by WorldTribune Staff, June 28, 2016
The very people President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to defeat in Libya ended up being the only ones who came to the rescue of Americans under attack on Sept. 11, 2012 in Benghazi.
Americans, who came under lethal mortar attack from terrorists, were rescued from the U.S. compound in Benghazi by loyalists of Col. Moammar Gadhafi — not the Libyan government or the militia group contractually obligated to provide security, according the final report from the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
Read the full Final House Select Committee on Benghazi report here.
A special operator in Benghazi testified that: “We decided that the situation we had was untenable to stay at the compound. We didn’t have enough shooters and there were too many wounded.”
The Americans in the compound did not have the security vehicles and “gun trucks” necessary to evacuate to the airport in Benghazi.
“The forces that arrived at the annex shortly after the mortar attacks were able to transport all State Department and CIA personnel safely to the airport. The forces, known as Libyan Military Intelligence, arrived with 50 heavily-armed security vehicles,” the select committee’s report says.
The Libyan Military Intelligence was not part of the Libyan government that the Obama administration supported. It also was not affiliated with the “February 17 Martyrs Brigade, recommended by the Libyan Government and contractually obligated to provide security to the Mission Compound.”
The report also states that “the February 17 Martyrs Brigade militia, which provided interior armed security at the Benghazi Mission compound, informed the Diplomatic Security Agents two days before the Ambassador was scheduled to arrive it would no longer provide off-compound security.”
“Instead, Libya Military Intelligence — whom the CIA did not even know existed until the night of the attacks — were comprised of former military officers under the Gadhafi regime who had gone into hiding in fear of being assassinated, and wanted to keep their presence in Benghazi as quiet as possible so as to not attract attention from the militias in control of Benghazi,” the report notes.
“It was also this group, not groups previously given credit by previous investigations, that came to the rescue of the Americans in those early morning hours —likely saving dozens of lives as a result,” the select committee concluded.
Final Benghazi report: Americans under attack were rescued by Gadhafi loyalists added by World Tribune on
View all posts by World Tribune →