Episode 5: Split Down the Middle

In Episode 4, we touched upon the controversy over Administration officials’ public statements regarding Benghazi. Partisanship plays an enormous role in the debates over the truth of what happened that night. The debates struggle over deception, leadership, and the truth.

The role of Al Qaeda is another source of disagreement. Contrary to Congressional reports that claimed Al Qaeda held a significant role in the attack, a Times investigation found no evidence of Al Qaeda involvement, and instead found legitimacy in theories that the attacks were fueled by the film Innocence of Muslims. The Times report did find that many local militias and extremist groups were involved in the attack, even though they may not have been the initial attackers. Times reporter David Kirkpatrick disagreed with Congressional claims, concluding that extremist militia leader Abu Khattala was the orchestrator of the event. Khattala initially denied any role in the attack.

While most sources agree that extremist groups and militias were involved in the attack in some capacity, the presence of protesters has been a subject of much debate. David Kirkpatrick and the members of the Accountability Review Board convened by Hillary Clinton came to opposite conclusions regarding the presence of the protest. Kirkpatrick found that the initial attack was motivated by the film and was quickly joined by other fighters and extremist members as rumor spread, but could find no evidence of Al Qaeda involvement. The House Select Committee did find reasonable evidence of Al Qaeda’s role in the attacks. Republicans saw this as definitive evidence that their claims against the Obama Administration were grounded. Republicans had already been accusing the Obama Administration of covering up evidence of Al Qaeda’s role to avoid undermining the President’s claim that the group has been decimated, in part because of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Popular culture portrayals of the attack have only added fuel to the fire. The most significant of these representations may be the Michael Bay film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. 13 Hours seeks to tell the tale of 6 soldiers stationed at the CIA Annex. The film is based on the experiences of a group of soldiers who were involved in the attacks and have since spoken out about what they believe to be government cover-ups of what really happened. The film has since been highly politicized and the men have gone on numerous interviews and TV shows to speak about their experiences.

Mainstream journalism balked at these claims of government lies and cover-ups. Alex Koppelman for The New Yorker investigated the hundreds of Hillary Clinton’s emails regarding Benghazi that were released, and concluded that “there is certainly no evidence of the darkest, most outlandish conspiracy theory about Benghazi: that the Administration left Americans to die because they were worried that responding to the incident with the force needed to beat back the assault would undermine President Obama’s counterterrorism record.” Here, Koppelman refers to yet another criticism of Obama: that his counterterrorism efforts are largely unsuccessful, as shown in shocking events such as the Boston Marathon bombing and Benghazi.

Works Cited

Frizell, Sam. “The True Story Behind the Benghazi Movie 13 Hours.” Jan 13, 2016, http://time.com/4178593/benghazi-movie-13-hours-accuracy-fact-check/.

Kirkpatrick, David D., “A Deadly Mix in Benghazi.” New York Times, Dec. 28, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/#/?chapt=0.

Koppelman, Alex. “What the Benghazi Emails Reveal about Benghazi.” The New Yorker. May 16, 2013, http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-the-benghazi-e-mails-reveal-about-washington.

“Report of the Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi.” U.S. House of Representatives. Select Committee on Benghazi. Dec 7, 2016, http://benghazi.house.gov/NewInfo.

Shane, Scott. “House Holds Hearing on Benghazi Attack.” New York Times. May 8, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/us/questions-and-answers-on-benghazi-and-the-fallout.html

Zeitchik, Steven. “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, from Michael Bay, revisits Benghazi.” LA Times. Jan 13, 2016,

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-benghazi-bay-20160113-story.html#