Commander-in-Chief Obama Absent During Benghazi

[PrisonerOfHope]

Secretary of Defense: Commander-in-Chief Obama Absent During Benghazi Attack
Kyle Becker February 7, 2013 1:57 pm

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta provided testimony to a Senate hearing today regarding President Obama’s involvement, or lack thereof, during the 9/11 anniversary attack at a Benghazi, Libya diplomatic compound that left four American servicemen dead. The head civilian defense official implies repeatedly that the president was AWOL or ‘absent without leave’ after giving a general directive to deal with the matter. The following is the transcript:

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R – NH): So he [President Obama] didn’t ask you what ability we had in the area and what we could do?

Sec. Panetta: No, I think… I mean, he… relied on, uh… on both myself as Secretary and on General Dempsey’s capabilities. He knows generally, uh, what we’ve deployed to the region, uh, we’ve presented that to him in other briefings. So, he knew generally what was deployed out there. But as to specifics about time, etc., etc., no, he just left that up to us.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte: Did you have any further communications with him that night?

Sec. Panetta: No.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte: Did you have any other further communications, did he ever call you that night… to say, how are things going, what’s going on, where’s the consulate?

Sec. Panetta: No, but… we were aware of that as uh, we were getting information what was taking place there, particularly uh, we got information that the ambassador, uh, his life had been lost. So, we, we… were aware that that information had went to the White House.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte: Did you communicate with anyone else at the White House that night?

Sec. Panetta: No.

Sen. Ayotte: No one else called you to say, how are things going?

Sec. Panetta: No.

Sen. Ayotte: Okay, and um, since then has the president asked you why weren’t we able to get, in light of the second attack that occurred seven hours later, armed assets there in order to help those who were left and attacked in the annex?

Sec. Panetta: The president has made very clear to both myself and General Dempsey that, uh, with regards to future threats we have got to be able to deploy forces in a position to where we can more rapidly respond.

Sen. Ayotte: Just to be clear, that night he didn’t ask you what assets we had available and how quickly they could respond and what we could do to help those individuals?

Sec. Panetta: The biggest problem that night, Senator, was that nobody knew really what was going on there.

Sen. Ayotte: And there was no follow-up during the night, at least from the White House directly?

Sec. Panetta: No.

Unbelievable. So it is true that the president received the briefing within 90 minutes of the attack and then prepared to set off for a Las Vegas fundraiser without so much as checking back on the American diplomats and servicemen missing, killed by terrorists, or abandoned in harm’s way.

Video at link:

www.ijreview.com/2013/02/34896-secretary-of-defense-commander-in-chief-barack-obama-awol-during-benghazi-terrorist-attack/