{"id":702,"date":"2013-12-30T12:57:55","date_gmt":"2013-12-30T17:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matthewvandyke.com\/blog\/?p=702"},"modified":"2014-01-22T17:29:40","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T22:29:40","slug":"2012-benghazi-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.matthewvandyke.com\/blog\/2012-benghazi-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2012 Benghazi Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update: Geoffrey Ingersoll of Business Insider has\u00a0written an article titled\u00a0“American Who Fought With Libyan Rebels: I Was Right About Benghazi<\/a>”\u00a0about\u00a0my accurate assessment of what happened in Benghazi\u00a0which I\u00a0shared with\u00a0Business Insider\u00a0on September 12, 2012, the day after the 2012 Benghazi attack occurred.<\/em><\/p>\n

The New York Times investigation<\/a>\u00a0by David Kirkpatrick\u00a0into the September 11, 2012 attack on a US compound in Benghazi, Libya that\u00a0killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, has confirmed much of my theory <\/span>about who was responsible for the attack, what motivated it, and how little planning by the attackers\u00a0was <\/span>involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew how militias operated in Libya because I\u00a0fought in the Libyan\u00a0Civil War\u00a0in 2011<\/a>\u00a0as part of the rebel forces. Yet surprisingly, few\u00a0journalists thought to email or call me\u00a0after the Benghazi attack\u00a0for insight into what had likely happened.<\/p>\n

\"Freedom<\/a>

With my rebel military unit during the Libyan Civil War.<\/p><\/div>\n

Instead,\u00a0many journalists were\u00a0reporting\u00a0opinions that were not accurate, such as\u00a0the attack being\u00a0“a coordinated, military-style, commando-type raid<\/a>” carried out by Al Qaeda –\u00a0opinions offered by the regular cadre of talking heads who are\u00a0popular at cocktail parties in Washington, DC\u00a0but who have no operational experience on the ground in Libya and certainly no experience fighting as part of a Libyan militia or military unit.<\/p>\n

The media\u00a0often follows\u00a0this same pattern\u00a0of\u00a0behavior\u00a0when reporting on the Syrian Civil War as well.<\/p>\n

I first shared\u00a0my theory\u00a0about Benghazi with\u00a0journalists who did think to contact me\u00a0on September 12, 2012 (the very next day after the <\/span>attack). I based\u00a0this theory on my academic background in Security Studies<\/a>, years of experience in the region<\/a>, clues from a <\/span>few eyewitness accounts that had emerged but were largely dismissed or overlooked by the media, <\/span>and most importantly on my experiences fighting in the Libyan\u00a0Civil War\u00a0which gave me <\/span>unique insight into how the militias operate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Business Insider published my thoughts and theory\u00a0about the Benghazi attacks\u00a0on September <\/span>13, 2012 (just two days after the attacks)\u00a0in an article titled Insiders Tell Us What Really Happened in Libya<\/a>. My views on Benghazi can\u00a0also be found in Jack Murphy <\/span>and Brandon Webb’s New York Times Bestseller book Benghazi: The Definitive Report<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been frustrating to\u00a0<\/span>watch the tragic events in Benghazi being used as a political football in the US Congress and media.<\/span> I\u00a0have been\u00a0confident that\u00a0my theory about that day was much closer to what actually <\/span>happened than what politicians and much of the press have been reporting for the past year.\u00a0The political and media\u00a0circus about Benghazi for the past year has been irresponsible because the myths and misrepresentations about what happened in Benghazi has politicized a tragedy that should have united all Americans.\u00a0I hope those of you <\/span>with an interest in what actually transpired that horrible day in Benghazi will take the time <\/span>to read David Kirkpatrick’s New York Times report.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: Geoffrey Ingersoll of Business Insider has\u00a0written an article titled\u00a0“American Who Fought With Libyan Rebels: I Was Right About Benghazi”\u00a0about\u00a0my accurate assessment of what happened in Benghazi\u00a0which I\u00a0shared with\u00a0Business Insider\u00a0on September 12, 2012, the day after the 2012 Benghazi attack … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[51,7,1],"tags":[108,109],"class_list":["post-702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-al-qaeda-2","category-libya","category-uncategorized","tag-benghazi","tag-benghazi-attack"],"yoast_head":"\nThe 2012 Benghazi Attack - 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