Monday, October 29, 2012

Benghazigate: Chapter Two

What more does anyone need to know than that Americans are under attack before ordering a military response to suppress the attack and possibly rescue our people?
Even if the initial response isn't exactly what you'd want it to be, even if you don't have every asset available that you might in a perfect world, isn't it your duty -- whether you're a lowly second lieutenant or the Secretary of Defense -- to do everything you can as quickly as you can?
Of course it is, at least unless you're President Obama and his minions. His two principal flunkies -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- had a lot of options on September 11 during the seven-hour attack on our Benghazi consulate and the CIA house about a mile away. According to a Fox News report based on several sources, the people under attack pled with the CIA for help three times during the attack and all three pleas were refused. Team Obama did nothing to save their lives.
The accuracy of the Fox report is easily derived from other facts. One element of proof that the requests were made -- by people under fire -- comes from Panetta's whining. According to a Reuters report, Panetta said there wasn't enough information to responsibly deploy forces to Libya during the attack. "You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on, without having some real-time information about what's taking place."
Really, Mr. Secretary? Let's set aside the fact that one or more drones were over the consulate during the attack, sending back the information Panetta says he needed. But the drone issue begs the question: Panetta cannot really believe that sending armed aircraft from our base at Sigonella, Italy -- about 350 air miles away -- wouldn't have given him both the capability of suppressing the attack and whatever other information he thinks he needed. Panetta's whine is as evasive as his actions were treacherous.

Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/10/29/benghazigate-chapter-two

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