"They stood and they watched and our people died." More on the controversy about whether U.S. should have deployed reinforcements while Benghazi attack was ongoing.

Retired CIA officer Gary Berntsen believes help could have come much sooner. He commanded CIA counterterrorism missions targeting Osama bin Laden and led the team that responded after bombings of the U.S. Embassy in East Africa.

"You find a way to make this happen," Berntsen says. "There isn't a plan for every single engagement. Sometimes you have to be able to make adjustments. They made zero adjustments in this. They stood and they watched and our people died."
-- From October 20 CBS News report Could U.S. military have helped during Libya attack?

I touched on the controversy in a post yesterday and updated it with links to the following reports and the one above.

October 25, CBS News TV: Military response to Benghazi attack questioned
October 25, The New York Times: Panetta Says Risk Impeded Deployment to Benghazi

During his conversation last night with John Batchelor, former CIA analyst and State Department counterterrorism officer Larry C. Johnson backed up Gary Berntsen's observations and provided details about the kind of military help the Pentagon could have directed to the Americans under attack at the annex -- help that could have saved the lives of Tyrone Woods and Chris Doherty, who were reportedly killed around 4:00 AM Libya time.

Here is the flash player replay of the conversation.