Posted on 10/26/2012 11:53:54 PM PDT by John Semmens
US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta explained that the US military commander for Africa, General Carter Ham, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, and himself all decided against any intervention to rescue those besieged because we lacked a clear picture of what was happening.
Panetta admitted that while the drone surveillance did give us a real-time view of events on the ground, there were still some unanswered questions. First, we couldn't be sure how many attackers were involved. Was it 50, 100? Without knowing this we couldn't be sure how many reinforcements to send.
Second, the pictures from the drone couldn't clearly establish the intent of the attackers, Panetta continued. We had no way of knowing they would actually kill the Ambassador. Maybe if those under attack had simply surrendered they would have been taken alive. We couldn't risk negating this potential option.
There was always the chance that an attempt to rescue the Ambassador might make things worse, Panetta added. As it now stands, only four Americans were killed. If we had sent in troops there likely would've been more casualties on both sides. By declining to charge in we at least have no Libyan blood on our hands.
The Secretary brushed off reports that those under attack were desperately pleading for help. It's to be expected that persons in their position would have a rather narrow perspective of the situation, he said. It's hard to appreciate the bigger picture when you're in fear for your life. Those of us with broader responsibilities must maintain a calmer demeanor and balance the costs and benefits of escalating the confrontation.
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news posts you can find them at...
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/121509-2012-10-26-semi-news-a-satire-of-recent-news-october-28-2012.htm
BTTT
ping
Panetta sounds like a genuine idiot. Surrender? Nuts!
Fumbled that 3:00 am call.
Panetta serving up extra large portions of B.S. tonight!
Hard to tell what is satire and what isn’t these days.
“By declining to charge in we at least have no Libyan blood on our hands.”
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't have him also say "We also need to respect the air space of a sovereign nation".
Drone video, site security video and a guy on the ground on the phone just doesn’t give you a full picture. We need to give the terrorists some sat phones or iPads so they can send us their side of the fight to look at.
Sheesh. Yup, you are correct. Hard to tell with these jerks in office.
lol!! I would not put it past them. Optimally they won't put the bumps in the road in those words.
“we couldn’t be sure how many reinforcements to send.
Umm, ALL OF THEM!
HE IS A FREAKING ASSHAT!
Don’t add the satire tag to the front end, John. Don’t let them do that to you.
Don’t add the satire tag to the front end, John. Don’t let them do that to you.
Since this attack happened on foreign soil, I’m surprised they didn’t claim they couldn’t differentiate between the good and bad guys. Video being grainy, it being night time and all...
Did anyone of them take a potty break during this 7 hour violent action movie? I’m sure bozo took a pot break.
At the end of this “movie” did the credits say “I am barack obama and I approve of this message”?
I had an argument with a lib, and he said he saw an ABC special on Benghazi a few days ago, and what he learned was that the ambassador acted like a cowboy going to Benghazi instead of staying in the capital. So ABC is blaming the victim, in this instance, the dead victim!
Nothing the MSM does can surprise me anymore. I hope.
this is not a subject for satire.
I rather think that anyone who who lost a son that night would not think so - ever.
and we all lost sons that night - they were ours.
this is throwing fuel on the fire - for what? a chance for some attention - to show cleverness?
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