An eyewitness account of the Benghazi siege that killed U.S. Ambassador Stevens & 3 Other Americans

[DonViejo]

“A Night of Sheer Hell”

An eyewitness account of the Benghazi siege that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

By Sgt. Morgan Jones and Damien Lewis

This article is excerpted from Sgt. Morgan Jones and Damien Lewis’ book The Embassy House: The Explosive Eyewitness Account of the Libyan Embassy Siege by the Soldier Who Was There.

In the months following the Benghazi Embassy siege I learned the fuller picture of what happened during that fateful night, both at the Mission itself and at the Annex, which was only a short drive away from the Mission. Tensions were running high that evening, because of a recce mission that a Libyan policeman—or more likely a bad guy posing as a policeman—had carried out that morning. We’d caught him taking photos of the Mission’s front gate and grounds, and we feared it was in preparation for some kind of an attack.

I had served at the Mission for six months as the security manager overseeing the Libyan guard force, one employed by Blue Mountain Group, a British private security company. My role was to recruit, train, and oversee the guards, but due to my extensive experience of such security operations I also worked closely with the Americans stationed at the Mission, in an effort to improve its wider security. As we were all painfully aware, the defenses at the embassy were woefully inadequate, plus the city of Benghazi itself was becoming ever more dangerous, especially for Americans and/or their allies. As a result, the Benghazi Mission had become a place of fear for just about everyone stationed there, and especially on the day when we had what we suspected were recce photos taken of the Mission.

Even Sean Smith, the IT guy who was only days into his posting, and whose mind I had recently tried to put at rest by telling him we’d never had any real trouble at the Mission—even he was fearful. A couple of hours prior to the attack Sean was online with his friends, and one of them emailed, “see you tomorrow.” Sean replied: “If I’m still here tomorrow; our security manager caught a guy taking photos of the Embassy front gate; so I hope I make it through the night.” It was ominous, his foreboding of the imminent attack.

Sean was a big online computer gamer, and he was actually online as the attack began. He typed in real time: “I hear shots; we’re being attacked ... I hope I will be able to speak to you again tomorrow.” Of course he never would, because Sean would die in the assault that was even then unfolding.

This is how it went down....

Full excerpt:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2013/10/embassy_house_excerpt_an_eyewitness_account_of_the_benghazi_attack_that.html

[carla]

1. The account

has been proven to be false. A lie, actually. The liar was at his beach-side villa. This NOT how it went down.

[DonViejo]

2. Correct. There is more info about the fallacies, albeit

from a right wing perspective, here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251336312