With 13 Hours now hitting the screens across America the backlash is gearing up. My son, who saw the movie this afternoon, gave me this pithy observation when I asked how he liked the movie:
“It made me truly despise Hillary Clinton.”
The names of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are not heard at any point in the movie. But that is one of the key points. Both put this crisis on the back burner because they did not want to concede that a terrorist attack was underway on the 11th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The lack of adequate State Department security for the Ambassador was a further indictment of Hillary Clinton’s incompetence because she went along with the decision of Under Secretary Pat Kennedy to deny repeated requests from Ambassador Stevens and his country team for more security assets. More guys with gun might have saved the Ambassador and his communicator, Sean Smith.
The movie, 13 Hours, is based on the book, 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi and tells the story from the point of view of three former military guys who were on scene as security contractors for the CIA. They told their story in public almost two years ago to Fox’s Bret Baier:
During a Fox News special that aired over the weekend, three CIA security staffers posted to Benghazi told reporter Bret Baier they were ready to respond within five minutes after distress calls came in from the U.S. consulate less than a mile away. Under attack from well-armed terrorists on that fateful night two years ago were U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and his small diplomatic staff. . . .
The three CIA security contractors—Kris “Tanto” Paronto, Mark “Oz” Geist, and John “Tig” Tiegen previously provided their account to the House Intelligence Committee, which unbelievably issued a report stating that no stand down order was given in Benghazi. “Five minutes, we’re ready,” said Paronto, a former Army Ranger. “It was thumbs up, thumbs up, we’re ready to go.” According to the security operators, the top CIA officer in Benghazi, whom they refer to only as “Bob,” told them to wait.
“It had probably been 15 minutes I think, and … I just said, ‘Hey, you know, we gotta– we need to get over there, we’re losing the initiative,’” said Tiegen. “And Bob just looks straight at me and said, ‘Stand down, you need to wait.’” The three asserted said they were told three times to wait by “Bob.” Finally, after 30 minutes, they took off, asking their superiors to ask for armed air support, which never materialized.
They are telling the truth and are now going to be challenged by the mainstream media eager to protect and defend their buddies, Barack and Hillary. The Washington Post is out with a garbage piece tonight from “BOB” the Chief of the CIA base who told the contractors to “STAND DOWN.”
It is the most fateful moment in a movie that purports to present a searingly accurate account of the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead in Benghazi, Libya: a scene in which the highest-ranking CIA operative at a secret agency compound orders his security team to “stand down” rather than rush off to rescue U.S. diplomats under siege less than a mile away.
According to the officer in charge of the CIA’s Benghazi base that night, the scene in the movie is entirely untrue.
“There never was a stand-down order,” said the base chief known as Bob, speaking publicly for the first time. “At no time did I ever second-guess that the team would depart.”
Let me make this very simple. Bob is lying and covering his ass. We have his word against the word of three men who were actually facing the shots fired by the attacking terrorists. Bob’s failure that night to move quickly and act decisively was not because of cowardice. He is/was your quintessential overly cautious bureaucrat. There is a fair argument to be made on his behalf that he was sacrificing the life of the State Department personnel in order to protect the CIA position. But that is simply selfishness and reflected worry about explaining things after the fact. The security contractors, who heard the cries for help, were motivated by the warrior code. They were not going to worry about keeping their own asses safe while other Americans were dying.
According to the Washington Post his career as a case officer was spent largely in Central and South America. That is a critical piece of information. There is no nice way to say this. The Latin America section of the Directorate of Operations over the last twenty years was not filled with the best and the brightest that CIA had to offer.
Shame on the Washington Post for this pathetic piece. Bob, in my opinion, is a liar. Kris “Tanto” Paronto, Mark “Oz” Geist, and John “Tig” Tiegen have no incentive to lie and are telling the same story. I trust the guys who manned up and tried to save Americans. People like “Bob” deserve no credit for being good bureaucrats.
That’s my take.
One other point about the reaction of the establishment media, especially the movie reviewers. They hate this movie because it does make the viewer ask the question, “why the hell were these people left to fend for themselves?” It is a fair and proper question. It goes to the heart of the craven political calculations that guided the decisions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (or rather, their failure to act) that fateful night.
As was the case with the movie, American Sniper, 13 Hours will also be a phenomena. The so-called Silent Majority will be out in force to support, cheer and weep. It is this gulf between the establishment and the American people that Donald Trump recognizes and is exploiting effectively.
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