It will come as no surprise to many that on September 11, 2012, the night of the terrorist attacks on our diplomatic facilities is Behghazi, Libya, Mr. Obama did nothing at all. Actually, that’s not quite fair. After a pre-scheduled, late afternoon meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and JCOS Chairman Martin E. Dempsey during which the attack was discussed, he led from behind by making no phone calls to anyone, and left for Las Vegas the next day for a campaign fundraising trip.
telegraph.co.uk
President Obama didn’t make any phone calls the night of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the White House said in a letter to Congress released Thursday.
‘During the entire attack, the president of the United States never picked up the phone to put the weight of his office in the mix,’ said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican…
Mr. Graham said that if Mr. Obama had picked up the phone, at least two of the Americans killed in the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi might still be alive because he might have been able to push U.S. aid to get to the scene faster.
In congressional testimony last week, Dempsey and Panetta confirmed that after their initial meeting with Mr. Obama, he did not speak with either of them for the remainder of the attacks, which lasted about eight hours. The Washington Times also noted:
Mr. Panetta told Congress last week that he knew immediately the attacks were a terrorist assault, though the White House downplayed that notion in the first five days after the attack.
John Hinderaker at PowerLine writes:
The administration’s quiescence in the face of the terrorist attack in Benghazi has always seemed inexplicable. Why didn’t anyone try to help the besieged Americans over the course of that long night? Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey testified on Benghazi before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, but their account made no sense. They said that no help was dispatched to try to save the Americans because 1) the State Department never requested it, and 2) there wasn’t enough time. But there was plenty of time, seven or eight hours before the last two Americans were finally overcome.
Hinderaker quotes Ann Althouse, adding his own postscript:
I think he is ashamed. Here’s what I’ve been assuming happened: It looked like our people were overwhelmed and doomed, so there was shock, sadness, and acceptance. But then the fight went on for 7 or 8 hours. The White House folk decided there was nothing to do but accept the inevitable, and then they witnessed a valiant fight which they had done nothing to support. It was always too late to help. It was too late after one hour, then too late after 2 hours, then too late after 3 hours…. When were these people going to die already? After that was all over, how do you explain what you did?
I, too, hope that Obama–and Hillary Clinton, also–have the decency to be ashamed of themselves.
I suspect Althouse is correct in part. I have little doubt the White House was anxious for the attacks to be over, regardless of how many Americans had to die. We now know several indisputable facts about that night:
(1) Our people were continually crying out for help until the last two were killed by mortar fire some seven to eight hours into the attack.
(2) Only the POTUS can authorize our military forces to cross national borders.
(3) If a call had been made, we had military forces able to be on the ground within two hours.
(4) Mr. Obama never called the two men–Dempsey and Panetta–he had to call to make that authorization. He never called merely for a situation report.
Allow me please, gentle readers, to provide an alternate vision of what happened in the White House that night:
I think Mr. Obama knows the public would expect him to be ashamed, but he is not. Anyone suffering from his degree of arrogant narcissism is incapable of shame. What mattered was his re-election. He was running as a manly, gutsy terror warrior, a man who had all but eliminated the terrorist threat, saved and pacified Libya, and he wasn’t going to let the lives of an ambassador and a few retired grunts get in the way of what was really important: his image. Too late to help? Yes, but only because Mr. Obama and his political advisors never had the slightest intention of doing anything to help. I’m sure they suffered considerable stress as the attack drug out from one hour to two to three, but that stress was due to the potential loss of Mr. Obama’s political viability, not the unnecessary loss of American lives in the service of a feckless and faithless Commander and Chief.
And after all of that was over, how do you explain what you did? That was the easiest part; no one broke a sweat over that one. They got UN Ambassador Rice to fall on her sword, and the White House media machine spooled up. Hillary Clinton and Mr. Obama lied–Panetta and Dempsey testified they knew it was a lie on 09-11–and kept lying for weeks and finally quit lying, acting as though they never lied at all. What they never did, what they have not done, is tell the truth. They’re not ashamed of their inaction, their naked political calculation that cost the lives of far better men, they’re afraid of exposure.
The President of the United States, the Commander in Chief, had no interest in the lives of those Americans, and less in supporting men for whom he was directly responsible. He had no interest in America’s role in the world and of the consequences of his shameful inaction. He couldn’t be bothered.
After all, compared to what was really important–maintaining the political viability of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama–what difference does it make?
To Mr. Obama and Hillary Clinton, none at all.
Stately McDaniel Manor 
From the end of the pre-planned meeting at 5:00 p.m. with Panetta and Dempsey, all we know Obama did was make a phone call to Benjamin Netanyahu that lasted from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Then nothing.
But here is another interesting fact, Mike: Panetta testified that it was he who informed Obama the Benghazi compound was under attack when they first entered the 5:00 p.m. meeting. Think on that awhile. The Benghazi compound had been under attack for over an hour, and the President didn’t know about it until 5:00 p.m.?
Obama was under fire for another insult to Netanyahu, so he was going to try to patch that anti-Israeli image with a phone call. Of all people, Bibi Netanyahu, a warrior himself, would have understood if that call was cancelled, due to the events unfolding in Benghazi. But the election was less than two months away, and The Won had to try to secure the American Jewish vote. And then he went to bed. After all, Vegas was calling.
No American, who cares about our citizens, could have watched the Panetta/Dempsey testimonies without getting sick at their stomach. It was a disgrace, a national disgrace.
The lamestream press likes to equate Obama to Lincoln, or FDR. Can anyone imagine either one of those men trying to protect their image when Americans were dying on foreign soil? But nothing will come of the Benghazi fiasco. Nothing will happen to a president who is a national disgrace, who cares naught for the lives of those who actually work for him, who thinks more of his image to a certain voter bloc than he does the safety of Americans. That 3:00 a.m. call came, only it came at 3:40 p.m. D.C. time, and both Obama, and Hillary didn’t take it.
What is our nation coming to when we no longer “leave no man behind” and we are nothing but greedy leeches wanting free cell phones.
Two things I really have not had explained.
1) My understanding is that there were some 30 people in the Consulate when it came under attack. The Consulate staff immediately asekd for help and got none.
The security consultants with the CIA were at a nearby building and heard the attack. They were told not to interfere, but the former Navy SEALs were not going to let other Americans get killed when they could assist. So they assisted the Consulate staff against orders.
During their intervention, the two SEALs and two Consulate staff (including Ambassador Stevens) got separated from the others. They went to the safe house where they were later pinned down and killed.
Was the administration really going to let some 30 diplomatic staff be killed? That was the exposure if the CIA security consultants did not interfere.
2) Who exactly handled any of the distress calls from either the Consulate or the safe house without escalating the priority? Who was the authority that denied assistance?
I want to know who said no, we are not sending force to Benghazi. It makes a great deal of difference to me to know who should never be in a position of public trust and authority again.
An overall comment – this is what ou get when you select someone for office whose primary experience is being “present”.
Let me try to clear up one fact for you; the compound in Benghazi was NOT a counsulate. It has never been clearly defined exactly that purpose that compound served. We do know there were, at least, three buildings at that compound. The residency that Ambassador Stevens used, the building that [supposedly] housed the compound guards, and another building, quite large, that no one has stated a purpose for. There is some speculation that the third, and largest, building was used to store arms and ammunition for purposes other than defending the compound.
We also know that Ambassador Stevens met with a representative of Turkey that night. And it has also been proposed that Stevens was trying to facilitate the supplying of arms to Syrian rebels using a route through Turkey. It is almost a straight shot by water from Benghazi to the tip of Turkey that connects with Syria.
We also learned that the two former SEALs were working there to try to “retrieve” weapons from Libya. If, as the administration indicated, those arms were furnished to the Libyan rebels (that the UK press reported were nothing more than spin-offs of al Qaeda) by the French, why would US interests be trying to retrieve French supplied weapons? And why would the Ambassador to Libya be meeting with a Turkish representative in Benghazi?
We are told that 30 “compound” workers were rescued by the team that came from Tripoli. Who are they? Were they Americans? It has been reported that the Benghazi “compound” has a small security force. Is the number 30 now considered “small?” And if that is the case, why have none of the 30 survivors been interviewed by any Congressional representative?
There is a lot of conflicting information being leaked out. It is like wading through waist high weeks trying to find a lost penny.
But what we do know is an autrocity was allowed to happen while our CIC did nothing to save the lives of those FSOs. Nothing.
Retired 2005,
You have some VERY interesting questions. Thanks for taking the time to point them out to those of us that are not well enough informed to know ‘what’ questions to ask. Very helpful!