Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning that the Pentagon should not be relied upon to cover all diplomatic missions — namely, the U.S. facility attacked over a period of several hours in Benghazi on Sept. 11.
After Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) vowed to block the nomination of any new defense secretary unless Panetta testified about Benghazi, the defense chief appeared before the panel along with Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey.
“The United States military, as I’ve said, is not and, frankly, should not be a 911 service capable of arriving on the scene within minutes to every possible contingency around the world. The U.S. military has neither the resources nor the responsibility to have a fire house next to every U.S. facility in the world,” Panetta said in his opening statement.
“We have some key bases, particularly in this region. We have some key platforms from which we can deploy. And we have forces on alert, and we’re prepared to move,” he continued. “But our ability to identify threats, to adjust posture, to prevent plots, and respond to attacks to our personnel at home and overseas depends on actionable intelligence — and it always will.”
Four Americans died in the Benghazi assault, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Panetta said the Defense Department is working with the State Department and the intelligence community “to ensure that our collection and analysis is linked with military posture and planning.”
“At the same time, we’re working closely with State to ensure they have our best estimate of response times for each at-risk diplomatic facility so that they can make the best informed decisions about adjustments to their staff presence in areas of increased security threat,” he said. “We’ve deployed key response forces abroad. We have reduced their response time. But let me again say to you that even those — those forces that are on a tight alert time of N-plus-two — notice plus two hours — to be able to on a plane. Once those forces are put on airlift, it still requires many hours in that part of the world to fly distances, long distances in order to be able to respond.”
“I firmly believe that the Department of Defense and the U.S. armed forces did all we could do in the response to the attacks in Benghazi and employed every asset at our disposal that could have been used to help save lives of our American colleagues.”
Seven hours is a long time past N plus two.
More importantly, what was the CIC’s orders regarding sending or not sending rescue to Benghazi?
According to The Weekly Standard, both jughead and Hitlery were never contacted/consulted/informed of any of it. Jughead was unavailable and did not check in; Hitlery was never contacted while the events were underway.
Yup, we have a sophomoric government. They don’t care, they won’t care and you can’t make them care….ever.
I hope that every young person who has or is considering a career in the diplomatic corps has paid close attention to this fiasco. Panetta has thrown every one of them under the bus as not worthy of being protected. This is shameless, and in my book, treasonous. It empowers our enemies to come against anyone we have out in the field. What an embarrassing, arrogant testimony. Shame on him and shame on Obama.
Absolutely right…
Even if IT IS the truth, you dont freaking announce stuff like that to The World.
What the public sees and knows vs whats REALLY goes with foreign embassies and consulates are sometimes (necessarily) different. I get that. Giving this douche-bag more leeway than he deserves, as a pragmatic American I MIGHT be prepared to say:
“Fine. It just couldn’t be made to happen in Benghazi.., but we’ll work on that huh?” and let it go.
Take your public lumps, and hold the line.
Let US think you’re a failure, while you do things the only way they CAN be reasonably done.
But this Turd isn’t man enough to do that.
To take “the heat” for a “failure” as his own, for the soul sake of portraying our capabilities as greater than they MIGHT ACTUALLY BE, to act as a DETERRENT against further attacks.
Its what youre supposed to DO when you “serve”…
Agree to get burnt, even if its not *really* your fault, for the sake of the greater mission. Let the press have their day with your hide, if it keeps The Enemy off-balance and unsure.
This mealy-mouthed Obamanaut is all about HIMSELF.
What.
A.
Prick.
There are and have been for many years coordination between DOS and DOD in the event of Embassy emergencies. Panetta may as well have announced that Embassies and their staffs are expendable.
It is revealing how the more the Obama Administration creates new Federal duties and responsibilities, the more it jettisons the actual core functions of that same federal government.
God help the Foreign Service.
He’s being honest about the military’s capabilities. Assuming a) nobody anticipated an attack on this particular night and b) somebody called for military assitance, it still would have taken several hours for any kind of reinforcements to arrive in Benghazi. By that time, it was all over.
I’m thinking maybe State wants to avoid being too closely identified with U.S. military might. It doesn’t want to give other countries the impression that any time something goes wrong at an American embassy, the Marines are going to invade. Such an impression would make American diplomats less than welcome in many parts of the world.
Even if that’s the case, however, places like Libya should be an exception. The administration KNEW that Libya was unstable, they KNEW that there were jihadis operating there, they KNEW the Libyan government was neither reliable nor in control of Benghazi. They should have had contingency plans – something other than “Get one group of rebel militia to protect you from the other groups of rebel militias.” That was just naive and stupid. I still blame the administration. Their policies got our ambassador killed.
You are operating under the serious misconception that the government cares about the people in embassies around the world when their agenda (Al Quaida is on the run).
You also don’t seem to knowledgeable about the situation or military capabilities. With both of them taken into account, there has been numerous information given about the Spectre Gunship as well as quick-response forces in Italy that were never activated.
Additionally, one cannot assume that the hostilities would be over “by the time the military got there”. With boots on the ground, the military would have been able to assess, adapt and secure the locations as necessary.
I hope you don’t get your information on the military from pulp fiction and movies.
“It doesn’t want…other countries [to think] any time something goes wrong at an American embassy, the Marines are going to invade”
Geezz, and you say that as if its a bad thing?
Every shit-hole place on earth we have so much as a paperclip, should have that palpable fear high in their throat, 24/7-365.
You dont HAVE to invade everywhere..you just have to make it a CREDIBLE POSSIBILITY, to keep the rats in their holes.
“He’s being honest about the military’s capabilities”
Exactly…and thats the PROBLEM.
You dont EVER talk down your overseas capabilities, in public.
Those are behind closed door conversations with “the team”
Panetta is a Schmuck for doing that.
I could not agree more. These people should fear the THOUGHT of looking at us cross-eyed. Unfortunately, those days are behind us and it’ll take a leader with some cojones to re-establish our stature in the world.
But how did they know – at the time – the attack would be over by the time US military could have arrived? There were US citizens who survived. What if the attack had lasted another 2 hours – or 2 days?
Panetta is a lying sack of crap. Assets were readily available and could have been scrambled within minutes while the attack was underway. He is, of course, deliberately avoiding the real questions — What exactly was Ambassador Stevens doing in Benghazi that day and who gave the order to Stand Down? Everything else is bullshit.
Precisely what and where were these “assets?” On an aircraft carrier in the Med or Persian Gulf? Yemen? Italy? How long would it have taken them to arrive in Benghazi? Are you saying they were just minutes away, ready to swoop in and rescue the Ambassador and the rest?
I’m sorry, but I can’t buy that narrative without some specific facts and timetables.
My version of the facts is this: there were NO military assets available to rescue anyone in Benghazi because NO preparations for this contingency had been made for Benghazi. Maybe there were plans for other embassies in other dangerous places. But I think the administration, State, and yes, DoD were totally unprepared for what happened.
I can’t blame Panetta – he just carries out Obama’s policies. The embassy wasn’t protected because Obama and Hillary didn’t want it protected. To them, it was more important to be “diplomatic.” That’s why they gave an unstable, nearly failed state the benefit of the doubt, treating it like it had a “real” government that was able to maintain civil order and provide adequate security to our embassy. Very nice, very good for the egos of our “allies” in Tripoli – but deadly to our people.
Ja, Panetta vas chust carryink out ze orderz. Und zo, no blame muscht gergoink to him or das prezident.
Go back to your corner and come back when you have something more intelligent to say.
“Version of the facts”…my arse. True socialist feel-speak.
Will we ever know what they were doing in the CIA Annex? It’s the CIA poop that is smelling really bad.
“I firmly believe that the Department of Defense and the U.S. armed forces did all we could do in the response to the attacks in Benghazi and employed every asset at our disposal that could have been used to help save lives of our American colleagues.”
Every asset consisted of a couple of Navy Seals that disobeyed orders and went in to try to save our ambassador and his personnel? Yeah, great job there Leon.
What Panetta, with his unfortunate characterizations, and Hillary seemed to have missed is the fact, plain as day, that Benghazi was a vey dangerous place, and that security there should have been much more robust than would be the case for more common consulate locations. The consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico is a fortress, and has been so since before the “narco-troubles” exploded. Panetta and Hillary are dangerous amateurs, as is their boss. Bill Clinton called their boss an amateur to Hillary’s face.
Panetta is exhibiting what our legal system calls “depraved indifference.” Hagel will be even worse.
He’s lying. They all lied about Bengazi.
Everyone is scurrying under a rock. The first testimony asserted that the people in charge of security at that compound urged that the scheduled cut backs in DOD personnel not take place and the DOD assured State it could and would provide the additional protection at no cost.
The State Dept employees say they saw the attacks in “almost real time” and were on the phone continuously but Hildebeast says they didn’t get the overhead drone feed until several days later and it’s the Repubs fault security was cut.
One of the Generals says – contrary to the investigative report – that these were 2 15 minute attacks separated by 6 hours.
Panetta says the military cannot be expected to respond like 911 to known danger areas where ambassadors plead for more security.
Pick a rock. Any rock.
He tells us on the one hand, sequester cuts will devastate our military. On the other hand, we can’t afford to build a firehouse next to every embassy, not even the embassies located next to actively burning buildings.
And while you’re up getting a beer for me, honey, we’re going to spend the money to do everything in our power to get women into the front lines of combat, NOW.
Boy, when Panetta tells you to jump, you just ask “how high?”
I thought it was reported the the Top General in Command of that theater was fired, for trying to help against orders. Was this true did anyone ask one of the Generals what happened? I also believe the Captian of the Carrier Group that did send ina drone was also canned for “trying to help”. I have heard nothing about these guys since…
“I have heard nothing about these guys since…”
Exactly…and you never will, because:
“these are not the droids youre looking for…move along…move along”
Fine, time to do the sequester, as a start. I don’t want to hear anymore whining from the Monterey Pop festival’s favorite Italian about castrating the military’s money supply and its negative effects on “readiness.” It’s time to let the world take care of their own; everyone is beautiful in their own way, I’m sure the people of the world can work out their problems one way or the other, however messy it will be. After all, Americans were not doing 911 before 1914, it’s time to return to those pre-1914 military spending levels as a percentage of GDP. While we’re at, we could return to those same non military Government spending levels of 1914 too. I suspect 90 percent of what the government currently screws up could be privatized or just dumped.
Well, if the military is not there to defend American lives and property, then what the hell good are they?
No, that is a very weak defense, Mr. Secretary. This was NOT some obscure outpost in the Pacific and it certainly wasn’t in some really safe city like Paris. These were diplomats in one of the most dangerous countries in the world and they simply did not have enough military resources to protect them, let alone discourage an attack on our consulate. And are you telling me we had abosolutely NO resources in Italy, just a few miles away from Libya, that could have at least saved the people at the CIA annex? No. Obama decided to cut his losses and did not send any help, letting the people in Benghazi twist in the wind. At the very least, the embassy in Tripoli should have had A LOT more security that could have been used to assist the people in Benghazi if needed. And it should have been done A LOT faster than it was. The military may not be able to protect all Americans all over the world, but it certainly can protect them in the most dangerous countries in the world, like Libya. If they can’t do that, then what use are they?
By the way, during the heyday of America’s golden era of gunboat diplomacy, which was in China and the Philippines from around 1900 to 1941 (the start of World War II for America in the Pacific), Americans in both China and the Philippines understood that the American military (most notably the US Navy) was there specifically to protect them. And if the people in China or the Philippines harmed any Americans (OR THEIR PROPERTY), America would respond quickly and forcefully. And we did, on many occassions, from the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 to various military incidents in both China and the Philippines after the Boxer Rebellion all the way to the 1930s in China. If we could do it back then, we certainly can do it today, where with modern ships and, especially warplanes, we can attack any point on the planet in a matter of hours. So zip it, Panetta. If you can’t protect American lives AND property today with all the modern technology and weapons at our disposal, then crack open a history book and see how it was done in the past. Maybe you could learn something.
Panetta is a Democrat. Ergo, his word is no good on anything. He took an oath, you say? Well, I say he’s a Democrat and challenge you to find even one Democrat in history who took his oath seriously.
I think there was one such democrat once but he’s in a museum now.
That would be Truman…
Dropped the nukes faster than GRAVITY could have…
De-segregated the Military
(Soldiers are the highest form citizens, treat the fair)
Then told the most popular general EVER to go pound salt.
(agree or disagree with the strategy of either man, Truman knew it was HIS call to make, and he did)
Good bad or indifferent feelings toward him, he took his oath seriously.
And that would be “The Root ’83″ giving props to a democrat, not ‘Anonymous”
If I say it, I have to own it, right?
“The United States military is not and should not be a global 911 service …”
All the U.S. military seems to be today is an Islamic Nation Building and PC implementation service.
What! I’m so angry I can’t think straight to type this. Are you f***ing kidding me? From what I hear our forces were told to STAND DOWN. The media should be crucifying this guy, but they won’t of course. We have carriers on station days after an earthquake ferrying in food via helicopter and we can’t respond to an attack in a region we expect attacks. This is just unconscionable!
Panetta is full of $$it! Obama was AWOL; Hillary was AWOL; Panetta is playing dumb;
and 4 Americans died. WTF? The implication is that Ambassador Stevens was at fault and that this Benghazi “embassy” (that wasn’t a real embassy) was not worth protecting. This is FUBAR and Panetta’s testimony is yet another example of BOHICA!!!!!
Am I to understand that the U.S. military is NOT supposed to defend our sovereign land? Is this what this pathetic puke is trying to convey to the American people?
This wasn’t some a-hole who got the wrong order at Burger King JACKASS! How DARE you insult these brave men who died at the hands of DOGS without one bit of help from you or your boss or that sorry excuse for a Secretary of State.
Leon Panetta, you disgust me.
I wish I could improve on what you said, but I don’t think I can. I double ditto your comment.
– Lying to you
Since 1992
The state of our government would be funny as hell if it wasn’t so damn scary!
Yes, Mr Panetta has a beguiling friendly smile but, my skin tingles as soon as I turn my back.
Aside from Ms Clinton who was fired from the Watergate Congressional Committee for dishonesty and is directly responsible for the Four American Murdered—We American citizens know that you were selected to be the Obama Administration’s
“hatchet man” to disembowel the financial guts of our military.
To dare admit to the American People that you were incapable of responding for SEVEN WHOLE HOURS to a critical life-threatening attack of our United States Ambassador on the Aniversarry of 9-11 is beyond blatant hipocracy.
Strangely the British pulled their people out two weeks before it happened. They knew the attacks were coming and they protected their people. Obama refused to allow our people to be protected or withdrawn because that would indicate Obama had NOT wiped out all of al Qaida as he repeatedly claimed in the election run up. So he allowed these people to die in order to support his campaign. He slept through the 3am phone call and abandoned our people. We know who led the attack and Obama isn’t even interested in prosecuting the killers or assassinating him with a drone strike. But Obama is excited that he claims he can legally kill any US Citizen anywhere in the world without legal process or evidence on his whim. And the totalitarian democrats are fine with all this as the media distracts us with honey boo boo.