A Delta Force special operator was given the Distinguished Service Cross - the army's second highest decoration - for his actions in helping to rescue Americans during the attack on our facilities in Benghazi.

It is the first public acknowledgment that Delta Force operators was involved in the fighting.

Washington Times:

An Army Delta Force commando who infiltrated Benghazi to rescue U.S. diplomats, spies and security officers during a 2012 terrorist attack "was critical to the success of saving numerous lives," according to a citation awarding him the military's second-highest honor.

Delta Force's role was not disclosed in any public report or congressional testimony. The Army citation for the Distinguished Service Cross, posted on a website for Army personnel, provides the first detailed look at what one of the commandos, Master Sgt. David R. Halbruner, accomplished.

The Washington Times reported in November that two members of Delta Force, the Army's premier counterterrorism unit, were among seven U.S. personnel who went to Benghazi, Libya, on a rescue mission the night of Sept. 11, 2012. The second Delta member, a Marine, was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism, The Times reported.

The Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross are the second-highest military awards in precedence, below the Medal of Honor.

After al Qaeda-linked terrorists stormed the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi at 9:40 p.m., killing Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and State Department officer Sean Smith, the rescuers chartered a plane in Tripoli. They landed in Benghazi around 1 a.m. and made their way via convoy to a CIA annex where Americans were fighting off various terrorist groups, including Ansar al Sharia, which had attacked the mission.

The Army's one-paragraph award narrative does not identify Sgt. Halbruner by his unit, only as "a team leader for a joint task force in support of an overseas contingency operation." It also does not name the country.

But the citation's dates for his heroism - Sept. 11 to Sept. 12, 2012 - dovetail with when the rescue team left Tripoli and completed its mission by getting about 30 Americans onto aircraft bound for Tripoli. Sources confirmed to The Times in November that a Delta solider was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Considering that some sources report that Halbruner and the other special operators based in Tripoli were told not to fly to Benghazi to help in the rescue, the army has apparently done an about face and now recognizes their heroism.

I wonder if Halbruner and his comrades think al-Qaeda wasn't involved in the attack? Maybe someone should ask them.