Christopher Stevens

Yeah.

Chris Stevens, the movie... 13 Hours.

I think it's 13 Hours.

I don't know how many times I've seen it.

On 11 September 2002, the Pentagon was rededicated after repairs were completed exactly one year after the attack on that building.

And on the 11th of September, 2012, a heavily armed military force killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, at the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

We did not respond at all during the over 12-hour ordeal, although military forces were available.

Then the lies and cover-up began.

Again, if you're listening to this on the day it dropped, September 11th, a different set of Americans murdered.

Do you even know their names? Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, Glenn Doherty.

You may not know their names.

You may remember Chris Stevens, but you do know Benghazi.

There was an organized terrorist attack on a U.S. compound.

And what happened after? the administration spent days blaming a YouTube video.

Another former SEAL, Tyrone Roanwoods.

contractor kind of man who runs towards the mortar killed in the annex sean smith state department information officer video game enthusiast father husband died with a guy named ambassador jay christopher stevens a career diplomat spoke the language believed you show up died in the compound fire and the smoke uh unspeakable things happened to him that night uh yeah yeah you don't want that they did the kind of things to him only a fraternity would do while hazing somebody

very very

close to yeah pretty much they asked for more security before that night washington's answer was a bunch of paperwork

Well, he's not with us anymore, is he? Exactly.

It's not the craziest thing to say.

Rest in peace, Charlie Daniels and Christopher Stevens and everyone else.

Earlier, we were talking about state fairs, and the Texas State Fair is going to open up in two weeks, and some up north are already open now because it's going to get colder there sooner.

While the American people were bowed in solemn memory of 9-11, radical Islamic terrorists launched a coordinated heavy weapons assault on our diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi.

On that day, four brave Americans, Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and two hero Navy SEALs, Tyrone Woods and Glenn Daugherty, they were left under fire for over 13 hours.

And what was the response from the highest corridors of power in Washington? Where was President Barack Hussein Obama while our men were fighting for their lives on a roof? Well, he retired to his quarters early because he had a campaign fundraiser scheduled in Las Vegas the next day.

while Tyrone Woods and Glenn Daugherty were painting the night sky with laser designators, firing down to the last bullet to protect their brothers, the commander-in-chief, well, I'll diplomatically say he was absent.

Islamic militants stormed the embassy over two days, killing four Americans.

One of the victims was John Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

Stevens graduated from Piedmont High School and then UC Berkeley.

The Obama administration and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced heavy criticism for the deaths.

In 2008, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama put aside politics as they visited Ground Zero together on the anniversary of 9/11 to honor its victims.

In 2012, a mob armed with guns and grenades launched a night-long attack on a US diplomatic outpost in a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, killing US Ambassadors Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

And in 2023, over four thousand people died and thousands more were missing after heavy rain from Mediterranean Storm Daniel caused two dams to collapse, flooding, flooding the city of Derna, Libya.

And that does it for today's reading of the Cedar Rapids Gazette for Friday, September 11th, 2026.