Posted on 02/08/2013 7:11:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
According to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, as reported at The Weekly Standard, President Obama was completely aloof from the events in Libya on September 11. He neither asked nor ordered anything. He did not respond to information sent to the White House. He was not involved at all, during the seven-plus-hour attack that resulted in the deaths of four American government employees, including an ambassador.
A few months back, when, for the sake of argument, we were all giving Obama the benefit of the doubt on being human, albeit wretchedly so, I felt compelled to qualify a critique of the president's conscienceless handling of Benghazi with this:
"Was the president aware of these events during the first few of those seven long hours? Obviously, he would have been notified of such events immediately, were he available. Equally obviously, the president is always, in theory, available. If he could not be "reached" during those first hours, then the answer to the natural follow-up question -- "Why not?" -- is too twisted to contemplate."
Under questioning from Senator Kelly Ayotte, Panetta has at last set the record straight. We may all dispense with the niceties and call it as it is: Obama is too twisted to contemplate.
Repeatedly, in answer to Ayotte's probing about communications between Panetta and the White House, Panetta explains plainly that, apart from a scheduled meeting in the afternoon of September 11, he had no contact with Obama that day. The president was not involved, and did not wish to be involved, in the communications and decision-making processes of that day. An ongoing terrorist attack on his administration's diplomatic mission in a volatile region on the eleventh anniversary of September 11, 2001 was not considered worthy of his direct involvement.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
SEN. GRAHAM: Are you surprised that the president of the United States never called you, Secretary Panetta, and say, hows it going?
SEC. PANETTA: I you know, normally in these situations
SEN. GRAHAM: Did he know the level of threat that
SEC. PANETTA: Let well, let me finish the answer. We were deploying the forces. He knew we were deploying the forces. He was being kept updated
SEN. GRAHAM: Well, I hate to interrupt you, but I got limited time. We didnt deploy any forces. Did you call him back wait a minute
SEC. PANETTA: No, but the event the event was over by the time we got
SEN. GRAHAM: Mr. Secretary, you didnt know how long the attack would last. Did you ever call him and say, Mr. President, it looks like we dont have anything to get there anytime soon?
SEC. PANETTA: The event was over before we could move any assets.
SEN. GRAHAM: It lasted almost eight hours. And my question to you is during that eight-hour period, did the president show any curiosity about hows this going, what kind of assets do you have helping these people? Did he ever make that phone call?
SEC. PANETTA: Look, there is no question in my mind that the president of the United States was concerned about American lives and, frankly, all of us were concerned about American lives.
SEN. GRAHAM: With all due respect, I dont believe thats a credible statement if he never called and asked you, are we helping these people; whats happening to them? We have a second round, and well take it up then.
Graham just demolished the entire White House defense on Benghazi in less than ten minutes of cross-examination.
Repeatedly, in answer to Ayotte's probing about communications between Panetta and the White House, Panetta explains plainly that, apart from a scheduled meeting in the afternoon of September 11, he had no contact with Obama that day. The president was not involved, and did not wish to be involved, in the communications and decision-making processes of that day. An ongoing terrorist attack on his administration's diplomatic mission in a volatile region on the eleventh anniversary of September 11, 2001 was not considered worthy of his direct involvement.
Ayotte: Did he ever call you that night to say, "How are things going? What's going on?"
Panetta: No, but we were aware that as we were getting information on what was taking place there, particularly when we got information that the ambassador -- his life had been lost, we were aware that that information went to the White House.
Ayotte: Did you communicate with anyone else at the White House that night?
Panetta: No.
Ayotte: No one else called you to say, "How are things going?"
Panetta: No.
Through it all, Obama's White House simply did not respond or engage. Given the auspiciousness of the date and the seriousness of the attack, we must now ask, with the utmost gravity, "Why not?"
It just doesn’t make sense. He is aloof? Two months before a very important election, and he is ALOOF? Look, the man is generally stupid, but even HE is not THAT stupid. There is something else going on here and we need to get to the bottom of it PRONTO.
What more can I say?
Anyone wanting on or off this ping list, please advise.
RE: There are only four possibilities:
Drunk
Stoned
Passed Out
All Of The Above
___________________________
Some other possibilities:
He didn’t care
He didn’t take it seriously
He didn’t think it was the priority
He was plainly incompetent
It is part of his plan.
SEN. GRAHAM: ...We didnt deploy any forces...
SEC. PANETTA: No, but...The event was over before we could move any assets.
Can anyone explain to me the difference between "deploying forces" and "moving assets?" And why does Graham say we did not deploy forces right after Panetta says we did? Does deploy mean one thing to Panetta and another to Graham? Is there a precise meaning?
I of course don’t know but......
In addition to the people there were things.
My interpretation of what Panetta said is:
The time required for the people was less than that for the things and the things were deemed necessary to achieve superiority. There was not enough time to get the things there and the people were not deployed
I did not make that decision and it is far above my ability to comprehend
How was he made aware? Who told him that information was going to the WH -- and who was getting it there -- and how?
Why wasn't he asked this?
“The secretary of defense and his military commanders did nothing. The secretary of state did nothing. The president never called to ask, “How are things going?”...”
Unfortunately, I’m guessing that many of the Obama voters in this country agree with these (non) actions. There will be no hue & cry from them.
Someone needs to put out a FOI request and publish the White House Visitors log book for that day.
Who did Obama want to spend his time with on 9/11?
thanks for posting that
It angers me that the 0dumbo people reacted as they did while Americans were being killed
it angers me that 0dumbo’s people would sit in a Senate hearing and sdmit to ineptness
but most of all it angers me that most of America doesn’t care
except for Freepers and good conservatives
#5: Reading about a pet goat.
Did General Hamm ever testify? We know he resigned over this issue (retirement, yeah right!). And we know Petraeus was booted out after saying no one in HIS command gave a stand down order. So that only leaves SECDEF, SECSTATE, possibly the NSA, and the CINC.
They’ve circled the wagons to protect each other. But hey, this is what America voted for. And the idiot half of the US will vote for Hillary in 2016 because “Let’s make history!”
The Preezy and Madame Secretary were incommunicado for purposes of plausible deniability. A cynical person would believe it was a failed hostage taking event which was originally planned to use Am. Stevens as a bargaining chip for the release of the blind sheik, all coordinated with our MOTUS (Muslim of the United States).
“.....Panetta has at last set the record straight.”
Actually, Panetta has helped to rewrite the record..... with lies.
I think Panetta was trying his best to protect BO. I think BO probably gave the order for them NOT to do anything and then walked away. Treason.
Barry was prolly out AWOL in the Choom wagon. Boys just wanna have fun.
It is government speak for “we were clueless, we didn’t know what to do and we hoped we would all wake up soon from a bad dream.”
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