Benghazi by Brandon Webb

Author:Brandon Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

A ROVER Handheld Device. Courtesy of L3 Communications.

It was an unarmed drone equipped with multiple sensors to detect infrared (IR) and thermal signatures. The drone had been redirected to the scene by the DOD’s AFRICOM (Africa Command) at the request of the JSOC operator. It contributed to the overall situational awareness of the ground-based team, and the information was a huge factor in the next decision—which would save all of their lives.

Armed Version of the Predator. Courtesy of General Atomics.

“There’s a large element assembling, and we need to get everyone out of here now!” the JSOC man relayed to the Chief of Base and GRS TL. The footage on the ROVER’s screen was enough to convince the CIA Chief. They immediately notified everyone to gather up all their personal security items and evacuate.

To the CIA’s credit, all told, they successfully rescued six State Department personnel, recovered Smith’s body, and got approximately thirty Americans out of Benghazi alive. And they also didn’t compromise any classified material in the process. The CIA team left the compound locked, and in the hands of a trusted local.

Within minutes of the decision, the vehicles were loaded and the Americans were on their way to the airport. They encountered small arms fire on the way but arrived unscathed in time to meet the first of two aircraft that would fly them back to Tripoli.

EARLIER, WHILE THE CIA compound was under attack, the embassy in Tripoli had been trying to coordinate with an unknown caller concerning the whereabouts of Ambassador Stevens’s body. A call had come in at 2:00am from the borrowed cell phone that was loaned to Stevens by the DSS agent. They were suspicious that it was a guise to lure the Americans into incurring further casualties. The decision was made to send a trusted local, familiar with the ambassador, to the Benghazi Medical Center, where he positively identified Stevens’s body. We’re unsure about the details, but arrangements were made to transport the ambassador’s remains to the airport. We’ve heard that there was an exchange of fire in the handoff process, but it’s unconfirmed. There was likely a money exchange involved, regardless of what happened.

At 7:30am, a chartered jet took the wounded and a small number of American evacuees back to Tripoli in the first wave. A second Libyan aircraft (a C–130) would take the remaining Americans, including Ambassador Stevens’s body, which had arrived by ambulance at the airport around 8:30 in the morning. They would all land in Tripoli at 11:30am. The bodies and wounded were sent to Germany on two US Air Force aircraft (a C–130 and a C–17). The planes arrived in Ramstein Air Force Base around 10:30 at night, nearly 24 hours after the initial attack commenced.

The CIA did an exemplary job with virtually no outside support. They left Benghazi with all Americans accounted for. Ty’s leadership that day, and his refusal to sit by and allow his fellow Americans to be overrun, is a testament to his character. His willingness to stand up to his CIA boss and do what was right is an example of true American heroism.

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