“Thirteen Hours” A Movie All Americans Should Watch

Few movies about US history, particularly the war torn pages of the past, stand up to the test of accurate depiction especially when presented by Hollywood. “Thirteen Hours” has been acclaimed not only for its accuracy but for the well portrayed tension and the self-induced tragedy carried out by the federal government and its politically correct travesty of inactivity in the face of assured death and destruction.

Their mission

In almost every foreign theater, particularly in the Middle East, where probability of terrorism is high, mercenaries or paid contract warriors are added to the personnel of US diplomatic properties as a precaution against attacks or being overrun by sudden acts of infiltration or deadly assault. In 2012 the US State Department under Secretary, Hillary Clinton, had its own agenda and was not looking out for federal employees in harm’s way. Ambassador, Christopher Stevens was under intense pressure due to a war torn Libya where rebel factions roamed the streets and harassed drivers and pedestrians alike.\

Impending doom

For weeks the US Ambassador while acting as a regional arms dealer for the State Department secretly smuggling weapons across the Turkish border into Syria through discreet arrangements with a Turkish official is under pending attack. It’s only a matter of time. An explosion in the parking lot one day and another bomb that breaches the outer wall later demonstrate that the US Consulate is indefensible, yet Christopher Stevens pleas for reinforcements go unheard by Secretary Clinton as the enemy makes their plan.

What a picture is worth

A visit by Senator John McCain shows a telling press photo of the US Ambassador walking behind the former Vietnam War hero with a clearly paranoid posture as if expecting an attack at any moment. Whether McCain is so oblivious to the threat or unafraid remains a mystery, but the US Ambassador has been in country long enough to know that he and his compound are in grave peril and no one in the Obama White House seems concerned. The year is 2012 and a sinister cloud of doom hangs over the premises as dark forces prepare to move against them.

Betrayal

Little does the US Ambassador know that Hillary Clinton has made a deal with Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization, for security contracts on American diplomatic properties in Libya. Neither does he know that his safe house has been revealed to those who plan an attack on the beleaguered compound. The stage is set for a dramatic confrontation. Americans at the Consulate can only guess what horrors await them as the tense days and nights go by as civil war tensions in the streets of Benghazi remain ignored in an election year for President Obama and Americans abroad will become sacrificial lambs.

No chance

Six former SEAL Team members have hired on as diplomatic body guards occupying apartments on the grounds of the CIA Annex just blocks from the US Consulate where a nervous US Ambassador and his staff languish behind the walls of a vulnerable facility. On that faithful night what some wrongly describe as a demonstration gotten out of hand erupts into an all-out heavy assault replete with mortar fire. Little do the embattled Americans realize that just moments before they have been betrayed by security guards whose responsibility it was to maintain surveillance on gate entryways and fences. The traitors have vacated their posts and armed gunmen now enter the interior grounds of the compound unimpeded by normal precautionary measures.

Assault in progress

As heavy fire streaks through the night skies with blazing tracer bullets and AK-47 rounds the Ambassador’s assigned body guard detail (3 men) are caught in a murderous hail of assault rifle fire! Dozens of heavily armed terrorists assault the premises and even though they are taking numerous casualties from former Navy Seal guards, but there is not enough resistance by the US gunners to repel the invaders. Ambassador Stevens is led to a car so that he can make it to a safe house located discreetly outside the compound. Fires have already broken out and nearly overcome the Americans trapped by the insurgents who are hammering the premises with mortar shells and bullets while fast overrunning the Consulate! Stevens will soon be captured at the safe house followed by the vehicles of his enemies.

Stand down

Meanwhile the six American contractors, all former Special Forces soldiers have received the emergency alarm set off by Ambassador Stevens and can see the fires spreading just a few blocks away from their vantage point at the CIA Annex. Assembled and ready to go they are ordered to stand down by a CIA supervisor who tells them they do not have clearance to engage the enemy at the burning US Consulate. Just as on the airfields of Tripoli and Aviano Naval Air Station aviators ready to go are told to stand down! Who gave the order is obviously a senior White House executive, but they remain unidentified!

First crack

Angry and frustrated, the six US contractors paid to protect US assets override the CIA supervisor and sprint down the streets of Benghazi toward the raging battle at the a US Consulate now under heavy smoke and flames. These combat tested soldiers are anxious to mix it up with the enemy as they carefully approach and take aim at their first targets not wanting to kill innocents. The confusion is apparent but so is the carnage as they search the premises for the Ambassador or any other surviving Americans. Soon they are attacked and respond with precise counter fire downing their adversaries. Even the guards are no longer to be trusted as unknown intruders are scrambling about war torn grounds some firing at the American soldiers others running away perhaps even directing their comrades toward the location of the US rescue effort.

Temporary lull

Again and again they engage a cunning enemy who might not act hostile at first then suddenly open fire upon the Americans who respond with deadly accuracy. The Libyan terrorists fall but more continue to flow in! Finally, in a break in the action the men have a few moments to assess the situation and know that any moment there could be an even larger counter attack. They know that they could be overwhelmed after seeing the extent of the damage and loss of life. Masterfully using their night vision and sniping skills they determine a stronghold and climb atop one of the buildings as a main defensive point. From the direction of several stacked parking lots they can see an assault massing with dozens more attackers poised to advance upon their position, but they have an advantage of height and unobstructed view.

Evening the score

Their stand-off capability will be the deciding factor on this most bleak of nights. Armed with their AK-47’s the terrorists begin an advance but are systematically picked off with expert marksmanship as the US contractors take full advantage of their position. The terrorists are decimated by long range sniper fire leaving their blood spattering on the ground as M-16 and heavy sniper rifles equipped with night scopes turn an outnumbered American unit into an awesome killing machine that quickly evens the odds and then some. Muzzle flashes light the night as bodies fall bloodied by the rounds fired by the American contractors determined not to allow the consulate to fall.

Situation worsens

Now heavy mortar bombardment begins to take its toll upon the Americans who are now in a hellish bloodbath of explosions as the firefight rages on. Nearly exhausted by now and running low on ammunition, they fight on even when one man is killed and two are wounded. Their vehicles are hammered by explosive rounds and the buildings they have made a temporary fortress from are getting blown to pieces! Little do the desperate defenders know that even General Carter Ham of AFRICOM has been ordered to stand down and when he refused the order has been taken into custody at gun point by a junior officer!

Reinforcements finally

Finally dawn approaches and with it a welcome sight. UN Forces in the form of a convoy of armored vehicles begin making their way through the streets of Benghazi toward the Americans and their battered defensive perimeter. The battle dissipates as scores of terrorists who have been gunned down with precision fire litter the grounds of the plundered consulate. The American mercenaries are saved, but they still do not know that Ambassador Stevens who was paraded around the city by his captors, kicked, beaten, and raped has shown up at a hospital dead reportedly of smoke inhalation while foreign journalists who witnessed the event report what really happened.

The enemy had been ready

The American contractors know by the scale of the assault and the accuracy of the mortar fire that the attack had been planned for perhaps months while Ambassador Stevens made desperate appeals for help that were ignored by Secretary Hillary Clinton and her staff. Fighter pilots ready to take off from the flight line are angry over being denied flying their rescue missions that could have, if nothing else, scared off the attackers. The act of allowing an attack of this kind to go unassisted by superior forces within striking distance sparks rage among the many US armed services personnel who were in the region who could have made a difference.

White House Lies

Although no knows just where President Obama was in the hours of attack upon the Benghazi compound the President stood in the Rose Garden at the White House and lied to the American people that the deadly assault had occurred because Muslims were angry over an obscure film that no one had seen as the reason for a routine protest turning into an attack on the consulate! In the days that follow Hillary Clinton and President Obama will use 70 thousand in taxpayer’s dollars to go on Arab TV and denounce a film that likely no one had seen while the Egyptian producer of this little known movie, a comedy, is arrested and thrown in jail by the Los Angeles Police Gestapo style and held for weeks.

Conclusion

This saga of criminal negligence and courage in the face of overwhelming odds typifies what is expected of our men in harm’s way and emblematic of a bungling White House only concerned with its political ambition and failed schemes as innocent Americans died while waiting desperately for help that never came. The movie “Thirteen Hours” doesn’t get into the actual politics so much as it does the vivid portrayal of a desperate battle met with courage and determination by patriotic veterans who did not abandon their duty in the face of bitter odds hopelessly outnumbered and yet, remaining heroically on station to rescue those that they could. Being the tip of the spear against overpowering odds reminds the audience just what kind of character those brave men exhibited under fire.