Res Ipsa Locquitor, "the thing speaks for itself." I learned that in law school. Later, in criminal defense practice and as a civil rights investigator, I learned to look at source documents and dissect documents, especially contemporary accounts of events. I also learned to smell bullshit at a distance. In this case, it is not far and it is pungent.
Dylan Davies is the heroic private contractor who worked on perimeter security for Blue Mountain Group. Last week on 60 Minutes, he delivered an Emmy worthy narrative about his alleged, heroic feats: driving through Sharia roadblocks, scaling twelve foot walls, fighting a terrorist attacker, then again passing roadblocks and attackers to go to the hospital.
The Washington Post broke the story of how radically different Davies' initial incident report is from his statements to 60 Minutes. David Brock, Chairman, Media Matters for America, penned a letter to 60 Minutes in which he noted the discrepancies and other troubling aspects of Davies character.
I am writing to express my concern about a 60 Minutes segment on the attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that CBS aired on October 27. As Media Matters for America noted earlier in the week, the segment revived long-answered questions about the attack and, even more troubling, a Fox News correspondent said that he had spoken to one of the witnesses interviewed "a number of times" about the attacks but stopped after the man "asked for money."
Brock letter
Media Matters also reported that, "Foreign Policy also reported that Davies' memoir was published by "Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, which is a part of CBS Corporation, which owns 60 Minutes -- a fact not disclosed in the 60 Minutes story."
Media Matters
Davies now claims that he lied to his supervisor to cover up his heroism because his magnificent feat was carried out against orders. But he incident report itself proves that Davies is lying now. Again, Res Ipsa Locquitor. The incident report is discussed and linked in a Huffinton Post article. The original may be viewed at Scribd.
My (rushed) outline of the timeline shows how incredible Davies book and 60 Minutes account are, as it is filled with witnesses who worked for Blue Mountain or were known sources, who could easily dispute anything Davies reported to his supervisor. The names are blacked or whited out in the public pdf., but if Davies had been lying to his managing director, a phone call to any one of the corroborating witnesses would have easily proved the deceit.
Dylan Davies ("DD") Timeline:
11 Sept.
2130 - He's notified that US Mission is under attack by Guard Commander (who is not at scene).
2200 - DD's driver arrives. They cannot get close to Mission due to Sharia brigade roadblocks. Osama (driver?) tells DD they would be killed if they attempted to go to Mission, so they return to villa.
2230 - DD telephones Managing Director who tells him to stay at villa, do not attempt to get to Mission.
2300 - Two named off duty guards arrive at villa. Their names are whited out in report.
12 Sept.
0100 - Other members of the guard go to villa. Names again removed from reprt.
0200 - DD receives call from a named source who is at hospital. The source says he has alarming news but will not tell DD over phone. He insists on coming to villa. Once there, he shows DD photo of Ambassador's body.
---- DD then recieves call from doctor at hospital.
---- A source at villa, name whited out, tells DD the Ambassador was taken to hospital, still alive, but later died.
---- DD again calls Managing Director again, whom he trusts "implicitly," and updates status. (Time of call is not recorded in report, however it must have occured before the next time log). DD does not tell the Director that the Ambassador is dead.
0417 - DD receives text message from named source, a special agent whom DD describes as "capable, calm, experience special agent," who tells DD that evacuation is underway.
0930 - DD and Osama go to Mission, take photographs.
Giving Davies every possible benefit of the doubt, his heroic journey to the Mission must have occurred between 2230, Sept. 11, and sometime before 0417, Sept. 12. Perhaps that's possible, even when evading roadblocks, scaling twelve foot walls, conducting hand-to-hand combat with terrorists, again evading roadblocks to go to a hospital, then returning to the seaside villa.
However, during that less than 5 hour period, employees of Blue Mountain were meeting with Davies' at his villa. And again, Davies' supervisor, the Managing Director, would certainly be gathering reports from Blue Mountain's other employees and contractors as they tried to sort out the events that night. Davies' lies would have been immediately discovered.
Benghazi is a tragedy. Ambassador Stevens and three others lost their lives. But the tragedy has not ended. Profiteers including 60 Minutes and its CBS publishing house, the Republican Party, and Davies, are perpetuating the tragedy and mocking its victims. It is deplorable.