Eyes on Target: Inside Stories From the Brotherhood of the U.S. Navy SEALs

by Scott McEwen

MARCH 8, 2012: Several explosions take place about four hundred meters from the embassy compound. No injuries or damage are reported.21

  MARCH 16, 2012: Pro-federalism demonstrators march in Benghazi, demanding that Benghazi and Tripoli both be declared Libya’s capital and that seats in the Libyan parliament be evenly divided among all regions of the country.22

  MARCH 18, 2012: Six armed robbers wearing ski masks and army fatigues break into the British School in Benghazi, menacing staff and stealing handbags, wallets, watches, and cars.23

  MARCH 22, 2012: At 2:27 a.m., seven armed militia members show up at the mission (Villa A), demanding to enter. The local guard flees, but trips an internal security alarm that cause security personnel and 17 February Martyrs Brigade members to respond. The militia was part of the El Awfea Brigade of the Libyan Ministry of Defense. The El Awfea Brigade leaves without incident.24

  MARCH 28, 2012: A cable sent by Eric Nordstrom to the State Department in Washington requests five Diplomatic Security agents in Benghazi on forty-five-to sixty-day rotations as well as four drivers and another regional security officer. The cable says there is a problem with the Libyan government, who will issue gun permits only for a period not to exceed seventy-two hours.25

  APRIL 2, 2012: At 6:15 p.m., a British diplomatic mission armored vehicle is shot at by some two hundred members of the Traffic Police Force, or “Murur,” who were fighting with local militia members. A third security force called Al-Nayda (or Al-Shorta) breaks up the fighting and allows the diplomatic convoy to proceed. British security officials believe the traffic police thought the British vehicle was part of a local militia.26

  APRIL 6, 2012: A homemade bomb is thrown over the wall of the embassy compound. The improvised explosive device, known as a “fish bomb” or “gelateena,” causes limited damage. One current and one former security guard, both Blue Mountain Libya employees, are arrested. The former guard had been fired for “gross misconduct,” including covering the inner walls of the compound with graffiti.27

  APRIL 10, 2012: A similar “fish bomb” was thrown at a U.N. convoy carrying the U.N. Special Envoy to Libya. The bomb explodes twelve feet from the convoy.28

  APRIL 11–12, 2012: Some gunmen try to steal new vehicles from the headquarters of Libya’s Ministry of the Interior, some two miles from downtown Benghazi. The Interior Ministry controls intelligence and police forces in Libya. The gunmen were thwarted after a thirteen-hour firefight.29

  APRIL 2012: Vandals break into the Commonwealth Graves cemetery, where many British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in Libya during World War II are buried. Over two hundred tombstones are desecrated.30

  APRIL 23–MAY 9, 2012: Fifty protesters block the entrances to Libya’s largest oil producer, Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), and demand more transparency in the government, more jobs for young people, and the ouster of Gadhafi-era officials from the government. The protesters block all entrances to the plant. The standoff lasts for weeks. The company said it had cut production by thirty thousand barrels a day.31

  APRIL 26, 2012: Guards protecting a trade delegation visiting Benghazi get into a fistfight with security guards at the International Medical University. The principal officer of the U.S. Mission was accompanying the trade delegation but is escorted away unharmed.32

  APRIL 27, 2012: Three prisoners and three guards are killed in a failed prison break at Benghazi’s main prison.33

  APRIL 27, 2012: Three homemade bombs explode at the main Benghazi courthouse. It is unclear whether the bombs were thrown at the building or exploded inside, or how many people were hurt.34

  APRIL 27, 2012: Two South Africans, working in Benghazi as part of an American-funded effort to capture weapons and dismantle mines, are taken hostage and then released “for their own safety.” The entire incident lasts for about two hours.35 Their captors initially think that they are Americans.

  APRIL 28, 2012: Benina Airport is temporarily closed after members of the Qatar Battalion of the Barqa Militia protest because they have not been paid for some time.36

  MAY 15, 2012: A hand grenade explodes inside Military Police Headquarters in Benghazi.37

  MAY 15, 2012: Benghazi Medical Center director Dr. Fathi Al-Jhani is shot in the chest and wounded as he is leaving the center.38

  MAY 17, 2012: Two Libyan government senior officials, Khaled Saleh and Fathi Al Baaja, are shot at while at Benghazi Airport, but neither man is hurt.39

  MAY 22, 2012: Two rocket-propelled grenades are launched at the headquarters of the International Committee for the Red Cross/Red Crescent. One damages a shipping container and the second misses. The Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman Brigades claimed responsibility, claiming the Red Cross/Red Crescent is converting Libyan ethnic minorities to Christianity.40 The terror group is named after the blind Egyptian cleric who is currently imprisoned in New York for plotting to bomb the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels leading into Manhattan. The group is believed to be an al Qaeda affiliate.

  JUNE 6, 2012: The U.S. Mission in Benghazi (Villa A) is bombed a second time. Local guards said they saw a man wearing “Islamic” clothes place a suspicious package three feet from the mission’s front entrance. The package exploded six minutes later, blowing a large hole in the mission’s front wall. No one is injured.41 The Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman Brigades subsequently claim responsibility.42

  JUNE 7–8, 2012: A conference held at Liberation Square in Benghazi attracts fifteen militias that, a report from the Library of Congress concludes, “probably make up the bulk of al-Qaeda’s support in Libya.” According to the newspaper Libya al-Youm, the conference is sponsored by the militia Ansar al-Sharia and includes the Free Libya Martyrs, the Abu Salim Martyrs, and the Revolutionaries of Sirt.43 A report from Misbah al-Awani of New Quryna, another Arabic news source, says on June 14 the conference “was a message to the many intelligence apparatuses which had entered into Libya including Syrian, Iranian, and Israeli and were attempting to sabotage, peddle drugs and spread false beliefs in the country.”44 NPR reporter Steve Inskeep sees some of the demonstrators at this meeting, and one says his goal is “to kill the infidels.”45 Ansar al-Sharia commander Mohammed Ali el-Zahawi tells the Washington Post that while his organization disapproves of attacking embassies, “if it had been our attack on the U.S. Consulate [sic], we would have flattened it.”46

  JUNE 11, 2012: A rocket-propelled grenade is fired at a British diplomatic convoy carrying British ambassador Sir Dominic Asquith. Reporters saw a white diplomatic car with its windshield destroyed and blood on the car’s front seat. The ambassador was not hurt.47 The event will ultimately cause the British to withdraw from Benghazi, but they leave their weapons in the American compound, which will be subsequently stolen in the September 11, 2012 attack.48

  JUNE 17, 2012: The Tunisian consulate in Benghazi is stormed by twenty young men who torched the Tunisian flag inside the building. The men claimed the consulate was showing anti-Islamist art.49

  JUNE 22, 2012: Juma Obaidi al-Jazawi, a military prosecutor who ordered the arrest of former Libyan rebel commander Abdul Fatah Younes last year, was killed as he left his mosque.50

  JULY 2012: A contractor for the U.S. Africa Command, the Navanti Group, reports in a memo that “Benghazi has seen a notable increase in violence in recent months, particularly against international targets. These events point to strong anti-Western sentiments among certain segments of the population, the willingness of Salafi-jihadi groups in the city to openly engage in violence against foreign targets, and their capacity to carry out these attacks.”51

  JULY 1, 2012: Some two hundred demonstrators sack the offices of the High National Electoral Commission, burning election materials and chanting pro-federalist slogans.52

  JULY 9, 2012: A cable drafted by Eric Nordstrom to Washington reports: “Overall security conditions continue to be unpredictable, with large numbers of armed groups and individuals not under the control of the central government, and frequent clashes in Tripoli and other major population centers.�
� The Government of Libya “remains extremely limited in its ability to sustain a security support presence at USG compounds.”53

  AUGUST 2, 2012: A cable drafted by Jairo Saravia of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli says that the situation in Libya remains “unpredictable, volatile, and violent.”54

  AUGUST 16, 2012: Gen. Carter Ham, head of Africa Command, reads a State Department cable from Ambassador Stevens, which asks for more security. Gen. Ham phones Stevens and asks if he needed any more security. Stevens says he did not. In a meeting sometime between this date and September 11, Stevens says for a second time that he did not need additional security. “One person familiar with the events said Stevens might have rejected the offers because there was an understanding within the State Department that officials in Libya ought not to request more security, in part because of concerns about the political fallout of seeking a larger military presence in a country that was still being touted as a foreign policy success.”55

  AUGUST 29, 2012: The contract between the 17 February Brigade and the U.S. Consulate expires and is not renewed. A memo from “the principal U.S. diplomatic officer in Benghazi” whose name was redacted said the contract had expired “several weeks ago” and that the brigade “has been implicated in several of the recent detentions. We also have the usual concerns re their ultimate loyalties. But they are competent, and give us an added measure of security.”56 Because the contract had expired, the brigade said it would not provide security for U.S. personnel, including Ambassador Stevens.57

  September 11, 2012

  Note: All times are Benghazi time.

  SEPTEMBER 11, 6:45 A.M.: A Blue Mountain Libya guard spots someone wearing a Libyan Supreme Security Council uniform taking photos of the U.S. compound from a building under construction across the street. Guards confront the mysterious man, who steps in a police car and speeds off.58 Those photographs would be essential in planning an attack.

  DURING THE DAY: Everything seems normal. A memorandum sent by the embassy in Tripoli to Washington and drafted by David C. McFarland says that Ambassador Stevens plans to open American Space Benghazi, a cultural organization. The report also notes that the consulate staff has met with such nonprofits as the Libyan Society for Industrial Engineering, My Environment Society, and the cancer-fighting Cure Foundation.59

  7:20 P.M.: Ambassador Stevens escorts the Turkish general consul, his last appointment, to the main gate.60

  8:10–8:30 P.M.: A British security team returns armored cars that it has borrowed from the Americans.61

  9:42 P.M.: A police car guarding the U.S. compound drives off. A press report in a local newspaper quotes a Supreme Security Council official saying that the car was ordered to leave “to prevent civilian casualties.” A guard interviewed by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat said that “my colleague guards and I were chatting and drinking tea. The situation was normal.”62 The sudden departure of the Libyan police is never fully explained.

  9:42 P.M.: Members of Ansar al-Sharia and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) storm the main gate. Shouting “God is great!” they surge into the compound.63 About fifty attackers enter the compound, led by four men who wear masks and “Pakistani clothes.”64 The compound’s Tactical Operations Center notifies the State Department in Washington, the Embassy in Tripoli, and the Annex operated by the CIA.65

  9:45 P.M.: Gregory Hicks, second-in-command at the Tripoli Embassy, is at home watching television when a foreign service officer knocks on his door saying, “Greg, Greg, the embassy’s under attack.” Hicks sees an unknown phone number on his cell phone and dials it. Ambassador Stevens answers and says “Greg, we’re under attack” before the phone call is cut off.66

  9:59 P.M.: An unarmed surveillance aircraft is tasked to reposition over Benghazi.67

  10:02 P.M.: Ambassador Stevens, information security officer Sean Smith, and Diplomatic Security Service officer Scott Strickland struggle to get to a safe room in Villa C. Attackers set furniture on fire. The building fills with smoke. Officer Strickland leaps out of a window, but contact is lost with Ambassador Stevens and Officer Smith, both of whom have left the safe room because the building was filled with smoke. Strickland enters the building several times but fails to find Stevens or Smith.68

  10:05 P.M.: An “Ops Alert” is issued by the State Department Operations Center notifying the White House Situation Room, senior department officials, and others that Benghazi was under attack and “approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well.”69

  10:07 P.M.: The CIA Global Response Staff security team from the Annex arrives at the compound and engages in a firefight with the attackers. Officer Smith’s body is found but not that of Ambassador Stevens.70

  10:32 P.M.: The National Military Command Center notifies the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.71

  11:00 P.M.: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey discuss the Benghazi situation with President Obama during a regularly scheduled weekly meeting.72

  11:00 P.M.: Gregory Hicks asks the defense attaché at the Tripoli Embassy if any military help is forthcoming. The attaché says that it will take two to three hours for the nearest fighters to “get on-site” from Italy—and that there will be no refueling aircraft available for the fighters to return to their base. “I said, ‘Thank you very much,’ And we went on with our work.”73

  11:10 P.M.: The surveillance aircraft arrives over Benghazi.74

  11:15 P.M.: The security team from the Annex decides the compound cannot be held and decides to retreat to the CIA Annex.75

  September 12, 2012

  12:00 A.M.–2:00 A.M.: Secretary Panetta holds meetings with Gen. Dempsey and Gen. Carter Ham. He orders a Marine Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) stationed in Rota, Spain, to deploy to Naval Air Station Sigonella (an hour away from Benghazi) and a second FAST platoon to deploy to Sigonella. He orders a special operations team based in northern Europe to deploy to Sigonella. A special operations team based in the U.S. is also ordered to deploy to Sigonella.76 However, a C-110 special operations team deployed to Croatia stays in place. This team, known as EUCOM CIF (“Commander’s In Extremis Force”), could have arrived in Benghazi in three and a half hours.77

  12:30 A.M.: A special operations team leaves Tripoli for Benghazi in a Learjet, arriving at 1:15 a.m. However, a request by Gregory Hicks for a second team is vetoed. Hicks believes the veto came from the military.78

  DURING THE NIGHT: Ambassador Stevens is transported to Benghazi Medical Center around 11:00 p.m. It is not clear who transported him to the hospital or whether the ambassador is alive or dead when he entered the hospital. Hospital personnel call embassy personnel, saying: “We know where the ambassador is. Please, you can come get him.” According to Gregory Hicks, embassy officials fear the calls are a trap, knowing Ansar al-Sharia militia surrounds the hospital.79

  A source the embassy trusts known as Bakabar retrieves Stevens’s body around 5:15 a.m. Bakabar and his associates transport Stevens’s body to the Benghazi airport.

  5:00 A.M.: A second surveillance aircraft arrives over Benghazi.80

  5:15 A.M.: A mortar attack takes place in the CIA Annex that lasts eleven minutes. Former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty are killed, and two other security officers are wounded.81

  7:40 A.M.: The first airplane carrying Americans leaves Benghazi for Tripoli.82

  10:00 A.M.: The second airplane carrying Americans leaves Benghazi for Tripoli.83

  7:17 P.M.: A C-17 aircraft leaves Tripoli for Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany with American personnel and the bodies of the four Americans killed in Benghazi. It arrives in Ramstein AFB at 10:19 p.m.84

  7:57 P.M.: The EUCOM special operations force arrives at Sigonella. The special operations force from America arrives at 9:28 p.m.85

  8:56 P.M.: The Marine FAST platoon arrives at Tripoli.86 They arrive twenty-four hours after the attack began, in a city several hundred miles from Benghaz
i.

  CHAPTER 11

  The Teams: Why the Unique Culture of the SEALs Matters

  For the SEALs, triumph’s locomotive often drags tragedy’s caboose. The teams know that in a crackle of radio static or a flash of text, teammates they have known for years—sweated with, bled with, partied with—could suddenly be gone. It is an essential reality that defines their unique culture; they know that death stalks them just as they bring it to our nation’s enemies.

  Nothing underlines that reality than the events of the spring and summer of 2011. Perhaps the best known of the SEALs’ triumphs (the bin Laden raid) occurred within weeks of their greatest loss of their brothers in their history (“Extortion 17”).

  Their triumph immediately became world famous—the president saw to that. Shortly before midnight, President Obama appeared on television screens to announce Operation Neptune Spear and the death of archterrorist Osama bin Laden.

  After weeks of rehearsals in secret locations in the Virginia wilderness and the Nevada desert, waiting days and nights in an Afghan staging area, SEAL Team Six was ordered to load out and stand by for the helicopters. After ten long years of waiting, and so many sure things that never materialized from the head shed [headquarters], they were chosen to go after not just a High Value Target… but HVT number one: bin Laden himself.