March to the sound of the... winds?

In a rather peculiar statement the other day, Leon Panetta said that the miliatry was not deployed to help defend the Benghazi consulate because he didn't have much information about the situation on the ground, and he didn't want to send US troops into harm's way.

I'm sorry, even with the gravity of the situation in mind, this is kinda funny. First of all, the sole purpose of the military is to go into harm's way. That's their job. They're equipped to handle it. They train for it every day.

Second, General Scales was on Fox commenting on this, and he noted that a long-standing military principle is that if you don't exactly know where the battle is, you "march to the sound of the guns." That is to say, you head directly into harm's way.

Third, if you have two drones over Benghazi collecting information, including night visual and infrared images -- and at least one of them might well be armed -- as well as two experienced people on the ground who can target enemy weapons with laser systems, what more information do you need, exactly? Advice from the White House as to the political correctness of the whole thing? And really, would that come under the heading of "intelligence" after all?

Leon, were you ever in the army? Have you ever even read anything about military tactics? Intelligence on troop and weapons deployment is more a less a "nice-to-have" in a combat situation, but it's only been available for the last 100 years or so on a reliable basis -- only since aircraft has been able to do fly-overs, really. You can't even really trust spies all the time, spies being notoriously motivated by money rather than by any national allegiance.

Or, more to the point, does Panetta know nothing about military honor? About guys like Ty Woods and Glen Dougherty, who will rush to provide assistance even when ordered to "stand downn"? You don't even leave your own dead on the ground in enemy territory. What about that, Mr. Panetta, Comrade, Mdm. Hillary, and the whole pack of idiots. Didn't take that into account, did you? Possibly because it's a notion so far from your own thought processes.

But the Comrade is right on his toes in combatting Hurricane Sandy. As the storm works its way up the coast, the Big Zero is touring FEMA headquarters and making sure aid and assistance is standing by.

It's OK to write off an ambassador, his aide, and two former Navy SEALS, but God forbid the lights go out on the Jersey shore. Is that it?

Yup. Right on his toes.

Save the Republic.