Some troops did arrive in time to fight off attacks at the "annex." Obviously someone knew this wasn't a rowdy protest and sent a plane with troops and a Libyan security team to rescue and evacuate the entire staff of the consulate. It flew in from Tripoli and must have arrived in under three hours after the first assault on the main building.
US diplomats, Marine rescue team were also attacked at safe house, Libyans say Sept. 12, 2012'Six mortars' on path to villa
Of the eight American troops who had come from Tripoli, one was killed and two were wounded, Obeidi said. A Libyan deputy interior minister said a second American was also killed in the attack on the safe house. It was not clear if this was a diplomat or one of the consulate's original security detail.
"It began to rain down on us," Obeidi told Reuters, describing the moment the attack began -- just as the Libyan security force was starting up the 10 pickup trucks and sedans they had brought to ferry the Americans to the airport.
Libyan attacks said to be 2-part militant assault Sept. 13, 2012
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — The attack that killed four Americans in Libya, including the U.S. ambassador, was an organized two-part operation by heavily armed militants that included a precisely timed raid on a supposedly secret safe house just as Libyan and U.S. security forces were arriving to rescue evacuated consulate staff, a senior Libyan security official said on Thursday.
U.S. officials have said attackers broke into the main consulate building at around 10:15 p.m. and set the compound on fire.
After an hour, according to U.S. officials, U.S. and Libyan officials drove the attackers from the consulate.
The next attack came hours later. Around 30 American staffers along with Libyans had been evacuated to the safe house while a plane arrived from Tripoli with a joint U.S.-Libyan security group that was to fly them back to the capital, el-Sharef said.
El-Sharef said the original plan was for a separate Libyan security unit to escort the evacuees to the airport. Instead, the joint unit went from the airport to the safe house, possibly because they were under the impression they were dealing with a hostage situation, he said. The militant attack coincided with the joint team's arrival at the safe house, he said.
Remember that the flow of information was bound to be somewhat confused and chaotic (combat situation) — yes, Col. Hunt describes well the upward passing of information to many people, ...
Actually Col. Hunt explained that everyone up the chain would have necessarily been notified immediately and they would have had the same access as DAS Lamb. ie. they could have listened in on the phone conversations w/personnel on the ground and watched the live security video on their laptops. There is no doubt that that would be available to the Pres., VP, Sec. State, Pentagon brass, CIA chiefs and many others. They could also have spoken with personnel on the ground just as DAS Lamb did.
Now, I’m not saying all the Libyan security guards did their job, but I think it is unfair to damn them all. IMO.
I agree. I don't know who is condemning them but in this post I said that none of them should have survived given the odds they faced. Something about that carries suspicions of its own.
You know... If there were only 3 Libyan guards at the compound at the time of the initial attack, as related by DAS Lamb, we know one was wounded and out of the fight immediately, and one escaped and went for help. That only leaves one unaccounted for, and I suppose he might have either been killed, fled, was a rat and hooked up with the attackers, or was with the Americans who went to the safe house. (And possibly ratted them out there?)
I wonder how large the first “wave” of Libyans who arrived with the guard who went for help, was. Maybe it was large enough to give a pretty decent account of itself. I also keep wondering if there were other “forces” at the compound that we are not being told about: CIA, private contractors, etc.
More shortly (lots to type, and I’m not a fast typist.) :-)
10pm: Attackers open fire at the consulate, which has a main building and a smaller annex.
10.15pm: The assailants gain entry to the complex and the main building is engulfed in flames.
Many of those trapped inside escape but Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith and a regional security guard remain.
The security guard manages to escape and returns shortly afterwards with others to try to rescue Mr Stevens and Mr Smith.
They find Mr Smith dead and pulled him from the building, but no sign of Mr Stevens. They are driven from the building by thick black smoke, fire and gunfire.
10.45pm: Security staff try to retake the main building but come under heavy fire and retreat.
11.20pm: A second attempt to retake the main building is successful. Fighting moves to the annex.
Midnight: Fighting at the annex - reported to last about two hours - results in the deaths of two more Americans, later named by US authorities as former Navy Seals whose job was to protect the other staff. At some point, here, a joint US - Libyan team of 8 U.S. marines (?) (Were they at the EMBASSY in Tripoli?) flown in, and an undetermined number of Libyan militia-men, arrives at a safe house (referred to as a farm at a remote location by one of the Libyan officials) where the bulk of the staff has taken refuge. (Location of the safe house is undetermined, as is how the staff got there, if it is at some distance from the Consulate.)
SOMEBODY sent the American troops - the question is who? My guess is that this actually was the intended / ordered response, the problem being that the true magnitude / nature of the attack was not fully understood until too late. The rescue team comes under heavy attack at the safe house; two more Americans(?) are killed.
1.15am: Amb. Stevens arrives at a nearby hospital - it is not known who took him. A doctor there has told the BBC that he spent an hour trying to revive him, but that Mr Stevens died from smoke inhalation.
2.30am: Security forces regain control of the annex.
?? am: More Libyan security forces arrive at the safe house, eventually the attackers are driven off, and the Americans are evacuated to the airport, around dawn.
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My understanding is that the annex is at the Consulate and the safe house at a remote location. Perhaps this is not correct?
You pointed out:
Actually Col. Hunt explained that everyone up the chain would have necessarily been notified immediately and they would have had the same access as DAS Lamb. ie. they could have listened in on the phone conversations w/personnel on the ground and watched the live security video on their laptops. There is no doubt that that would be available to the Pres., VP, Sec. State, Pentagon brass, CIA chiefs and many others. They could also have spoken with personnel on the ground just as DAS Lamb did.
Sure, I understood that, but I'm thinking that other information and communications beside the live feed and phone line(s?) from / to the Consulate would have been flowing up the chain, down (hopefully), and likely "sideways" as well. Under the circumstances much of the information might have been confused and or confusing. Even some of the information from the Libyans, afterward, was contradictory. The phrase "the fog of battle", applies, not to mention the possibility of false intel being injected even as the battle raged, or afterward.
Incidentally, in that one link of yours ( http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/12/13833848-us-diplomats-marine-rescue-team-were-also-attacked-at-safe-house-libyans-say?lite ) I found this:
Speaking of the rescue mission, he (Libyan Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif) said: "A team of commandos arrived by air and went to a farm which we thought was a secret location. Once they got there, they came under heavy fire from heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, which resulted in the death of two others."
They went to a FARM? Maybe that's just a mis-translation, but if not, was there heavy fighting at both the annex and at a safe house located at the farm mentioned, which surely sounds like it was not inside the Consulate grounds, or even nearby.
The farm was supposed to be a secret location: That may go right along with "The Taliban is inside the house". I suppose the escaped staff could have been tracked to the safe house, though.