13 Hours in Benghazi & C.S. Lewis

[Valin]

Providence Journal:

Mark Tooley

January 15, 2016

 

C.S. Lewis wrote that a virtuous patriotism becomes “militant only to protect what it loves.” This theme animates 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the story of heavily outnumbered CIA security contractors who in 2012 defended the USA facilities in Libya under attack by Islamist militants. Two of them were killed, along with the USA ambassador and one foreign service officer.

 

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The contractors perform courageously without respite against overwhelming numbers in fealty to their professional obligation, their mission, their patriotism, their esteem for colleagues and, in contact by Skype and phone with wives and children, to their families whose nation they defend. They illustrate Lewis’s classic “four loves” for family, friends, spouse and, although more indirectly portrayed, for God. One defender tells another he oddly doesn’t scare in combat because he assumes divine protection.

 

In dark contrast, the militia who assail the compound are nothing less than demonic and fueled by a perverted belief in deity that commands them to murder innocents and strangle their own country’s already receding opportunity for a just and lasting order. The ambassador they murder is a highminded humanitarian admirably if naively striving to bring democracy to Libya.

 

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Yet the courage and devotion of the Benghazi defenders, as dramatized in 13 Hours, redeems the national humiliation. As C.S. Lewis also wrote: “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”

 

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Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends

[Draggingtree]

“13 Hours” – The Film. The Honor. The Disgrace.

Brian Watt January 16, 2016 41 COMMENTS

I have just seen the film 13 Hours, directed by Michael Bay. I’m still reading the book and I’m about halfway through it. The film in a word is outstanding and should be seen by everyone. Watching Americans being attacked at our consulate and CIA outpost in Benghazi and killed while jets sat idle in Italy and Croatia while repeated calls for help were ignored at the highest levels is of course an indictment of our gutless wonder of a president.

https://ricochet.com/13-hours-the-film-the-honor-the-disgrace/

[Draggingtree]

[Draggingtree]

Benghazi Movie Premiere Was a Memorable and Moving Event

Posted

 

January 15, 2016

by Bethany Stotts & filed under Accuracy in Media Articles, On Home Page.

From Accuracy in Media:

 

This week I had the great honor and opportunity to attend the world premiere screening of the new Michael Bay movie, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.” It is the true story of a group of men—heroes—who risked their lives to attempt to save Ambassador Chris Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and their colleagues at the Special Mission Compound, and then continued fighting al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists, saving the lives of dozens of people working at the nearby CIA Annex. Among the questions surrounding the film is whether it is meant to be political in any way, and if it is, in fact, political.

http://www.aim.org/benghazi/benghazi-movie-premiere-was-a-memorable-and-moving-event/