Page 132 - JSOM Winter 2022

13 Hours

The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi

Zuckhoff M; With the Annex Security Team. 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi. Twelve;
2015. 352 pp. ISBN: 9781455538447
Review by Scott P. Graverson, PhD

his book details the final hours of an American News of the attacks on the diplomatic compound
diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, one of the reached the CIA annex, where the Operators were ea-
Tmost dangerous corners of the globe. Written ger to engage the attackers and rescue those trapped
based on first-hand accounts of the CIA security con- in the compound. The CIA station chief told the Op-
tractors on the ground, this book eschews the ongoing erators to stand down because engagement would
controversy over talking points, alleged conspiracies, reveal that the CIA had armed security forces on the
and cover-ups. Instead, it focuses on the actions of the ground. Defying orders, the six Operators mounted
three former Marines, a former Army Ranger, and two a counterattack and rescued State Department per-
former Navy SEALs detailed to Libya to pro- sonnel and residents, retreating back to
tect CIA case officers. The accounts of those the CIA compound. The remainder of the
who survived that night paint a harrowing fight occurred at the CIA compound before
picture of extreme heroism and bravery in help could arrive and the State Department
the face of overwhelming odds. could execute an evacuation. Before it was
all over, four Americans were dead, includ-
The events begin on the morning of 11 Sep- ing the Ambassador.
tember 2012, 15 hours before the attacks
on the US facilities. A security guard working The Operators speculated that had they
with the Americans observed a man wearing left immediately, they may have been able
the uniform of the Libyan Supreme Security to save the lives of Ambassador Stevens
Council casing the compound, “surrepti- and State Department communications
tiously taking photographs of the layout” of specialist Sean Smith. When they finally
the American compound. When confronted, he left. reached the compound, the Operators found Smith
The security guards were on high alert – they shared dead from smoke inhalation. The Operators were
the information with the CIA contractors, the Libyan unable to recover Stevens’s body; friendly Libyans
foreign ministry, and, ultimately, Ambassador Chris later took his body to a local hospital, where his body
Stevens. was recovered. The Operators fended off two more
attacks at the CIA annex, the second a fierce mortar
Forty minutes before the attacks began, a pickup attack that killed Operators Tyrone Woods and Glen
truck bearing the Supreme Security Council’s insignia Doherty. Shortly after that, a quarter-mile-long Libyan
parked outside the compound’s walls. At 9:42 p.m., militia convoy arrived to escort them to an airfield for
“almost the moment the SSC pickup pulled away from evacuation.
the compound, shots and an explosion rang out.” The
attacks came in waves; intense clashes were fought
throughout the night.

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