Within 17 minutes of the start of the attack, AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham, who happens to be visiting Washington and was in the Pentagon that day, redirects an unarmed, unmanned drone to Benghazi.
PANETTA AND DEMPSEY ARE ALERTED 50 MINUTES AFTER ATTACK
At 10:32 p.m. (4:32 p.m. in Washington), 50 minutes after the incident began, the National Military Command Center, which is the operations center at the Pentagon where Ham is overseeing the operation, notifies Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.
(snip)
At 5 p.m. in Washington, D.C. (11 p.m. in Libya), nearly an hour and a half after the attack began, according to the Pentagon’s timeline, “Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey attend a previously scheduled meeting with the President at the White House.”
Panetta and Dempsey leave the Whitehouse and return to the Pentagon for a meeting with General Ham from 6pm to 8pm.
Rep. John Chaffetz R-UT has said on TV(there is a Youtube video/Fox News) that he has met with General Carter Ham in person and found out that:
1- There were assets in the area
2- They had “proximity”
3- Gen. Ham was never given a directive to use them
Top AFRICOM Leader General Carter Ham Was Never Ordered to Save US Men in Benghazi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4W1LDSs5X4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Chaffetz: The Truth About Libya Security, Benghazi on US Diplomats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OxjDOHmAtg
Thank you for the informative post.
My frustration is that the Pubs are falling into the same trap as the "conservative" media in talking about sex and public statements rather than who failed to send aid to our guys. I don't believe a majority of Americans are going to get outraged because obama surrogates lied to the media to help him get re-elected.
If the Pubs would just refocus the debate to who failed to give Gen. Ham the go ahead we would see a majority of Americans looking for "heads to roll". Pubs should be attacking obama everyday as "failure in chief".