September 13, 2025
Remembering the other 9/11: Honoring the heroes of Benghazi
By Don Brown
As Americans, our national memory will always be etched with September 11. Each year, we pause to reflect on the horror of the attacks in 2001, to honor the lives lost at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and aboard Flight 93, and to recommit ourselves to vigilance in the face of terrorism. But as we mark those events, we must also remember another 9/11: the attack on our diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012.
On that night, Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other brave Americans — Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, and Tyrone Woods — were killed in a brazen assault by heavily armed terrorists. Their names should be spoken aloud, their sacrifice remembered, and their story told. They were patriots serving their nation in one of the world’s most dangerous corners, and they gave their lives in the line of duty.
The tragedy of Benghazi is not just that Americans were killed. It is that their deaths were preventable. We had military assets stationed within striking distance. The Aviano Air Base in Italy, across the Mediterranean, placed U.S. forces within range to mount a rapid response. Reports have long suggested that the commander of AFRICOM requested authority to act, but that request was denied. In the hours when American lives hung in the balance, help never came.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/09/remembering_the_other_9_11_honoring_the_heroes_of_benghazi.html
