’13 Hours’ Movie has ties to Southern Colorado
It remains a national tragedy, without much resolution.
September 11, 2012: The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was under attack. Ambassador Chris Stevens – and three other Americans – were killed.
Two of the men, both retired Marines working as security contractors in Benghazi, endured the siege and call Southern Colorado home. Now, nearly three-and-a-half years later, the movie based off their account, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” is set for release January 15 th .
“The film is trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again the way it did happen. Know the truth of what happened on the ground. Make up your own mind on the politics of it was,” said John Tiegen, of Fountain.
“We decided as a team that the story that was being told out there wasn’t what actually happened that night,” added Mark Geist, who lives in Fowler.
In the days following the attack, talking points from the White House surfaced – the pervasive narrative, claimed the attack was spontaneous. The attack, what prompted it, and the knowledge prior to it, became the subject of subsequent congressional hearings, with lawmakers grilling Hillary Clinton who was Secretary of State at the time. U.S. Consulates – including Benghazi — were under her watch.
Tiegen and Geist both say the attack on the compound was calculated, and multiple warnings and calls for help to Washington months in advance went ignored. The two men detail their account in the book “13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi.”
The movie is scheduled to be released January 15 th , two and a half weeks before the Iowa Caucuses.
