We now know that the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya was going on for 7-8 hours. We also now know that we had a drone over the compound. CBS: CBS News has been told that, hours after the attack began, an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Benghazi, and that the drone and other reconnaissance aircraft apparently observed the final hours of the protracted battle. The State Department, White House and Pentagon declined to say what military options were available. A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies.” NATO maintains air bases in Aktion, Greece (418 miles to Benghazi), and Araxos (also 414 miles - and from where anti Ghaddafi missions were flown). AWACS FOB’s in Trapani, Sicily (579 miles). Sigonella Naval and Airbase is 468 miles away and is a major base. F-16’s, and F-18’s can travel at Mach 2 and I am sure they would have been going 13-1400 MPH if the air force had been ordered in to kill bad guys in order to try and save Americans. I also read that in Italy we keep AC-130 gunships which can kill everything in a moving football filed size area with pinpoint accuracy. The C-130 moves at 300 mph. [Image] The inside area near ONE of the guns in an AC-130 [Image] The 2 30 mm Bushmaster Gatling weapons on an AC-130. None of these aircraft which could EASILY have reached Libya in less than 2 hours, maybe in 40 minutes was ordered to do so. I cannot even begin to speculate on why this was not done. I don’t want to hear that some military wonk goes under the bus for telling the president he doubted they could help. It is the president’s job to lead, and tell the military wonk to get his fucking ass in gear and get the planes to the consulate and KILL BAD GUYS, and if that’s impossible, then do the impossible. But, hey, maybe we didn’t have any aircraft nearby, ready to go. WHY NOT? Are we unprepared to render aid? This is not 2001. Failure of imagination is just NOT BELIEVABLE. However, failure to instill preparedness IS QUITE BELIEVABLE. Failure to act aggressively while considering all options (HAMLET) IS QUITE BELIEVABLE. Failure to act aggressively on the chance of being wrong or looking bad IS QUITE BELIEVABLE. What is not arguable given the drone, is that this attack across 7-8 hours demonstrates one thing which is NOT ARGUABLE. There was a FAILURE TO ACT. FAILURE, BARACK, FAILURE Americans are dead. FAILURE. BARACK HAMLET OBAMA Do you think we really cared about Hussein? A schmuck is a schmuck by any name. “Schmuck or shmuck in American English is a pejorative meaning an obnoxious, contemptible or detestable person, or one who is stupid or foolish.”