Benghazi: Episode 3 - Barefoot

Summary

Fiasco – Benghazi: Episode 3 — "Barefoot"

Host: Leon Neyfakh
Release Date: September 15, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, Leon Neyfakh immerses listeners in the harrowing, minute-by-minute events of September 11, 2012—the night of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, lost their lives. Through firsthand accounts from survivors, colleagues, and Libyan contacts, the episode reconstructs the chaos, confusion, and courage that defined the night, while setting the stage for the political firestorm that followed. The narrative moves beyond politics and into the relentless uncertainty on the ground, highlighting the personal toll and tactical dilemmas faced by diplomats, security agents, and local allies.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Prelude: Rising Tensions in the Region (03:50 – 10:18)

• Background events: The episode opens by connecting the dots between the broader turmoil of the Arab Spring, the recent Libyan revolution, and global outrage sparked by the crudely made anti-Islamic "Innocence of Muslims" YouTube video.
• Spread of unrest: Egyptian protests over the video prompt security concerns at American diplomatic sites, but Libya initially appears calm until nightfall.

Notable Quote

"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."
— U.S. Embassy Cairo statement (07:22)

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2. Ambassador Stevens Returns to Benghazi (15:38 – 19:28)

• Stevens’ mission: Baker Habib describes Chris Stevens’ attachment to Benghazi, comparing it to coming home, and the purpose of his visit—to reinforce America’s cultural and political ties and inaugurate the American Corner study center.
• Security context: DS agent Scott Wickland outlines the compound’s vulnerabilities and daily routines, setting the scene for the impending attack.

Notable Quote

"He considered Benghazi as home."
— Baker Habib on Chris Stevens (16:16)

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3. The Attack Begins: Chaos and Isolation (19:28 – 26:28)

• Initial breach: Around 9:30pm, Wickland hears chanting, followed by the compound’s rapid assault. State Department staff scramble to secure Stevens and IT specialist Sean Smith in a safe room.
• Communication breakdown: Attackers breach the building; outside support is unavailable. Wickland silently signals for help, fearing for his team.
• Personal fear: Wickland contemplates last-ditch defense as attackers approach the safe room.

Notable Moments & Quotes

• "If they blow the locks, I'm going to start shooting. And when I die, I want you to pick up my rifle and keep on fighting."
  — Scott Wickland (25:22)
• "I was scared, wondering if the other guys, OK, were they killed, were they captured? You know, I had no idea."
  — Scott Wickland (24:52)

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4. Fire, Smoke, and Desperate Escapes (26:28 – 39:09)

• The firetrap: Attackers set the villa ablaze with diesel fuel. Wickland moves Stevens and Smith to the bathroom, trying to survive the toxic smoke as the building fills with flames.
• Harrowing attempts: Wickland repeatedly risks his life, crawling and calling out, desperately trying to lead Stevens and Smith to safety, ultimately forced to retreat to a rooftop without shoes.

Notable Quotes

"By the time we reached the corner...the smoke was super thick. I mean, that's how quickly it filled up."
— Scott Wickland (33:37)

"Like, my plan was that I was going to jump off the roof without shoes, and I was going to run to the edge of Benghazi. I was going to steal a car and drive it to Egypt. And that was my real plan."
— Scott Wickland (40:14)

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5. Frantic Rescue Attempts and Evacuation (43:03 – 46:43)

• DS agents regroup: Wickland is finally contacted by teammate Dave Ubben. DS agents, joined by CIA contractors from the nearby 'Annex', launch a rescue attempt, finding Sean Smith dead and forced to evacuate under renewed threat.
• Missing Ambassador: Stevens is unaccounted for, sparking fears of kidnapping.

Notable Quote

"When I see them, it's like, oh, my gosh, I might survive."
— Scott Wickland (43:59)

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6. Fragmented Communications and the Libyan Response (47:00 – 55:03)

• Failed outside support: U.S. military tells State Department leadership there are no available assets for a rescue, leaving only intra-Libya options.
• Locals at the scene: Vast crowds, a mix of looters, bystanders, and possible rescuers, swarm the compound. Cell phone footage captures confusion and rumors about what happened to Stevens.
• Confirmation of Stevens’ death: Through a convoluted network of calls and intermediaries, Habib’s contact confirms Stevens’ identity at the hospital, and his death.

Notable Quotes

"We were very, very focused on asking the kinds of questions that would reveal whether we were talking to a friend or an enemy."
— State Department official (53:48)

"So he called me back and told me that I'm next to him. Yes, it's Chris Stevens—100%."
— Baker Habib (55:10)

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7. Second Wave: The Attack on the CIA Annex (56:11 – 58:58)

• Americans brace for more: Survivors at the CIA annex prepare, anticipating another attack. Reinforcements arrive from Tripoli.
• Mortar attack: As dawn breaks, mortars rain down, killing CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, wounding others.
• Final evacuation: The Americans—with four bodies—evacuate Benghazi with the help of Libyan allies.

Notable Quote

"But then, you know, was I expecting mortars? No, I was not expecting mortars, and I definitely wasn't expecting the accuracy of the mortars."
— Scott Wickland (57:21)

• "We loaded up on the plane, and there were four coffins. Everybody’s looking at these coffins and at these people and silently trying to figure out what just happened."
  — Scott Wickland (60:59)

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8. The Aftermath and Sense of Loss (59:14 – 61:26)

• Personal loss: Baker Habib says goodbye to Stevens at the airport, promising to seek justice.
• Evacuation: The rest of the Americans, grieving and exhausted, board planes out of Benghazi.

Notable Quotes

"He was there in the city he loved to support, to back up, and to open their gate to United States. So I spoke to him. I told him, Chris, whatever it takes, I will do my best to bring those criminals to justice." — Baker Habib (59:19)

"If we leave, then we've lost. They win. That was the purpose of the attack, was to chase us out of the country. So my view was that we needed to take some time, regroup, rebuild, and then continue our job." — Greg Hicks (60:18)

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Memorable Moments and Character Insights

• Human cost: The episode goes far beyond policy discussion, providing intimate glimpses into real-time terror, the bonds among diplomats and agents, and the loyalty and courage of Libyan allies.
• Scott Wickland’s ordeal: His barefoot escape through fire and gunfire, repeatedly risking his life for his colleagues, crystallizes the theme of resilience in impossible circumstances.
• Ambiguity and confusion: The chaotic nature of the attack, presence of looters and bystanders, and unreliable communication with authorities underscore how unclear the situation was, both for survivors and for those watching from afar.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:50 — Arab Spring & "Innocence of Muslims" video triggers regional unrest
• 15:38 — Stevens arrives in Benghazi; introduction of key players
• 19:28 — Attack begins; Wickland's and DS agents' initial actions
• 23:50 — Breach of Villa C; safe room standoff
• 26:35 — Attackers set fire to the compound
• 33:37 — Crawling for survival through fire and smoke
• 40:14 — Wickland’s desperate escape to rooftop
• 43:03 — Wickland reunites with DS agents; CIA contractors arrive
• 45:12 — Evacuation to CIA annex, Stevens missing
• 47:00 — AFRICOM announces no outside help available
• 53:48 — Identification of Stevens at hospital
• 56:11 — CIA annex prepares for attack; mortars kill Doherty and Woods
• 60:18 — Hicks reflects on withdrawal as a defeat
• 60:59 — Evacuation; reflection on losses

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Episode Tone & Style

• Immersive and urgent: The storytelling is vivid and immediate, using first-person narration and interviews to bring listeners into the scene.
• Reflective and respectful: Neyfakh maintains a somber, respectful tone throughout, drawing out the humanity of each speaker, while offering critical context about the attack’s complexity.
• Balanced: The episode refrains from political grandstanding, focusing instead on the lived realities and practical dilemmas of those on the ground.

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Closing Thoughts

“Barefoot” is a deeply human episode that strips away the rhetoric and anchors the Benghazi story in the chaos, fear, and heroism of a single night. Through detail-rich narrative and raw testimony, it conveys the tragedy’s immediacy—while foreshadowing the storm of controversy that would follow. The suffering, resilience, and split-second decisions are captured in the voices of those who survived and those who mourned, offering a powerful counterpoint to the politicized aftermath.

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Next Episode: The political fallout as the Benghazi attack becomes a lightning rod in American culture and governance.

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For further reading and transcripts, follow the episode’s show notes.

Transcript

[Narrator]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Leon Neyfak]

Pushkin Hey Leon here. Before we get to this episode, I want to let you know that you can binge the entire season of Fiasco Beng right now ad free by becoming a Pushkin plus subscriber. Sign up for Pushkin plus on the Fiasco Apple Podcast show page or visit Pushkin FM plus now onto the show. Please note this episode contains descriptions of violence some listeners may find disturbing previously on Fiasco.

[Narrator]

The Arab Spring had arrived in Libya.

[Baker Habib]

They were saying, wake up, wake up Benghazi.

[Leon Neyfak]

This is the day you are waiting for. It's not usual to send in a.

[Scott Wickland]

Diplomat and basically say make your way. I was very worried about its security.

[Leon Neyfak]

Six months after the uprising, Libya is flooded with weapons and faces a potential power vacuum. The country is now at risk of being taken over by extremists. You Americans need to watch out because.

[Scott Wickland]

The people who you're dealing with are not your friends.

[Baker Habib]

Man plus X equals Islamic terrorist. Islamic terrorist minus X equals man.

[Scott Wickland]

But what is X?

[Leon Neyfak]

You need to you're listening to a scene from a low budget movie called Innocence of Muslims. It's not even really a movie. Technically it's a 14 minute trailer for a movie that was never released. The trailer was posted on YouTube in July of 2012.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Muhammad is Allah messenger and the Quran is our Constitution.

[Leon Neyfak]

The Innocence of Muslims video is a crude piece of anti Islamic propaganda. In it, the Islamic prophet Muhammad is played by a boyish white actor and he's depicted as a charlatan, a womanizer and a bloodthirsty tyrant.

[Scott Wickland]

He kills men, captures women and children, and what's more, he does this all in the name of God.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

What God is.

[Leon Neyfak]

The video was produced in California by an Egyptian American man named Nakula Baseli Nakula. He said he made the film in protest of violence perpetrated around the world by Islamic extremists. It was an amateurish production. Nakula used his own house as a soundstage. He hired the actors through backstage.com and told them they were shooting an epic called Desert Warriors. According to the script he gave them, the film wasn't about Mohammed at all, but just some guy named George. It was only in post production that the name Muhammad was dubbed in.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Raise him as one of your slaves if you must. What shall I call him? His name is Mohammed, the father unknown.

[Leon Neyfak]

Nakula had his 21 year old son post the video online and for A while it went virtually unseen. Then, about two months later, in September of 2012, a new version of the video appeared on YouTube, this time translated into Arabic. Clips from the video aired on Egyptian television with heated commentary from a pundit who called it unspeakable and asked, how long will I be called a terrorist for growing my beard? The video exploded in Egypt. Political leaders and preachers publicly denounced it and popular Facebook groups called for protests. As tensions continued to rise, the American Embassy in Cairo decided to address the video. Around noon on September 11th, they released a written statement saying, quote, the Embassy.

[Baker Habib]

Of the United States and Cairo condemns.

[Leon Neyfak]

The continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. The statement did little to quell the outrage in Cairo. Within a matter of hours, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the American Embassy. Developing story out of Cairo, Egypt.

[Scott Wickland]

I understand that protesters are outside the US Embassy there.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

There are about a thousand of them.

[Leon Neyfak]

And protesters have, from what we understand, stormed the walls of the embassy and pulled down US Flags. Some of the protesters scaled the walls, tearing down an American flag and setting it on fire.

[Scott Wickland]

Egyptian riot police are on the scene.

[Leon Neyfak]

And they are trying to protect the walls. They are protesting A video they say.

[Baker Habib]

Defames the Prophet Muhammad.

[Leon Neyfak]

The Cairo protest was only the latest flare up in a long running conflict over the depiction of Mohammed. Muslim protestors directed more violent anger today against newspapers in Denmark and other European countries that have printed cartoons of Muhammad. In most Islamic practices, it's considered blasphemous to create any visual representation of Muhammad. Over the years, some self described secularists have made a point of violating that rule in the name of free speech.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Cartoons portraying the prophet Mohammed as violent womanizing first published in Denmark and since in 17 other countries.

[Leon Neyfak]

One of the most dramatic examples occurred back in 2006 after a Danish newspaper published several cartoons of Mohammed and protests broke out across the Arab world.

[Scott Wickland]

There were Muslim protests in at least a dozen countries today.

[Leon Neyfak]

Now in Cairo in 2012, it looked like the same thing again, with Egyptians rising up against a deliberate provocation that had originated in the West. And it was happening on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, when American embassies across the region were on high alert.

[Narrator]

Anyway, the embassy was closed for business that day as a security measure and we were working from our compound for the most part.

[Leon Neyfak]

This is Gregory Hicks in 2012. He was the deputy chief of the American mission in Libya. Chris Stevens is number two at the embassy in Tripoli. On September 11, Chris Hicks had been left in charge while Stevens took a short trip to Benghazi.

[Narrator]

And I remember texting Chris in Benghazi and asking him, are you watching what's going on in Cairo?

[Leon Neyfak]

Stevens told Hicks he had been unaware of the protests for all the tensions erupting in Egypt over the Innocence of Muslims video. Libya was quiet.

[Narrator]

And then when the sun went down, we were kind of relieved, you know, wiping the sweat off our brows that we had not been targeted in Tripoli and they had not been targeted in Benghazi.

[Leon Neyfak]

It seemed like the day had passed without incident. Hicks was relieved.

[Narrator]

I had basically said, okay, we're good, we're through the day. 911 is going to be over. And the only thing that happened was in Cairo. And so I went to watch a television program. And about 9:45 or thereabouts, John Martinick, the RSO, ran up to my room. He's yelling, greg, Greg, the consulate's under attack.

[Leon Neyfak]

Hicks checked his phone and saw missed calls from both Ambassador Stevens and a number he didn't recognize. He tried to call back, but no one picked up. Then Hicks got through to Stevens by dialing the unknown number and he said.

[Narrator]

Greg, we're under attack. I think I said, okay. And before I could say anything else, he cut the line.

[Leon Neyfak]

I'm Leon Nayfak from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Benghazi.

[Baker Habib]

I could hear these shots, I can hear the grenades.

[Scott Wickland]

I turned to the Ambassador and said, I'm gonna start shooting and when I die, I want you to pick up my rifle and keep on fighting.

[Narrator]

He's taken to a hospital and the government won't tell us where he is.

[Baker Habib]

We already got the body. We got the remains.

[Scott Wickland]

I thought I was alone. I thought everybody else was dead.

[Leon Neyfak]

Episode 3 Barefoot the attack in Benghazi we'll be right back.

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[Baker Habib]

Chris arrived to Benghazi airport Monday morning. Monday, this is the day was September 10th. So I was there at the airport. Welcome in.

[Leon Neyfak]

This is Baker Habib. Born and raised in Libya, he started working with the State Department when the US reconciled with the Gaddafi regime. After the Libyan revolution, Habib became especially close with Chris Stevens when Stevens was posted in Benghazi as an envoy to the anti Gaddafi opposition. Now with Gaddafi gone, Stevens was coming back to Benghazi to check in with his local contacts.

[Baker Habib]

And I remember when I told him we'll come back and he said, I'm really glad to be back home. So he considered Benghazi as home.

[Leon Neyfak]

Why exactly Stevens decided to make his trip to Benghazi when he did has never been firmly established. But the general reason was that he understood the city's importance as one of Libya's cultural and political centers. Benghazi was the seat of the revolution that had toppled Gaddafi. If Tripoli was Libya's Washington D.C. benghazi was New York or LA. Stevens believed that the U.S. needed a strong presence there. While in town, Stevens was going to preside over the opening of a kind of study center at a local school that was owned and operated by Baker Habib. It would be called the American Corner. The idea was that Libyans could take English classes there, find information on college admissions in the US and so on. It would be an engine of what some might call American soft power. When Stevens arrived in Benghazi, he and Habib set about finalizing the details for the opening.

[Baker Habib]

I spent all day long with him on Monday and Tuesday I went loud, a little bit. I'm back again. Last time I saw him it was about 5ish. He had an appointment with the Turkish counselor at that time. So I would say the last time I saw Chris Stevens, I walked with him. It was about five, five, ten, something like that.

[Leon Neyfak]

After Habib left, Stevens took his last meeting of the day with a Turkish diplomat at the American compound.

[Scott Wickland]

Our compound was in a residential neighborhood and it didn't look unlike any of the other houses in the area. So about as little long as one of their blocks. Like a city block almost. It had cement walls all the way around it.

[Leon Neyfak]

This is Scott Wickland, trained in the Navy as a specialist in conducting rescue missions. In 2012, he was working for the State Department as a DS agent. DS short for diplomatic security. On September 11th, Wickland was on day 41 of a 70 day posting at the compound in Benghazi.

[Scott Wickland]

We had four buildings on it, a little orchard on it, we had a pool, we had a soccer field where the guards would play soccer, and sometimes we would go play with them.

[Leon Neyfak]

As you heard in Episode two, the American compound in Benghazi had been leased by the State Department after the Libyan revolution. The four structures on the grounds included a barracks for local Libyan guards, a canteen, and a building known as Villa C, where Stevens slept and met with visitors. After Stevens final meeting of the night, business at the compound began to wind down. Stevens retired to his residence in Villa C. One of his State Department colleagues, an IT specialist named Sean Smith, was in his bedroom in the same building playing a video game called Eve Online and chatting with other gamers. One DS agent was in the compound security center. Scott Wickland and two other agents were outside.

[Scott Wickland]

At the end of the evening, we were sitting by the pool and talking. You know, I was wearing flip flops, just kind of relaxing.

[Leon Neyfak]

Then, a little after 9.30pm, Wickland heard a sound in the distance.

[Scott Wickland]

It sounded like chanting to me, you know, like a crowd chanting something. I didn't know what it was. And then the sound kind of came nearer and nearer, approaching the compound. And when I made out, Allahu Akbar, with our current risk profile, we need to do something.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wicklund and the other DS agents snapped into action.

[Scott Wickland]

We're already stressed out because the Ambassador is here. It's a dangerous location. It's September 11th. We're on this kind of high alert. We don't know if they're armed. We don't know if they're peaceful. We just don't know. And the automatic response from my end was, I need to go get ready in case. So I turned to the other guys and I said, go get your stuff.

[Leon Neyfak]

The DS agents who were with Wickland by the pool ran to get their weapons. Wickland already had some of his gear with him, so he took the role of securing Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith, the IT specialist. Both of them were in the living quarters of Villa C, which were separated from the main area by what Wicklin describes as a metal jail cell door.

[Scott Wickland]

I ran into Villa C and locked the building, ran over into kind of our living area, and I locked this jail cell door. You could, like, stick your arm through the door, but a person could not crawl through.

[Leon Neyfak]

As Wicklin secured the villa's living quarters, he could tell that the group he had heard approaching the compound was breaching the main gate. Outside, it appeared that most of the Libyan guards on duty had scattered, allowing the attackers to rush in effectively unopposed. Sean Smith Tapped out a message to the people he was playing video games with. Fuck, he wrote. Gunfire. Wicklin ran into his bedroom and put on body armor and a helmet.

[Scott Wickland]

And as soon as I came out of my bedroom, Ambassador Stevens was standing kind of in this common area. He was ready for bed. You know, he was wearing shorts and, like, a white T shirt. He had his body armor with him in his helmet. And he was kind of finishing putting that on. And right away, I told him that we needed to get him in the safe haven. Sean Smith came out shortly after that, and I put Sean Smith in the safe haven, and we sat.

[Leon Neyfak]

The safe haven was essentially a big closet surrounded by cement walls. Wickland turned off the lights as he ushered Stevens and Smith inside.

[Scott Wickland]

There was a sliding door on it that I had opened, and I was kind of kneeling in the entryway of the Save Haven. And I had a shotgun, a pistol, and an M4. And I think that this is actually where I kicked off my sandals, because crouching down on sandals, it just wasn't comfortable.

[Leon Neyfak]

Now, barefoot, Wicklin steadied his M4 rifle in the darkness of the safe haven and waited. Around 9:45pm Chris Stevens friend Baker Habib got a call from one of the DS agents in the compound. He addressed Habib by the nickname Stevens had given him, Beau, the Diplomatic Security agents.

[Baker Habib]

One of them, he called me and told me, hey, Bo, we are under attack. So for me, I couldn't process my reaction or couldn't understand at that time what he meant by attack. It cannot be.

[Leon Neyfak]

Habib didn't want to believe that the compound was under attack, but he knew what he was hearing.

[Baker Habib]

I could hear the shots. I can hear the grenades.

[Leon Neyfak]

Habib jumped in his car and headed to the compound where he'd been with Chris Stevens four hours earlier. From his position in the safe haven, Scott Wickland could hear the gunfire too. He could also hear the attackers begin to hit the main doors of Villa C, trying to break in. Then suddenly, he could see them.

[Scott Wickland]

I could see through the jail cell door into, like, this entryway into Villa C, which is where I saw all the attackers rush in. When they finally blew open the doors, I saw them come in the building, and I saw, you know, that they were carrying weapons. I saw AK47s, the RPG. I saw grenades. I knew that we were in trouble. I was immediately on the radio saying, where is everybody? Where is my backup? Where are you guys? I had to whisper because people were in the building, and I. And I said, they're in the building. I need immediate assistance. And I said this over and over, and I didn't hear a response.

[Leon Neyfak]

There were four other DS agents in the compound, but none of them were answering Wicklin's calls.

[Scott Wickland]

I was scared, wondering if, like, the other guys, okay, were they killed, you know, were they captured? You know, I had no idea.

[Leon Neyfak]

As the attackers rushed into the villa, Wicklund could hear the commotion they were causing. It sounded like they were breaking glass, ripping paintings off the walls, and destroying furniture.

[Scott Wickland]

As people started to flood into the building, I start thinking, well, this is it. I mean, it's only a matter of time before they come over and find us. And sure enough, two individuals came over to the jail cell door. One of the individuals started fumbling with one of his grenades. And I thought, you know, he's gonna blow the locks up with his grenades. And that's when I turned to the ambassador and said, if they blow the locks, I'm going to start shooting. And when I die, I want you to pick up my rifle and keep on fighting.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wicklund trained the sight of his rifle on the chest of one of the men standing at the jail cell door. But he held his fire, figuring that as soon as he pulled the trigger, he would reveal his location to all the other attackers.

[Scott Wickland]

Instead of using the grenades, one of the guys uses the butt of his rifle and just kind of bangs on the door a little bit. But nothing happened after that. They turned and walked away. It was a massive sigh of relief for me. I thought, my gosh, maybe we're going to survive. Maybe we're going to be in the clear.

[Leon Neyfak]

Shortly after that, Wicklin saw the attackers start to leave the building, and he breathed a tentative sigh of relief.

[Scott Wickland]

What I didn't realize was that they had taken some fuel cans and started pouring it on all those broken frames and the furniture, and they lit it on fire.

[Leon Neyfak]

The compound had recently acquired a new generator. It was stored near the main gate next to big jugs of diesel fuel. It seemed that before leaving the villa, the attackers had poured the fuel all over the premises.

[Scott Wickland]

I got a hint of that smell, and it was smoke. And I didn't know how bad it was. I didn't know. You know, I couldn't see any fire. I couldn't tell it, but I could smell it. And then I knew. Well, now we have a different problem on our hands.

[Leon Neyfak]

From his Post In Tripoli, 400 miles away, Deputy Chief of Mission Greg Hicks was trying to get a handle on what was happening in Benghazi. He had spoken to Stevens just after 9:45pm When Stevens told him the mission was under attack. Now Hicks had to figure out how to help.

[Narrator]

First thing I'm doing is, okay, track down all of our embassy leadership people, get them to the operations center and say, get on the horn with everybody you know and find out what exactly is going on.

[Leon Neyfak]

Hicks and his colleagues in Tripoli developed a kind of phone tree. Some were trying to reach the DS agents at the compound. Meanwhile, Hicks was communicating with Libyan government officials in hopes of mobilizing some kind of rescue.

[Narrator]

I was calling senior officials in the government in Tripoli because they are the individuals who have the responsibility to react. I mean, this was a criminal attack on a diplomatic facility in Libyan territory.

[Leon Neyfak]

But the process was hampered by the reality of telecommunication in Libya. Service inside the embassy was so unreliable that Hicks and his team had to go outside to their courtyard.

[Narrator]

We're all walking around, it's dead dark except for the stars overhead and the lights that are on in our compound. And we're all walking around dousing for telephone signal. When we got the signal, we would immediately start dialing on our phones frantically to try to make the next phone call. And then we would amoeba, like, kind of come together and we would share the information that we had gathered. And then we would all spread out again, dousing for signal. And then we would be on the phone again.

[Leon Neyfak]

It was through these phone calls that Hicks and his State Department colleagues formed a rough understanding of how the attack in Benghazi was playing out.

[Narrator]

We heard, you know, it was dozens of armed individuals had entered the compound. Rocket pelt grenades and rifle fire and automatic fire was taking place.

[Leon Neyfak]

As Hicks dialed out, he tried Ambassador Stevens again and again.

[Narrator]

I was trying to call him every few minutes and getting no answer. He probably had put his phone on silence to not attract attention to their presence, I don't know. But he'd never answered the phone again.

[Leon Neyfak]

When he wasn't calling Stevens phone or his contacts in the Libyan government, Deputy Chief of Mission Greg Hicks was calling the CIA. Specifically, he was calling the station chief at the CIA outpost in Benghazi, a facility known internally as the CIA Annex. It was located less than a mile from the State Department compound.

[Narrator]

I was in touch with the annex chief, so I was talking to him about the security team from the annex in Benghazi moving expeditiously to rescue our people at our facility.

[Leon Neyfak]

The annex was home base for about two dozen Americans, including some CIA agents and a team of private security contractors. In an agreement between the CIA and the State Department. Those contractors could be tapped to respond to an emergency at the diplomatic compound nearby. That was why Greg Hicks wanted to talk to the station chief.

[Narrator]

And I asked him quite pointedly, are you going to be able to meet your obligations under our agreement?

[Leon Neyfak]

Separately, the contractors at the CIA annex heard distress calls from the compound. They pulled on their gear, grabbed their weapons, and loaded up into armored cars. But before they could leave, they were held up by the annex chief. He was in charge of directing the contractors. And for reasons that would later be litigated and relitigated in the media and by Congress, he told the contractors to wait.

[Narrator]

I know the Benghazi annex chief personally, and he's a decent man. He was put in an awful position that night where he had to make choices to risk the people under his authority in his compound to save our people and the consulate.

[Leon Neyfak]

If the station chief were to send the contractors to the compound, he would be leaving the CIA annex largely defenseless. So instead of sending his own people out, he tried to reach the leaders of friendly local militias to ask for their help. The contractors got frustrated. They knew that the passing minutes were only giving the attackers an edge. Eventually, a call came on the radio from one of the DS agents at the compound. If you guys don't get here soon, we're going to die. With that, the CIA contractors broke protocol. Twenty minutes after they had first heard about the attack, they left for the compound without the station chief's go ahead. At the compound, Scott Wickland was adjusting to a new threat. Fire.

[Scott Wickland]

I turned to the ambassador and Sean Smith, and I was like, hey, we gotta get to the bathroom now.

[Leon Neyfak]

The idea behind moving to the bathroom was that Wicklund, Stevens, and Smith would have access to water there. They could wet a towel and shove it under the base of the door, then open the small window vent and wait out the fire. Wickland figured the villa was made of concrete. The stuff inside of it might catch fire, but the structure itself would not.

[Scott Wickland]

I mean, outside there are attackers, Inside, there's fire. I'm more likely to survive fire if I'm in the bathroom than I am to survive attackers who are outside. I knew that going outside was not an option at all, and so we started crawling.

[Leon Neyfak]

It was 8 meters from the safe haven to the bathroom, about the length of two cars. Wicklins strapped his rifle across his chest and began to guide Stevens in a crawl with his left hand holding the body armor on Stevens back. Sean Smith followed behind them.

[Scott Wickland]

By the time we reached the corner, so 2 meters, the smoke was super thick. I mean, that's how quickly it filled up with smoke. And it wasn't smoke like a campfire. This was smoke. Like it just, it entered your eyeballs, it went in your mouth, and it was just putrid. It was black, thick smoke that's a mixture of burning rubber and plastic and caustic fumes that just choke you.

[Leon Neyfak]

Could you see it all?

[Scott Wickland]

No. Nothing. There was no breathable air from, like, the ceiling all the way down to, you know, the floor. And so I was like kind of cupping my hands on the floor and breathing, you know, the last inch of air that was left. And that's how I was still talking. And so I was still saying, follow me, follow me. And I was hitting the floor so it would make, like a popping noise and so they could hear me where I was, where to go. And I'm. I was just saying, come on, we can make it, come on, we can make it, come on. You know, I went at a slow pace and I could feel Ambassador Stevens on my left side. And then, and then I didn't, you know, I thought, well, he's right there. He's right behind me. Anyway, no big deal. Like, he can still hear my voice, he can hear my hands. And I was still saying, come on, we can make it. Come on, follow me. Follow the sound of my voice. Follow me, follow me. And I made it to the bathroom and they didn't show up. So I started feeling out into the hallway that led to the bathroom to see if I could feel them and pull them in. And I didn't feel anything. I searched until I was, like, about to pass out. Like, I could feel the lightheadedness and, like, my body, like, losing motor skills. And I, I was really getting scared at that point. I realized, well, it's either I die.

[Leon Neyfak]

Here.

[Scott Wickland]

Or I go outside.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wicklin knew he could get outside through his bedroom window. He just had to get there in the darkness. Wicklin's rifle had somehow gotten tangled or stuck on the bathroom sink. So he left it behind, stood upright, and ran to his room. Once inside, he felt his way to the window and cranked it open.

[Scott Wickland]

Then I kind of collapse onto this little patio area that I have. And shortly after, it was just gunfire. I mean, I believed it, you know, it was right on my position.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wickland took cover behind a knee high wall that surrounded the patio area outside his bedroom. He could feel shards of cement hitting his face from where bullets were making contact around him.

[Scott Wickland]

It was just like getting blasted in the face. By a shotgun. And so I turned around and went back into the building to search for Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith. I went back in the window, and I was just yelling and screaming, hoping that one of the two of them could hear me and keep fighting, like, keep crawling towards my bedroom. I was yelling, I'm in my bedroom. I'm in my bedroom. Follow my voice. Follow me. There was, like a desk right by my. My doorway, and I was slamming that thing, hitting it, like, follow me. Come to this noise. Come to my voice.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wicklin stayed inside until, once again, he felt like he was going to pass out. Then he turned around, climbed out the window, caught his breath, and went back in to try again.

[Scott Wickland]

I thought, if I turn my lamp on, maybe they'll be able to see it. And so I went over by feel, found my lamp on the side of my bed, turned it on, and I held it up to my face because I couldn't see it. And I remember feeling the heat from the light bulb, and I could just barely make out a light. That's how thick the smoke was.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wicklin says that each time he went back into the villa, he could only stay for about a minute. Eventually, he knew he couldn't go back in at all. He was also certain that by this point, after spending so much time inside the burning building, Chris Stevens and Sean Smith had to be dead.

[Scott Wickland]

My body didn't have any energy left, and I had been breathing in that smoke. Oh, man, it just makes me sick thinking about it. I knew that if I went in one more time, that would have been it. I wouldn't have been coming back out. I wouldn't be able to help out anybody if I was another casualty. So I made the decision to climb up the ladder from the patio up to the roof.

[Leon Neyfak]

It's worth underscoring that in that moment, climbing up onto the roof of a burning building felt like Wicklin's best option.

[Scott Wickland]

It was like a frying pan, it was so hot.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wickland pulled the aluminum ladder up behind him and took stock of his surroundings. Perched up on the roof, he now had a slightly better sense of what was going on around him. He tried again to reach the other DS agents who had been in the compound with him when the attack started.

[Scott Wickland]

The first thing that I did was I got on the radio and I was like, where the fuck is everybody? And I said, ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith are still in the burning building. I need immediate assistance. And there wasn't a response. Nobody got over the radio and said, yeah, we're coming to help you out. It was just silence. I thought I was alone. I thought everybody else was dead. I thought the other agents were dead. And I had blisters in my throat and in my mouth. My feet were pretty messed up. My breathing was pretty bad. And so I developed a plan. And my plan was that I was going to jump off the roof without shoes, and I was going to run to the edge of Benghazi. I was going to steal a car and drive it to Egypt. And that was my real plan.

[Leon Neyfak]

While Wickland imagined ways of getting away from the compound, Baker Habib, Chris Stevens friend and colleague, was desperate to get in.

[Baker Habib]

I want to be inside the compound by hook or by a croc. This is my aim at that time. I just want to be there.

[Leon Neyfak]

As Habib drew closer to the front gates, he was stopped by a group of armed men.

[Baker Habib]

So there I found two cars, two trucks with heavy machine guns, and I told them I just wanted to go in. They said, no way, you can't.

[Leon Neyfak]

Habib didn't know who these men were or whether they were working with the attackers. Either way, they had closed off the street. So Habib turned his car around and drove to the back of the compound, which looked out onto a lively street where people had been dining. When the attack began. Habib got out of his car and tried to get a sense of the scene.

[Baker Habib]

I could hear clearly grenades and number of shots and grenades again. The comb between the grenades, I will say 1, 2 minutes maximum.

[Leon Neyfak]

As Khabib stood near the back of the compound, a man carrying a missile launcher approached him and asked if he was a civilian. Habib told him that he was and.

[Baker Habib]

Said, I need to go to the building. I have to be there. He said, it's danger. I said, no, let me do it.

[Leon Neyfak]

Eventually, Habib left his car and began to walk back around to the front of the compound.

[Baker Habib]

What he saw is people with guns, people without guns, and many people you cannot imagine. This was like a flow. It was like a stream. People getting in the gate. It's unbelievable. The scene was unbelievable, and no one knows what was going on. At that time.

[Leon Neyfak]

The flood of people Khabib was seeing had shown up at the compound. After word of the attack spread around Benghazi through text messages, Facebook pages and phone calls, it was hard to tell who was an attacker and who was just a rubbernecker trying to see what was going on at the American mission. Later, this ambiguity would determine almost everything about how the attack in Benghazi was initially misunderstood. In The United States up on the roof. Scott Wickland didn't know what time it was or how long it had been since he gave up on trying to find Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith. After a while, though, it seemed like the attackers had moved away from his position, creating an opportunity for him to escape.

[Scott Wickland]

And I thought, well, this might be my time pretty soon to carry out my plan. Then I got a call over the radio, and it was Dave Ubben.

[Leon Neyfak]

Dave Ubben was another DS agent and Wicklin's friend from training. The two of them had been out by the pool together when the attackers first arrived at the compound. They hadn't seen each other or spoken since.

[Scott Wickland]

Dave called and basically said, you know, Scott, are you alive? I called back, and I was like, yes, I'm still alive. I'm still here. Where are you guys? I need some help. And they said, we're coming.

[Leon Neyfak]

Wickland says the other DS agents came to the side of Villa C where he was hiding and signaled to him. Wickland, still barefoot, climbed down the ladder and told them he thought Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith were still inside the building.

[Scott Wickland]

When I see them, it's like, oh, my gosh, I might survive. I might survive this because I now have my teammates. I'm not alone anymore. That was the big thing for me, was I thought I was alone. Like, this entire time, I thought it was just me. Right away, they were jumping in the burning building to try and find Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith.

[Leon Neyfak]

As the other DS agents took turns entering the building, they were joined by the team of private contractors from the CIA annex. After a firefight on their way into the compound, the CIA contractors had managed to scare off some of the attackers, at least temporarily. Now they joined in the desperate search for Stevens and Smith. Entering the villa through the window, Scott Wicklin had identified, doing a lap inside as long as they could stand it and circling back out again. Finally, one of the DS agents found Sean Smith. He was dead, apparently of smoke inhalation, and the agent pulled his body out of the villa. It wasn't long after that, it seemed like the fighting might start up again.

[Scott Wickland]

We start feeling pressure from, like, attackers again. There's people who are kind of hiding out at one of the gates, and so we're starting to feel like, you know, we have to get moving. We have to get out of here before there's a second attack.

[Leon Neyfak]

Though they still hadn't found Stevens, the DS agents and the contractors decided it was time to evacuate to the nearby CIA base. The DS agents went first, packing into one of the armored vehicles that was kept at the compound. Despite his condition, Wickland got into the driver's seat. He had been in Benghazi the longest and he knew the way to the annex. Meanwhile, the CIA contractors loaded Sean Smith's body into the car they'd arrived in. After beating back another advance from the attackers, they pulled out of the compound too. It was 11:17pm about an hour and a half after the attack first started. Wherever Ambassador Stevens was now, it wasn't with the Americans. Baker Habib worried that his friend had been kidnapped.

[Baker Habib]

At that time I was in contact with those people who got Jonah Smith, buddy. I thought Chris was out of the compound at that time. So you see, just came to my mind that Chris would be tortured first, then he killed by them. And everything is just in my mind. So that time was terrible.

[Leon Neyfak]

At the embassy in Tripoli, Greg Hicks had been trying to solicit some kind of help from somewhere before another wave of attacks could hit the Americans. At what point were you told that basically there wasn't any help coming from outside of Libya?

[Narrator]

That was AFRICOM telling the defense attache that they had nothing available to send. And that happened at about 11pm.

[Leon Neyfak]

AFRICOM is part of the Department of Defense. It's responsible for American military activity in Africa. On the night of the attack, AFRICOM told Hicks the nearest military resources were fighter planes stationed in Aviano, Italy. That was at least a two or three hour flight from Benghazi. On top of that, there were no tankers available for the planes to refuel.

[Narrator]

Essentially that's why there was no military response, because the military wasn't ready for any eventuality.

[Leon Neyfak]

On 9 11, it appeared that the Americans only option was to launch a rescue mission from Tripoli. So a team of private security contractors based in the capital boarded a flight to Benghazi. We'll be right back.

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[Leon Neyfak]

Even after the Americans evacuated the Benghazi compound, the large crowd of Libyans Baker Habib had seen nearby continued to grow.

[Baker Habib]

So you see many people just coming and keep coming to the American mission because people was curious to know what was going on at that time and what happened. Many of them just want to be there with their cell phone to just record what was going on.

[Leon Neyfak]

What you're hearing is a cell phone video recorded by a man named Fahd Al Bakush, who later shared his footage with American news networks. Some people looted the compound, taking everything from television sets to coils of rope. One guy even picked up a container of chocolate syrup and walked through the compound squirting it into his mouth. Then, around one o' clock in the morning, someone found a man in Villa C. He was unresponsive and covered in soot. In the cell phone video, you can see a group of people pull the man's body out of the villa. You can hear them yelling in Arabic, he's alive. He's alive. Later, some American commentators would say the Libyans dragged the man through the streets. In reality, they immediately brought him to the Benghazi Medical center, and within 15 minutes, he was in a hospital bed. Soon after, the American Embassy in Tripoli received a call from Scott Wicklin's phone. It was the same number that Greg Hicks had reached Chris Stevens on earlier in the night, but this time it wasn't Stevens on the other line. It was a man speaking Arabic, saying he was at the hospital with someone who looked like the ambassador. Hicks and his colleagues pressed the man for something more concrete, but he would not provide a photograph or any other confirmation.

[Narrator]

We were very, very focused on asking the kinds of questions that would reveal whether we were talking to a friend or an enemy.

[Leon Neyfak]

The Americans felt like they couldn't take any information at face value. It was more than possible that Wicklin's cell phone had been stolen from the compound and that the attackers were now trying to lure them into a trap.

[Narrator]

Then this whole confusing conversation begins where we understand he's taken to a hospital and the government keeps telling us, well, we know he's safe, and we keep going, where is he? And they won't tell us where he is. So our view is that he's a prisoner and not in a safe place.

[Leon Neyfak]

Baker Habib, who was in touch with State Department officials, volunteered to go to the hospital and see for himself if the man was Chris Stevens. But he was told he Couldn't go. It turned out there was intelligence saying that because of his close association with the Americans, Habib might be a target too.

[Baker Habib]

So I told him, how about sending someone I trust and someone who knew Christimus very well, he could go there without any problem.

[Leon Neyfak]

So that plan was set in motion. And after a while, Habib's friend called him from the hospital.

[Baker Habib]

So he called me back and told me that I'm next to him. Yes, his crestibly is 100%.

[Leon Neyfak]

Stevens was dead. Habib's friend said someone needed to come get his body from the hospital, and Habib told him he was on his way. Chris Stevens was reported killed in action at 4:15am by that time, the Americans who had gathered at the CIA base, including Scott Wickland, his fellow DS agents, and the CIA contractors, had all spent hours bracing themselves for another attack. Though locals didn't officially know where the CIA annex was, it was possible that someone had tracked the Americans as they made their way there from the compound. There had been several moments while Wickland was driving to the annex when he thought someone was following him. When he got there, the tail was gone. But he and the other Americans wanted to be ready for the worst.

[Scott Wickland]

We prepared by putting people up on the roof and making sure that they were armed. You know, we had people monitoring to make sure that we could see these people. And I stayed inside, just trying to kind of recuperate a little bit.

[Leon Neyfak]

Were you able to get medical attention at that point?

[Scott Wickland]

I mean, there wasn't a whole lot that we could do. For me, I got some shoes, which was great.

[Leon Neyfak]

Soon enough, it turned out Wickland and the others had been right to worry. Whoever was trying to expel them from Benghazi had figured out where they were. Aided by night vision goggles, the Americans prevailed in two brief firefights. But everyone was dreading the sunrise, when light would give the attackers a clearer view of the CIA base. At 5am, reinforcements finally arrived from Tripoli. Among them was a CIA contractor named Glenn Doherty, who joined a number of others, including a contractor named Tyrone woods, on the roof of the main building as the sky began to turn from black to deep blue. The plan was to get every American out of Benghazi as soon as humanly possible.

[Scott Wickland]

But then, you know, was I expecting mortars? No, I was not expecting mortars, and I definitely wasn't expecting the accuracy of the mortars.

[Leon Neyfak]

In the space of 90 seconds, six mortars hit the Benghazi CIA base. Three of them exploded on the roof. The main building, where most of the Americans were hiding.

[Scott Wickland]

You know, I was standing right below the ceiling of where they're impacting. But I think the heaviest part of the entire experience was knowing that, you know, I've. I have some friends up on that roof, and I don't know why they're not answering the radio call. I don't know how they're doing.

[Leon Neyfak]

Glen Doherty and Tyrone woods were both killed in the explosions. Another CIA contractor, Mark Geist, and Scott Wicklin's friend Dave Ubben were critically injured. After that, the attackers seemed to withdraw, and the Americans prepared to leave Benghazi. At the airport, the plane that the Tripoli team had used to get to Benghazi was still sitting on the tarmac. It was too small to fit everyone who needed to evacuate, which meant that those needing immediate medical attention, including Scott Wickland, were sent ahead. In the meantime, one of Wickland's fellow DS agents called Baker Habib to update him on the situation. A group of Libyans the Americans trusted had gone to the Benghazi medical center to retrieve Stevens body.

[Baker Habib]

I was on my way to the hospital, then I received a call from one of the ds, and he said, bo, don't go to hospital. He said, why? He said, we already got the body. We got the remains. Just come straight forward to the. To the airport.

[Leon Neyfak]

When Habib arrived at the airport, he said goodbye to his friend.

[Baker Habib]

He was there at the airport. He's in front of me, lifeless. And he was there in the city. He loved to support, to back up, and to open their gate to United States. So I spoke to him. I told him, chris, whatever it takes, I will do my best to bring those criminals to justice.

[Leon Neyfak]

Other Libyans who had known Chris Stevens during his time in Benghazi came to the tarmac as well. Many of them were in tears, aware that the American evacuation probably meant the end of the US Presence in Benghazi. Greg Hicks was aware of it, too.

[Narrator]

I distinctly remember arguing that if we leave, then we've lost, they win. That was the purpose of the attack, was to chase us out of the country. So my view was that we needed to take some time, regroup, rebuild, and then continue our job.

[Leon Neyfak]

The Libyan Air Force provided a cargo plane for the remaining Americans. The bodies of Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone woods, and Glen Doherty were loaded in as well. After a stop in Tripoli, Scott Wickland and the others boarded a plane for Europe.

[Scott Wickland]

We loaded up on the plane, and there were four coffins. Everybody's looking at these coffins and at these people and silently trying to figure out what just happened.

[Leon Neyfak]

On the next episode of Fiasco, the attack in Benghazi enters the bloodstream of American politics.

[Baker Habib]

It took the president 14 days before.

[Leon Neyfak]

He called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror. Get the transcript for Lincoln of books, articles and documentaries we used in our research. Follow the link in our show notes. Fiasco is a production of prologue projects and it's distributed by Pushkin Industries. The show is produced by Andrew Parsons, Ula Culpa, Sam Lee and me, Leon Naifak with editorial support from Sam, Graham Felson and Madeline Kaplan. Our researcher was Frances Carr. Our score was was composed by Dan English, Joe Valli and Noah Hecht. Additional music by Nick Sylvester, Joel St. Julian, Billy Libby and Little Cheddar Studios. Our theme song is by Spatial Relations Audio mix by Rob Byers, Michael Rayfiel and Johnny Vince Evans. Our artwork is by teddy blanks at ChipsNY. Copyright counsel provided by Peter Yassi at Yassi Butler PLLC thanks to arXiv.org, julianne Himelstein, Mike Clark, David Kirkpatrick, Fahd, Al Bakush, Angela Giordani and Mitch Zuckoff. Special thanks to Luminary and thank you for listening. Witness the new season of Reasonable Doubt Streaming on Hulu September 18th. LA's most successful attorney, Jack Stewart, defends.

[Narrator]

A young actor accused of murder.

[Leon Neyfak]

Follow Emma Yachty Coronaldi, Morris Chestnut, Joseph Sikora and guest stars Cash Dahl and Lori Harvey as they face off in the year's most sensational trial in the pursuit of justice. Every move counts. Reasonable doubt sees in three is streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney September 18th Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers Terms apply. You've probably heard me say this connection is one of the biggest keys to happiness and one of my favorite ways to build that scruffy hospitality. Inviting people over even when things aren't perfect. Because just being together, laughing, chatting, cooking.

[Scott Wickland]

Makes you feel good.

[Leon Neyfak]

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[Narrator]

This is an I Heart podcast.