If I understand the likely scenario, the military would have scrambled immediately, and General Ham would have notified Obama and Panetta that he was ready to go.
All he needed was authorization to cross international borders. Ham wasn’t asking for help. Obama declined to cross international borders. Technically, that was not declining a request for help.
Ya gotta parse all these weasel words. Remember Clinton? It all depends on what the definition of is is? Same thing here.
But Obama did approve the drones to cross international borders. If he was going to allow that asset, why not allow other assets? He didn’t have to use them all if the intel eventually came in saying it was dangerous, but if you aren’t sure what’s going on wouldn’t you make sure you were prepared for any eventuality? Why just send in a scope to watch, and not have any options to use for whatever you end up seeing?