…at least had 300:
It is heart breaking that the two defenders of the annex, former SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty who were in Libya as security contractors separate from the consulate, ran to the sound of the guns at the consulate–though they were unarmed–and picked up dropped weapons on the way (tip to Instapundit).
They didn’t know what was going on and didn’t have real-time information about what was happening, but they followed their instincts and ran to the sounds of the guns.
It is a good thing that they acted that way, or the American body count could have been much higher–or we’d be discussing Day 47 of America Held Hostage. The two Americans allowed the escape of 20 of our people in the consulate and then they set up a defense perimeter and held off an attack by 100-200 jihadis at the annex.
And they killed 60 of the attackers in their stand.
Our president said he is sharing information about what happened as he finds out. Why have I read this on a blog rather than on the news? Who would be disturbed to hear that our people performed acts of heroism with little hope of help?
Or is this account inaccurate? Certainly, our 20 people did escape the attackers. Those two men at least did that.
But I can’t doubt that it could be true. These were former SEALs. Certainly, they held for many hours. I’ll await further reporting about the jihadi body count. And if true, wonder why this is the first I’ve read of this epic defense. Somebody in the press corps might want to directly ask our president and government just what happened there.
Nah…why would they want to do that?
I think that we should start a meme to award both men a posthumous Medal of Freedom.
The more we learn the more despicable the behavior of our CiC.
Congressional Medal of Honor may be the way to go.
As I understand it, they were not active duty. MoH is for action taken as active members of the US military.
They were possibly still in the reserves, so maybe there’s some wiggle room.
Fox News is breathlessly reporting that “everyone” in intelligence was tagging the Benghazi attack as “Al Qaeda, every way and all around, with nothing to do with any video” whereas the DCI, one General David Petraeus, was adamant in saying the opposite, sticking with “flash mob.”
What gives?
The initial reports from Petraeus were in a closed-door hearing that covered the protests in Cairo as well. (Where there -is- ‘video influence’ because the Muslim Brotherhood helpfully broadcast it over state TV prior to -requesting- protests.)
Then the Democratic Senators came out and said “Yeah, we heard about protests over this video.” Which would seem to allow for deliberately conflating the two stories in -exactly- the same fashion the press was doing all week.
I haven’t heard Petraeus directly answer this line of questioning himself.
“…at least had 300:”
At least the 300 (301 if you include King Leonidas), knew there would not be any re-inforcements, help or backup….
But the 300 did not expect to be betrayed by one of their own (Ephialtes)…..and neither did the Benghazi Defenders (the administration).
Hmm maybe that’s my new name for Obama..Ephialtes. After Thermopylae, the name “Ephialtes” was added to the Greek Language and it has come to mean “Nightmare”.
So that’s my new name for Obama….
The OP’s account doesn’t match what I’ve read elsewhere. The mens’ bravery is beyond doubt, but it wasn’t just Woods and Doherty who held off a large force (not mob) of attackers, and they weren’t overwhelmed at the annex. It’s not even clear if both of them were at the annex at the beginning or that one of them was among the group flown in from Tripoli.
I don’t think anyone from the annex could have saved the ambassador or his aide. With hindsight, maybe they could have saved themselves if they had opened fire on their assailants while they were trying to set the compound on fire. This could have been easier if they had had more firepower. Why did they ony have submachine guns and why weren’t there M16s, flashbangs, gas grenades etc in the safe room? And why weren’t there smoke hoods / rebreather sets in the safe room? And was there firefighting equipment?
The security force augmented by the reinforcement arriving from the annex did successfully evacuate the remaining personnel and would have held the annex if they had received support, either on the ground or in the air. This wasn’t a heroic last stand, not because it wasn’t heroic, but because it wasn’t a last stand.
Looks like it was 6 people from an unknown government agency sent from Tripoli and escorted by a militia. So, whoever was at the safehouse + 6 + militia against hundreds.
The picture isn’t too clear on how the attack ended.
Sounds like they ran out of ammo.
For want of a few bullets, they might have gotten them all.
Never underestimate the capabilities of well motivated U.S. trained fighting men and women.
Must anger the other side, to have a couple of retired SEALs hold them at bay for hours, and take out so many of their hand-picked, specially-trained jihadists.