Pentagon saw chance for hostage mission in Libya

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon says that the U.S. military was ready within a few hours of the terrorist attacks on U.S. outposts in eastern Libya to respond to numerous possibilities, including hostages.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said Friday that when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered several U.S. military units to respond from bases in the U.S. and Europe, he did not know what they might face. As it turned out, he says, he did not get to a staging base in Sicily until well after the attacks in Benghazi had ended.

Little said the Pentagon would soon release a timeline of military actions taken on Sept. 11. Various agencies are each releasing their own timelines for the events that night as Republicans raise questions before the presidential election.