to begin: last night i saw the movie "13 hours". it was good despite the fact that there were no major actors in it. the tension began almost immediately and kept you on the edge of your seat till the end.

it says at the beginning it's based on a true story. if that's the case, anyone who sees it should be soiling their trousers. aside: when i got home i started googling the hell out of it, and in my opinion, it is indeed a very accurate portrayal of the events in benghazi that resulted in the deaths of the american ambassador, chris stephens, an embassy staffer, and two contract security men.

both the book and the movie were helped by the remaining contract security guys who were there and experienced the debacle live. they are on the record saying that they were ordered to stand down when they wanted to rescue the people in the embassy. the CIA denies their statement and maintains that they were never given such an order.

what gives the contractors credibility is, not only are they on the record, but they use their real names. the CIA, by contrast, refuses to reveal the station cheif's name who was also there when the event occurred. in the movie he is referred to as "bob", and the CIA continues to use only that name in reference to him. another point of credibility is the fact that about a dozen CIA operatives resigned directly after the event. why?

so, i have to believe the contract guys. they have nothing to gain by lying and a lot to lose (their lives,   for instance) by revealing their true identities. what is so frightening about this, well, two things, is first, the u.s. government lied to the american people about what really happened, and second, it becomes very clear when watching the movie that nobody is steering the boat. none of the u.s. officials knew what the hell they were doing, the ambassador, chris stephens, being near the top of the moron heap, but even higher is the CIA station chief who definitely should have known better. and even higher than him is the pentagon, the various CENTCOM guys, who let american personel be killed because saving them would have exposed both the lies and the incompetence.

a lot more to say about this and why you should care, but right now i've got to eat.