The immediate order of the day was to work on spin and perfect a media effort, NOT to try to rescue our American heroes.
You can do both at the same time.
There are only two explanations for this debacle. One, incompetence. Two, deliberate inaction for reasons unknown.
All POTUS had to do was say "go". If it doesn't work out, he could blame the military later, Obama was always good at blaming others. If incompetence is the reason, it rises to a staggering level.
I think the inaction was deliberate.