Film
Of the Year
13
Hours – The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
''You
can't put a price on being able to live with yourself''
This
is a story about the efforts of military personnel, diplomatic staff
and private contractors to protect an impossible CIA 'ghost' location
(covert base) - given the meagre human resources which they were
allocated.
Once
you start applying the commercial market to safety and security lives
are at inevitably risk. We saw this in the supply of equipment to
allied forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the low-resourcing of
protection teams, assets, and likewise the paucity of resources
allocated for the protection of Ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya.
(Interestingly,
the film obliquely blames Ambassador Stevens himself for the low
security detail allocated. You need to read the Official Reports –
which you will find at this blogsite – and then decide this matter
for yourself. I have read all the Official released reports and
have my own view on this issue.)
Ambassador
Stevens was brutally butchered by ISIL-affiliated militias during
this U.S. compound siege in Benghazi.
You
may well conclude the following after both watching this film THEN
reading the Official Reports on Benghazi at this blogsite:
When
former heads of State are imprisoned or murdered by new
tyrants – to our applause - and Ambassadors are getting
murdered;when military rescue teams don't know whether they are
coming or going, you can pretty much assume a dramatic failure in the
process of delegated political leadership from the very top of the
political (and military) command chain.
You
also need to appreciate that what happened to the protection team
during the compound siege at Benghazi was probably at least 5 times
worse that this sanitized and dramatized version.
13
Hours – The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi:
Don't Believe
What They Teach You In Diplomatic School!
Don't
ever forget during your lifetime that when you see any embassy of
any country being burnt to the ground anywhere in the world and its
Staff being dragged out and butchered like animals in a
slaughterhouse, apart from the obvious protective security failure,
this always represents, a total and abysmal failure of both politics
and diplomacy.
(I
saw my first embassy being burnt to the ground before I reached the
age of sixteen – I was standing no more than a few hundred feet
away - amongst a very very angry, distraught and maddening crowd,
many swept away in the group - and tribal - hysteria of the moment
- and have seen 2 Ambassadors I met personally (one for a courtesy NATO-Atlantic Council delegate briefing in Turkey)
brutally assassinated, and butchered, in the course of my lifetime.)
13
Hours – The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
A
depressing film - with no happy ending – but more honest to form
than is usual from Hollywood .
We
had no problem in Libya with Ghadafi. Thanks to President Ronald
Reagan (and to a lesser extent also to the policies of President George Bush, Jnr.) President Moammar Gadhafi had already surrendered all his
nuclear weapons research programs and was cooperating fully with all
international organizations for the development of the peaceful use
of nuclear technology.
His
tyranny in Libya was benevolent – and his chief political prisoners
were Al Qaeda and ISIL militants and their supporters (which, incidentally, we let loose
on the country following his overthrow. You didn't know that? You
need to be better informed than that what you see on CNN and read in
the mainstream press.)
(Perhaps,
some day, one of you younger individuals reading this alternative
blog will write a book or article - the truth about why Gadhafi was
really overthrown?)
13
Hours – The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
A
'must see' film should you be considering a career in the diplomatic
service in any country. And should you, as luck, design or fate
would have it, be at the receiving end of a difficult posting, forget
the glamour of diplomatic life from bygone eras. It only existed
for the privileged few. Throw away your notes from diplomatic school
as it is unlikley they will save you when the sh*t hits the fan. Get
more uniquely (and unashamedly) 'native' and 'streetwise' for any
potential extremes and challenges - and
you may have a slim chance of coming back home, alive, and in one
piece.
Also,
not to forget : unlike what you see in the film, put not your fate
nor faith in 'the Cavalry' arriving in time to save your sweet (and
sorry) ass (!)
©Patrick
Emek, September 2016