Sep 8, 2025 · 49 min · 13 segments
On the night of September 11, 2012, a deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. What followed this tragedy was a…
Leon NeyfakhHostHussein al-ShafiGuest
Paul RichterGuest
Lindsay HilsumGuest
Ethan ChorinGuest
The attack began when a group of armed assailants broke into a diplomatic compound operated by the State Department.
First they attacked it with RPG rifles, then
And again, his name is John Christopher Stevens, and he was born in Northern California in 1960.
On the night of the attack, he died of smoke inhalation after the assailants set fire to the villa where he was hiding from them.
Afterwards, it seemed like all anyone in the United States wanted to talk about was whose fault it was.
There's a lot of dispute when the administration knew how dangerous the situation was in Benghazi.
Who had let it happen? Who had failed to stop it once it started? Whose lack of vigilance had allowed the attackers to do as much damage as they did?
Should they have had more advanced warning? Should they have set more security?
A question that usually got skipped over, as if the answer were self-evident, was what Ambassador Stevens was doing in Benghazi to begin with.
All anyone seemed interested in was that the American mission in Libya had failed, not what the mission had actually been.
My name is Chris Stevens, and I'm excited to continue the great work we've started, building a solid partnership between the United States and Libya to help you, the Libyan people, achieve your goals.
For more than 40 years, Libya had been ruled by a violent and eccentric dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
We read that you are mad.
You know that those things have been printed.
He's been called the world's number one terrorist, a madman who exports terrorism around the world.
The attack began when a group of armed assailants broke into a diplomatic compound operated by the State Department.
First they attacked it with RPG rifles, then
And again, his name is John Christopher Stevens, and he was born in Northern California in 1960.
On the night of the attack, he died of smoke inhalation after the assailants set fire to the villa where he was hiding from them.
Afterwards, it seemed like all anyone in the United States wanted to talk about was whose fault it was.
There's a lot of dispute when the administration knew how dangerous the situation was in Benghazi.
Who had let it happen? Who had failed to stop it once it started? Whose lack of vigilance had allowed the attackers to do as much damage as they did?
Should they have had more advanced warning? Should they have set more security?
A question that usually got skipped over, as if the answer were self-evident, was what Ambassador Stevens was doing in Benghazi to begin with.
All anyone seemed interested in was that the American mission in Libya had failed, not what the mission had actually been.
My name is Chris Stevens, and I'm excited to continue the great work we've started, building a solid partnership between the United States and Libya to help you, the Libyan people, achieve your goals.
For more than 40 years, Libya had been ruled by a violent and eccentric dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
We read that you are mad.
You know that those things have been printed.
He's been called the world's number one terrorist, a madman who exports terrorism around the world.
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