Gregory Hicks: Benghazi and the Smearing of Chris Stevens
Shifting blame to our dead ambassador is wrong on the facts. I know—I was there.
Jan. 22, 2014 7:18 p.m. ET
Last week the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence issued its report on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks
in Benghazi, Libya. The report concluded that the attack, which resulted
in the murder of four Americans, was "preventable." Some have been
suggesting that the blame for this tragedy lies at least partly with
Ambassador
Chris Stevens,
who was killed in the attack. This is untrue: The blame lies
entirely with Washington.
The report
states that retired Gen.
Carter Ham,
then-commander of the U.S. Africa Command (Africom) headquartered
in Stuttgart, Germany, twice offered to "sustain" the special forces
security team in Tripoli and that Chris twice "declined." Since Chris
cannot speak, I want to explain the reasons and timing for his responses
to Gen. Ham. As the deputy chief of mission, I was kept informed by
Chris or was present throughout the process.
On
Aug. 1, 2012, the day after I arrived in Tripoli, Chris invited me to a
video conference with Africom to discuss changing the mission of the
U.S. Special Forces from protecting the U.S. Embassy and its personnel
to training Libyan forces. This change in mission would result in the
transfer of authority over the unit in Tripoli from Chris to Gen. Ham.
In other words, the special forces would report to the Defense
Department, not State.
Chris wanted the
decision postponed but could not say so directly. Chris had requested
on July 9 by cable that Washington provide a minimum of 13 American
security professionals for Libya over and above the diplomatic security
complement of eight assigned to Tripoli and Benghazi. On July 11, the
Defense Department, apparently in response to Chris's request, offered
to extend the special forces mission to protect the U.S. Embassy.
However,
on July 13, State Department Undersecretary
Patrick Kennedy
refused the Defense Department offer and thus Chris's July 9
request. His rationale was that Libyan guards would be hired to take
over this responsibility. Because of Mr. Kennedy's refusal, Chris had to
use diplomatic language at the video conference, such as expressing
"reservations" about the transfer of authority.
Chris's concern was significant.
Transferring authority would immediately strip the special forces team
of its diplomatic immunity. Moreover, the U.S. had no status of forces
agreement with Libya. He explained to Rear Adm.
Charles J. Leidig
that if a member of the special forces team used weapons to
protect U.S. facilities, personnel or themselves, he would be subject to
Libyan law. The law would be administered by judges appointed to the
bench by Moammar Gadhafi or, worse, tribal judges.
Chris
described an incident in Pakistan in 2011 when an American security
contractor killed Pakistani citizens in self-defense, precipitating a
crisis in U.S.-Pakistani relations. He also pointed out that four
International Criminal Court staff, who had traveled to Libya in June
2012 to interview Gadhafi's oldest son,
Saif al-Islam al-Qadhafi,
were illegally detained by tribal authorities under suspicion of
spying. This was another risk U.S. military personnel might face.
During
that video conference, Chris stressed that the only way to mitigate the
risk was to ensure that U.S. military personnel serving in Libya would
have diplomatic immunity, which should be done prior to any change of
authority.
Chris understood the
importance of the special forces team to the security of our embassy
personnel. He believed that by explaining his concerns, the Defense
Department would postpone the decision so he could have time to work
with the Libyan government and get diplomatic immunity for the special
forces.
According to the National
Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Department needed Chris's
concurrence to change the special forces mission. But soon after the
Aug. 1 meeting, and as a complete surprise to us at the embassy, Defense
Secretary
Leon Panetta
signed the order without Chris's concurrence.
The
SenateIntelligence Committee's report accurately notes that on Aug. 6,
after the transfer of authority, two special forces team members in a
diplomatic vehicle were forced off the road in Tripoli and attacked.
Only because of their courage, skills and training did they escape
unharmed. But the incident highlighted the risks associated with having
military personnel in Libya unprotected by diplomatic immunity or a
status of forces agreement. As a result of this incident, Chris was
forced to agree with Gen. Ham's withdrawal of most of the special forces
team from Tripoli until the Libyan government formally approved their
new training mission and granted them diplomatic immunity.
Because
Mr. Kennedy had refused to extend the special forces security mission,
State Department protocol required Chris to decline Gen. Ham's two
offers to do so, which were made after Aug. 6. I have found the
reporting of these so-called offers strange, since my recollection of
events is that after the Aug. 6 incident, Gen. Ham wanted to withdraw
the entire special forces team from Tripoli until they had Libyan
government approval of their new mission and the diplomatic immunity
necessary to perform their mission safely. However, Chris convinced Gen.
Ham to leave six members of the team in Tripoli.
When
I arrived in Tripoli on July 31, we had over 30 security personnel,
from the State Department and the U.S. military, assigned to protect the
diplomatic mission to Libya. All were under the ambassador's authority.
On Sept. 11, we had only nine diplomatic security agents under Chris's
authority to protect our diplomatic personnel in Tripoli and Benghazi.
I
was interviewed by the Select Committee and its staff, who were
professional and thorough. I explained this sequence of events. For some
reason, my explanation did not make it into the Senate report.
To
sum up: Chris Stevens was not responsible for the reduction in security
personnel. His requests for additional security were denied or ignored.
Officials at the State and Defense Departments in Washington made the
decisions that resulted in reduced security. Sen.
Lindsey Graham
stated on the Senate floor last week that Chris "was in Benghazi
because that is where he was supposed to be doing what America wanted
him to do: Try to hold Libya together." He added, "Quit blaming the dead
guy."
Mr. Hicks
served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli from July 31 to Dec. 7, 2012.
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