From an old article on Benghazi casting light on the situation. General Ham was responsible for the US military in Africa (less Egypt) until his sudden early retirement after contradicting the administration :
Questions remain, especially because Ham's account of the terror attack contradicts the accounts of both Panetta and Barack Obama.
Panetta is on record as claiming that the refusal to use force was the result of a three-party consultation between Gen. Dempsey, Ham, and himself. At a Pentagon press briefing, Panetta told reporters:
"(The) basic principle is that you don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on; without having some real-time information about what's taking place. And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation." [Emphasis added.]
Ham simply said that he had forces ready and that no order was given, making no mention of a "consensus."
Also revealed is that the U.S. had drones and real-time visual/audio communication during the attacks. Commanders could watch the entire tragedy unfold. The drone footage of the events in Benghazi has been classified by the Obama administration, which summarily declared the content "Top Secret."
But these facts reveal an inconsistency in Panetta's narrative, which has led some critics to question Panetta's entire account of the events in Benghazi. According to Congressman Jason Chaffetz -- who traveled with Ham and asked a number of pertinent questions related to Benghazi -- forces were available and "had proximity," but no order was given to use them. Chaffetz sits on several Homeland Security subcommittees.
Other reports say Special Forces members in Italy were told to wait, or got no orders at all.
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