Yes, I think you could be correct. This could all be set up on Panetta to take the fall. There were lots of stories that 0zer0 wouldn’t make the call on taking out 0sama, and Panetta essentially went around 0zer0 to get Seal Team 6 in the air and on the ground, and only then inform 0zer0 it was going down.
If true, it might explain why Panetta felt like he could take command of this situation also. Remember 0zer0 went to bed after the attack, so that shows 0zer0 (and probably Jarrett) thought this was just a protest, and as such 0zer0 voted “Present” when watching the real time video and getting real time intelligence. That would be expected given his narcissism and world view. Since no decision was made, that left Panetta to make the call, and he chose to stand down.
It just shows what a completely evil narcissist 0zer0 is. He let those people die, and then when it started blowing up, the WH went to full cover up and blame mode. That explains 0zer0 contradictions later when he said “When I realized this was an attack, I did 3 things...Gave an order to help protect our personnel, Ordered and investigation, Ordered us to hunt down those responsible...blah, blah, blah.” That only makes sense if he did this several days after the attack, and that would only make sense if 0zer0, during the time of the attack, actually made the decision that this was a protest, and therefore did nothing.
So in his twisted narcissist world, he can now say he didn’t actually deny help to the embassy. That way he does what he does best, look out for himself. He truly is evil.
“actually made the decision that this was a protest, and therefore did nothing.”
Yup! I always take my motor crew to protests!
” This could all be set up on Panetta to take the fall.”
Hmm. Could this be shaping up as Jarrett taking out Panetta in revenge for end-running her on the Osama raid?