A US consulate is under attack. The CIA annex is requesting permission to go to the assistance of the Ambassador and is apparently denied that permission. The attack on the consulate and CIA Annex are immediately reported to Washington. As the Director of the CIA, does anyone believe that Petraeus wasn’t immediately advised of the situation on the ground? Does anyone believe that a leader of Petraeus’ background wouldn’t have immediately tapped into whatever real time information was coming in about the attacks and the requests for assistance? Does anyone believe that a former military leader would have voluntarily left his people in harm’s way without exploring options to render assistance?
Unless Petraeus has become a total scumbag since he was in charge in Iraq, it is hard to believe that he is the one responsible for calling the shots in Benghazi. If you assume that Petraeus was attempting to do something to assist his people on the ground, then who pulled his plug? Given the structure of the government, it appears to me that either (a) the military refused to come to the aid of those in Benghazi because the CIA did not have the resources or (b) that Petraeus was ordered to stand down by Obama. Obama is the only one who could have ordered Petraeus to stop operations that were under his control.
Obama’s the only one who had the ability to stop both the CIA AND the military from acting.