"Pentagon: Special Forces Would Not Have Saved Lives in Benghazi"

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Pentagon: Special Forces Would Not Have Saved Lives in Benghazi

By Dustin Walker at Real Clear Defense

http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2013/05/08/pentagon_special_forces_would_not_have_saved_lives_in_benghazi_106587.html

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The Pentagon is pushing back on claims that a Special Operations unit could have saved lives if sent to Benghazi during the attack there last fall.

Once the assault on the U.S. compound began sometime after 9:40 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2012, American Embassy officials in Tripoli began organizing a response effort to protect personnel. A four-member "quick reaction force," along with two members of a Department of Defense special mission unit, left for Benghazi at about 12:30 a.m., according to a Pentagon spokesman. (They arrived roughly one hour later.)

But it was another team, this one composed of four Army Green Berets, that has become the focus of controversy in recent days. This team was not made up of security personnel, but was in Tripoli on a training mission. The Green Berets had been assisting with evacuation efforts in Tripoli on the night of the attacks, helping move personnel to a secure annex in case there were attacks in the Libyan capital.

On Wednesday, Gregory Hicks, then the deputy chief of mission in Libya, testified before the House Oversight Committee that he requested that the four Green Berets fly to Benghazi to provide further protection for U.S. personnel there.



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