The concluding scene of our recent viewing of the motion picture, 13 Hours The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, is still banging around in my head.

 

It was early morning Sept. 12, 2012. American contract fighters (the secret soldiers) had just concluded their defense of the American Embassy annex from wave after wave of rebel soldiers during those perilous night hours.

 

American relief finally was able to get them to the airport and out of Benghazi after horrific 13 hours of battle.

 

And as they left, wives and family of the fallen rebel soldiers slipped into the killing fields to mourn their their loved ones and retrieve their bodies.

 

I’m glad the movie director included that final scene to the picture, because its message was with war, there are no winners, just survivors.

 

I remember sitting in a world history class back at Foley High School, winter of 1962. Our class was beginning a unit on World War II and our teacher, Arnold Berg, introduced the lesson by stating it simply:

 

“War is hell,” he said. 

 

I’ve spent parts of the last 62 years thinking about those words. And again, this week, after Benghazi.

 

Americans should not have been in Benghazi those days. All other Western country embassies had been closed down due to the lawlessness of the region after their assination of President Kadafi.

 

But Ambassador Stevens, the public servant he was, wanted to stay because he could make a diplomatic difference. It didn’t work. He and three support staffers at the American embassy were overrun and killed  the night prior. Most of the picture dealt with the American contract fighters retreating to their annex not far from the embassy to stage their defense.

 

Few Americans lost their lives that night - many, many (presumably) Libyans did. 

 

   Who were these rebels, I asked myself. Were they locals trying to defend their country against “invaders?”

 

Were they mercenaries?  Or were they the uneducated going to battle because some leader said it was the right cause? Is that the case with the hordes of participants in conflicts of same nature around the world?

 

Is America the hawk in this disasterous growth of arms around the world? If so, do we have enough guns and bullets?

 

Or, are there peaceful ways? That’s the raging argument at our nation’s capitol these days.

 

I don’t know. 

 

Conflict usually escalates to war, and grieving widows bury their loved ones.

 

Who won - that last day of Benghazi? The American fighters retired from guns and ammo and went home to their families.

 

How about the Libyans?

 

A friend remarked during the movie, friendlies and foes were in several street fire fights, bullets flying everywhere. How could neighborhood people sit quietly amidst all the bullets and watch a soccer game on television?

 

Perhaps that was their escape. They had no other.