Continuing his intense criticism of President Barack Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday said that the security failures in Benghazi, Libya were a stark contrast to America’s readiness on Sept. 11, 2001.
“In my past experience when we got into these situations — especially after 9/11 — we were always there, locked and loaded, ready to go on 9/11,” Cheney told Fox News Channel commentator Sean Hannity in a phone interview. “We have specially-trained units that practice this sort of thing all the time. They are very good at it and they are chomping at the bit to go.”
Cheney wondered why American forces weren’t “deployed and ready to go to take action in any of those areas in the Middle East or North Africa.”
“It makes no sense,” Cheney said.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served under Cheney, mocked the notion that the U.S. could have implemented a swift response to the attack in Benghazi, saying Sunday that the suggestion reveals a “cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces.”
