title:  So, About That ‘Stand Down’ Order In Benghazi From Hillary– IT NEVER HAPPENED (VIDEO)
text: That dreadful night in Benghazi, Libya in September of 2012 when the lives of four Americans were lost will be one that we shall never forget. We shall never forget it for two reasons: because of the tragedy that occurred and the loss of life, and because Republicans and Fox News insist that there was some sort of wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton in her reaction to events that took place.Clarifying one of the longest held myths by Fox News and conservatives, Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta spoke to MSNBC s Andrea Mitchell. Not only did he debunk the myth of a  stand down  order so many on the right like to claim was said in an effort to prove Hillary as uncaring and incompetent, but he also explained how everything that could have been done, was done.Mitchell first asks Panetta about some existing circulating theories about that dreadful night in Benghazi:Now you re here in Washington because you re going to be testifying to the Benghazi Select Committee tomorrow. You have already testified to other committees, but to this committee, and there s a new movie coming out, 13 Hours, and it s about to be released. It is accusing the CIA operatives on the ground of being ordered to stand down and not go to the rescue in time. And the suggestion is that, if not for that order to stand down, that Chris Stevens and the others might have been saved. First of all, you were at the Pentagon at the time, I believe. Was there any order to stand down that you know of?Panetta responds:Absolutely not. You know, I m sure there are going to be movies and books and there will be all kinds of theories that will be presented, but from my experience, and from the role that I played as secretary of defense, there was never any order to stand down. On the contrary, the whole effort was to do everything possible to try to save lives.Delving further into if there were any sort of Hillary Clinton misstep, Mitchell asks if there were any sort of  stand down  order:There s also a report, several reports, that the Pentagon made an offer of a rescue effort, military effort to the State Department, and that someone, the suggestion is Hillary Clinton, said,  no thanks, we don t need the help or stand down or stand back.  Was there any effort by the Pentagon to intervene that the State Department rejected and would she have even been in the role?Panetta offers an answer that many right-wingers are not going to like whatsoever, the truth:I m not aware of any such effort at all. As a matter of fact, after meeting with the president, I immediately went back and we made decisions to deploy forces, to put them in place to be able to go in and provide help to those involved, and we in fact put forces in place. The problem was that [the] attack ended quickly and because of time and distance we never had a chance to get there. This is a tragic event. It s tragic in a number of ways. But most importantly, it s tragic because it s now become a political football that unfortunately, I think, doesn t do service to all of those that were committed to trying to protect lives.Panetta is exactly right. This tragedy has become even more tragic by how it has been wrongfully perpetuated by conservatives to try to score political points against Hillary Clinton. We need to learn from what happened in Benghazi and make sure it never happens again. We also need to, once and for all, put the myth to bed that Hillary was incompetent. She, of all people, is quite aware of the loss that happened that day. She s also one of the best qualified to make sure it never happens again. Video/Featured image: MMFA