detail as is needed to fully understand the people, the history, the community.

It also introduces you to Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was so much more than a small time figure head. His heart was focused on building bridges between our country and the people’s of wherever he was stationed – which were not the most glamorous of stations. Below are links to a few videos I dig up, which helped me understand (and respect) him even more.

• The Ambassadors last minutes – Libyans tried to rescue Chris Stevens
• Slain Ambassador died trying to help build a better Libya
• Chris Stevens remarks on Libya

I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in better understanding the events that took place in Benghazi on 9/11/12.

It isn’t a fiery rant against those who failed our citizens on the ground that day, it’s simply an account of how we got there and what took place. It provides the substance, but leaves the emotion to the reader.

As Americans, we should all be angry enough to want to ensure this never happens again. Truth be told, I had no clue how vulnerable we left our people in countries like that. I’m glad to know now, but not convinced our country would keep it from happening again.

The men who are hired to protect our officials, agents and assets in foreign countries deserve better. Their families deserve to know that if something goes sideways, we will move heaven and earth to back them up.

I’ll now be searching for stories as told by the Libyan friendlies who helped. I’m sure the stories are out there somewhere. They put themselves in harms way when the American state dept failed.