Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta criticized President Obama for "never coming to a decision" when deliberating over arming Syrian rebels in 2012.
"To a large extent, it wasn't that the president kind of said, 'No, we shouldn't do it,'" Panetta said. "The president never really came to a decision as to whether or not it should happen."
CNN reporter asked what Panetta meant by that. His statement needed no clarification--Obama never made a decision.
"I think it basically sat there for a while, and then got to the point where everybody just kind of assumed that it was not going to happen," Panetta said. "I think it would have been far better had he just made the decision--we're not going to do it--and so that everybody kind of knew where we were."
Panetta said the president showed hesitation to "do what needed to be done."
"We all kind of waited to see whether or not he would ultimately come around," Panetta said. "And it didn't happen."
