The Senatorial oversight committee investigating the Benghazi fiasco is still conducting hearings. You wouldn’t know that if you read our local Kansas City Red Star nor would you be aware if you only listened to MSM outlets. Testimony last week from SecDef Leon Panetta and CJCS General Martin Dempsey revealed nothing whatsoever was done to send relief to our Libyan Consulate.
Both Panetta and Dempsey tried to evade questions. Dempsey at last responded to the question from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), “Was any asset—soldier, sailor, marine, airman, ship or plane sent to relieve the Benghazi consulate during the eight hours of the attack?” Dempsey, after numerous attempts to equivocate and evade the question finally answered, “No.”
When Leon Panetta was questioned about Obama’s involvement, he, too, evaded questions. He said Obama was informed when the information was first known. Obama told Panetta, “to take care of it.” Thereafter Obama did not call for updates nor, apparently, did Panetta, Dempsey, nor anyone call the White House to provide Obama with an update.
In engineering, process design circles, this is known as an Indecision Loop. You see, neither Panetta nor Dempsey can order troops to act outside of the the US border. That can only be done by the CIC—Obama. As has happened so many times, Obama was absent. Without Obama’s presence and authorization, nothing could be done.
Panetta admitted that the attack in Benghazi ended before anyone in Washington could act. The fact that military assets, from the 4-hour alert units of the 18th Airborne at Ft Bragg, to air and naval assets in the Med and Europe only minutes away, were available was immaterial. The non-leadership in Washington was running in circles because the only one who could make that final decision couldn’t be bothered.
It is interesting that several Generals and Admirals who were in a position to act and who gave orders to prepare to act pending release from Washington were fired. Not only was Washington incapable of acting, they punished those who could and were preparing to act.
From the emerging testimony from Leon Panetta, General Martin Dempsey and SecState Hilliary Clinton we now know the answer to the question posed to Obama during the 2008 election. When the phone rings at 3AM in the morning in a emergency who will answer the phone? Obama or Clinton? The answer, we now know, is neither.