New Benghazi Movie Reignites ‘Stand-Down’ Order Debate

By Rachel Bade. The creators of a new Hollywood blockbuster about the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack are renewing the politically explosive allegation that commandos called to defend the U.S. compound were told to “stand down” — a claim Democrats say has no basis in fact.

With Michael Bay’s “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” set to premiere Thursday, the five surviving members of the six-man Benghazi security team have blitzed the airwaves to promote the film and renew their assertion that a top CIA officer delayed them from immediately answering State Department distress calls. Three even testified to the same before the House Select Committee on Benghazi last spring, several sources have confirmed to POLITICO.

“There is no sensationalism in that: We were told to ‘stand down,’” said former Special Forces Officer Kris Paronto, one of the CIA contractors who fought that night, in an interview with Politico. “Those words were used verbatim — 100 percent. … If the truth of it affects someone’s political career? Well, I’m sorry. It happens.”

Top Democrats on the Benghazi panel, however, said that’s more movie fantasy than reality. (Read more from “New Benghazi Movie Reignites ‘Stand-Down’ Order Debate” HERE)

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’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’: Film Review

By Hollywood Reporter. Michael Bay’s latest action extravaganza portrays the deadly 2012 attack on an American diplomatic compound in Libya.

The vast and underserved heartland audience that made such a smash out of American Sniper a year ago finally has some fresh red meat to call its own in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Michael Bay’s latest in-between-Transformers picture actually features just as much action as his giant toy extravaganzas, being an account of the waves of intense firefights that occurred at the American compound in Libya’s second city on Sept. 11-12, 2012. The big selling point of Mitchell Zuckoff’s book about the incident, which cost the life of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others, was its revelation of the hitherto unknown role special ops played in holding marauding local radicals at bay until all American personnel could be evacuated.

But while this adaptation superficially goes out of its way to avoid being overtly political, its patriotic tenor is as unmistakable as its sentimentality. Even if an unmentioned Hillary Clinton has nothing specific to worry about in regard to the film’s content, its mere existence will stir up fresh talk about her behavior regarding the incident, and there’s no doubt that Donald Trump fans will eat this up more enthusiastically than anyone. (Read more from “’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’: Film Review” HERE)

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