Panetta: Obama never called back to check on Benghazi

Hot Air.com ^ | February 8, 2013 | ED MORRISSEY

[Kaslin]

We didn’t get to this yesterday, but it’s definitely worth watching — especially for the skill shown by Lindsey Graham in his examination of Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey. The headline takeaway will be what is remembered most: the revelation that Barack Obama never bothered to keep in touch with his chair of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense after being informed that an American consulate was under attack from terrorists.

But if that’s all you hear from this, you’re missing the big picture. Graham managed to elicit a number of damaging statements from the two. Not one aircraft had been deployed during the attack; not one boot left the ground outside of Libya. As far as the 281 concurrent threat reports that Panetta and Dempsey claimed kept them from considering Benghazi a special threat, Graham asks how many of those cables came from US Ambassadors stating specifically (as Stevens’ did) that an American installation was incapable of defending itself against a sustained attack and that government buildings nearby were flying al-Qaeda flags — “because I want to know about them, if they do,” Graham adds. Dempsey tries to push that off to State, at which time Graham informs Dempsey that Hillary Clinton claimed never to have seen that cable, even though Dempsey clearly had, which he admits is “surprising.”

Graham then circles back to the lack of action from the White House once the attack was under way:

Lindsey Graham Hammers Leon Panetta & Gen Dempsey on Benghazi and not getting troops there

SEN. GRAHAM: Are you surprised that the president of the United States never called you, Secretary Panetta, and say, ‘how’s it going?’

SEC. PANETTA: I — you know, normally in these situations –

SEN. GRAHAM: Did he know the level of threat that –

SEC. PANETTA: Let — well, let me finish the answer. We were deploying the forces. He knew we were deploying the forces. He was being kept updated –

SEN. GRAHAM: Well, I hate to interrupt you, but I got limited time. We didn’t deploy any forces. Did you call him back — wait a minute –

SEC. PANETTA: No, but the event — the event was over by the time we got –

SEN. GRAHAM: Mr. Secretary, you didn’t know how long the attack would last. Did you ever call him and say, Mr. President, it looks like we don’t have anything to get there anytime soon?

SEC. PANETTA: The event was over before we could move any assets.

SEN. GRAHAM: It lasted almost eight hours. And my question to you is during that eight-hour period, did the president show any curiosity about how’s this going, what kind of assets do you have helping these people? Did he ever make that phone call?

SEC. PANETTA: Look, there is no question in my mind that the president of the United States was concerned about American lives and, frankly, all of us were concerned about American lives.

SEN. GRAHAM: With all due respect, I don’t believe that’s a credible statement if he never called and asked you, are we helping these people; what’s happening to them? We have a second round, and we’ll take it up then.

Graham just demolished the entire White House defense on Benghazi in less than ten minutes of cross-examination.

[Slings and Arrows]

my 70 yr old mother knew more about what was happening in Benghazi then the president of the United States

Is your 70 year old mother interested in being Secretary of Defense? It sounds like she has more on the ball than Panetta.

[gonzo]

Bamp ...................................................................... FRegards

[MestaMachine]

For the late birds or the early birds. Been a busy day and I apologize for missing this one earlier.

"SEN. GRAHAM: It lasted almost eight hours. And my question to you is during that eight-hour period, did the president show any curiosity about how’s this going, what kind of assets do you have helping these people? Did he ever make that phone call?"

"SEC. PANETTA: Look, there is no question in my mind that the president of the United States was concerned about American lives and, frankly, all of us were concerned about American lives."

"SEN. GRAHAM: With all due respect, I don’t believe that’s a credible statement if he never called and asked you, are we helping these people; what’s happening to them? We have a second round, and we’ll take it up then."

Anyone wanting on or off this ping list, please advise.

[MestaMachine]

Thank you, gonzo. I appreciate the ping.

[LifeComesFirst]

Obama and the left hates the American military, it’s been that way since. Vietnam. After 9/11 they became experts at faking sympathy for the troops. But here the mask slips as it sometimes does.

[Redak]

Graham is setting this up to softball Paneta and say “oh that makes sense”, Graham is just looking for his sound bites, his personal history with FR has shown us otherwise!

He'll be on every talk show after he says the magick words, he knows the game, free air/campaign time and probably a pat on the back when election time comes from the O or not depending on how he wants it!

[MestaMachine]

As far as I know, graham is still a JAG officer in the USAF. I actually think he takes military matters seriously. I don’t like him much otherwise, but in this, just maybe.

[Cowboy Bob]

If Obama was president on September 11, 2001, America would never have learned about the attack.

[The_Media_never_lie]

If the mainstreams don’t report it, it’s like it never happened. The world may laugh at us, but our citizens are clueless.

[ScottinVA]

Damn, I wish Americans cared about this. They’d be giving laser-like focus if this happened during the Bush Administration... But on this, like everything else, Obama gets a pass.

[Truth29]

The power not to report is the most frightening of all. If the masses don’t see it on the tube, it doesn’t exist. There isn’t even a debate, it just never happened. Talk to someone about it and they say you are just crazy.

[ScottinVA]

“JFK would’ve been on every second”

He’ll, even CARTER would’ve been on this continuously. Obama doesn’t view issues through an American prism. After all, why would he? He despises America.

[trebb]

If nothing else, I use these “revelations” to force some Dim co-workers to think. One is a rabid Dim and has been looking a bit “twitchy” lately as he tries to reconcile the baseness of his hero with what he wants to believe.

[1rudeboy]

I remember Graham being one of the better House Impeachment managers during the Clinton mess.

[rodguy911]

From what I have read so far,quite a bit,there are two emerging schools of thought regarding Benghazi and the fate of Chris Stevens. Could either of thee schools of thought be what the regime was thinking?

1. Let's trade Stevens for the blind sheik. Send in a bunch of our terrorists friendlies,under our control, pick him up. No one will offer any resistance and then make the trade after the election.Lets kidnap him.

2.Stevens has been shipping weapons allover the mid-east,from RPG's to shoulder fired man-pads to AKs' to you name it and he knows waaaay too much about the Mid-east. He's better connected than we are plus he's gay. If all this gets out,politically, we look bad. He must die.

I guess either one is a potential.

As far as any leadership qualities for ozero you can forget it.He has none. Was never supposed to have any and remains a Manchurian Candidate. He's there just to raise money and repeat passages from the prompter,nothing new here. He's been voting present for years.

[rodguy911]

The only thing the Obamahole was concerned with was his campaign event the next day.

ANd... plausible deny-ability which I don't think he got. Which is why this story will die if not already dead. Unless we are successful in keeping it alive.

We shall see tonight if Judge Jeanine can bring it back from the dead. She's one of our best hopes.

[rodguy911]

Has anyone gotten to the question of who gave the orders to the potential rescuers to stand down, or is that off the table?

I'm betting this is a CIA op.

It would have been their call.More plausible deny-ability. Make it CIA. We don't have to talk bout it by law.Let the front men,Panetta, Hillary other losers take the heat for not talking. Who is in charge of the CIA. Oh yeah he's gone......what was his name....Betray us?

We know what the regime has on Petraeus--his affairs,Hillary--2016. What do they have on Panetta--whatever it is you can bet its big.

[rodguy911]

But here the mask slips as it sometimes does.

We need to catch and expose these basturds every time they slip.

[rodguy911]

I agree there is no way to trust Goober. He's the waiter/busboy for the gang of eight.

Stakes must be high for him to remain in office.We have got to have a better conservative in SC than this clown!!

[Georgia Girl 2]

“I can never remember a president being so totally unconcerned that he was completely disconnected to his dept of defense during such an attack.”

Thats what you do when you are a puppet. You get out of the way of the puppet masters.