I have a question. This attack was on the embassy. Several reasons have been put forth as to why, BUT, the terrorists were firing on the annex with a gun that C Herradge said had a plate that has to be set in the daylight in order to use the gun.
That means they prepared to fire on the annex at least during daylight hours before the attack on the embassy. How does that square up?
Also, how did all those people get to the annex and what finally made the attack on the annex to stop?
“a gun that C Herradge said had a plate that has to be set in the daylight in order to use the gun.”
IRRC, our folks were under mortar fire. Mortars have a base plate with a socket, the “tube” (mortar barrel) has a ball on the end which fits in this socket.
Mortar crews can set up & fire at night. It helps if their aiming stakes are set in daylight, but it is not essential. In the case of Benghazi, the aiming stakes could have been specific points in the neighborhood with a flashlight, oil lamp or glow stick attached which were visible from the mortar.
Night firing is no problem, if you have a forward observer calling in adjustments to the strike of the rounds, a Fire Direction guy to set up & read the “whiz wheel” (manual circular calculator) and a light to read the sight on the tube.
ESPECIALLY if you have nothing bigger that rifle fire coming back at you! Set the mortar up in a pit or a walled courtyard and you just keep dropping rounds down the tube, walking them onto the target.
AlQaeda wanted to take the ambassador alive and he was going to be released by the skilled negotiations of “one who makes the sea levels fall” just prior to the election. The plan failed when the ambassador locked himself in the safe room.