Mother Jones has excerpts of the Dylan Davies/Morgan Jones book about his Benghazi exploits. He describes how he was visited after the fact by three FBI agents, a State Department staffer, and "a lady in her late fifties who introduced herself as a head prosecutor from New York". They asked his opinion of security at the embassy:
"Where d'you want me to start? We had fucking loads of concerns. We—or rather the RSOs [Regional Security Officers]—detailed those concerns in numerous emails to the State Department. Nothing was ever done." I paused. "And you know what— I feel guilty as fuck because we failed to get the security sorted, and because on the day of the race I let the RSOs down…"
The woman prosecutor stepped in now. "No, no, no—let’s be clear on one thing: you let no one down." "Dead right," the FBI guy added. "Without you we’d have no information at all right now. Since the attack no one has been on the ground in that compound apart from you, and we cannot thank you enough for all those photos." "I still feel guilty that I didn’t make it over the wall the first time I tried." I went to make them all another coffee. The lady prosecutor came into the kitchen. "Hey, you know, Morgan— you did a good thing," she volunteered. "You did the right thing. Do not beat yourself up over this, okay? You're a good man. A good man, you hear me?" I was tearing up. She was the motherly, kindly figure that I needed right now, and it was good of her to say those words. She stayed with me as I made the coffees, but in the background I could hear the guys firing questions back and forth at each other in hushed voices. You ask him…No, you ask him…
I took them in the tray of drinks. "Guys: Listen up. I heard you whispering. I heard you saying ask him this; ask him that. You have something you want to ask me, or that you think might upset me or is insensitive—just ask. Let's get it out there. I will not be offended." "No, no, man, everything is okay," the FBI guy who'd led the questioning reassured me. "And hey, thanks for the coffees…"
It was time for the team to leave. They thanked me for all that I had done in Benghazi…They told me they'd need me to fly to the United States at some point, to give my side of the story in full. I said I'd be happy to go. Whatever it would take to try to right the wrongs perpetrated on that hellish night, and to ensure the lessons would be learned. The lead FBI agent gave me his card: "You ever need anything ever, you just call me." The guy who was the most choked-up among them embraced me. The lady prosecutor gave me a hug as well. "You did the right thing," she told me again. "You did the right thing."
You can see why he had the whole 60 Minutes crew so fooled. I'm sure FBI agents and prosecutors always treat their witnesses with such reverence when they're in the field. And everybody knows they're a weepy bunch. There's nothing in that story to set off any alarm bells with professional journalists.
Here's how Lara Logan describes her own skill at cutting through lies:
LARA LOGAN: And I can't stand interviewing people who lie to you all the time, or wrap what they have to say in so much diplomatic speak that you spend hours just trying to work out what the hell they just told you. I prefer people that are straight talking.
MARVIN KALB: Do you think the military people when they talk to you are straight talkers?
LARA LOGAN: Not always, not always. But I've become very adept at sorting out the talking points from what's real. And over the years, I've acquired a reputation for having some depth of knowledge, so they're a little more nervous about serving me up a plate of-- this is recorded, right?
That man, who described himself in laughably heroic terms, scaling walls in the dark, taking on the terrorists mano a mano, apparently sounded "real" to her. To me, he sounded like Glenn Beck's hero in his "don't tease the panther" novel (which could be Dylandaviesmorganjones' inspiration, now that I think of it.)
Chris Hayes had an excellent discussion of the story tonight, well worth watching if you want to catch up.