CIA Officers Recount Benghazi Attack At trial

Josh Gerstein at Politico offers a piece on the trial of Libyan militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala (seen in the above photo) for offenses during the 2012 terrorist attack on Americans at Benghazi.

Two battle-hardened CIA veterans grew emotional Tuesday as they recounted first-hand one of the most politically explosive events in recent U.S. history: the deadly 2012 attack on Americans at government facilities in Benghazi.

Testifying under unusual secrecy measures—including wearing what the judge described as "light disguise"—the CIA officers told a federal jury at the Washington trial of a Benghazi militia leader about how they flew in from Tripoli on the night of the assault on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi only to eventually find themselves caught up in an intense firefight at a CIA annex nearby.

While Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department computer technician Sean Smith appear to have died in the initial attack, the ensuing shelling of the CIA facility claimed the lives of CIA security contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods and left State Department Diplomatic Security Agent David Ubben gravely wounded.

Libyan militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala is facing a slew of criminal charges, including conspiracy to murder the four Americans and to destroy U.S. property. Khattala, snatched by U.S. forces from a seaside villa near Benghazi in 2014, listened impassively as the CIA veterans detailed their harrowing ordeal.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/10/cia-officers-testify-benghazi-attacks-243637?lo=ap_f1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2010.11.2017&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief