Mona Charen: "Tyrone Woods certainly didn’t have any doubt about what to do when Americans were under attack."

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/331977/benghazi-symbol-obama-s-leadership-mona-charen

OCTOBER 30, 2012 12:00 A.M. Benghazi: A Symbol of Obama’s Leadership The president’s account of his directives doesn’t square with Panetta’s story. By Mona Charen "Most of the press was willing to let the story fade, because the man in charge is their man and he is in a tight race for reelection. But Fox News, Eli Lake ofThe Daily Beast, and one or two others have revealed details about the administration’s handling of the crisis that are beyond embarrassing — they verge on malfeasance. According to Fox’s Jennifer Griffin, former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, who was part of a small team at the CIA safe house about a mile from the consulate, heard shots fired at 9:40 p.m. He urgently requested backup from the CIA and asked permission to head to the consulate to help. The request was denied three times. He and his team were told to “stand down.” ...................... General David Petraeus says that the CIA never denied a request for help — which raises the question: Who else but the White House would have made such a decision? Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta may have answered the question — and exposed as false Obama’s claim that the White House directed that our personnel be secured. Panetta explained that 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, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.” Really? Is the Secretary of Defense really saying that we can’t put forces at risk when Americans are already at risk and are being shot at? Why do we have a military again? Tyrone Woods certainly didn’t have any doubt about what to do when Americans were under attack. He defied orders and rushed to help, sacrificing his own life. It’s what any member of the armed forces would normally do — unless restrained by incompetent civilian authority."