The best accounting of making the Bin Laden decision:

[Guest]

Would any president have made the call to kill bin Laden? - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/04/opinion/bergen-bin-laden-mission/index.html?iref=obinsite)

Now if there was more accounting for what Obama did or did not do in the same fashion as this report, some of us might better appreciate how the end result came to pass.

The reporting of the event that continued to center continued to theatrically center piece Obama, over and over again, came off cheap and ego maniacal. Just like all the anniversary hoopla this year focusing on Obama.

The above article does a much better job of highlighting how he came to a go decision than ANY of the politically spun ego central mode post the event.

btk

[Guest]

Would any president have made the call to kill bin Laden? - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/04/opinion/bergen-bin-laden-mission/index.html?iref=obinsite)

Now if there was more accounting for what Obama did or did not do in the same fashion as this report, some of us might better appreciate how the end result came to pass.

The reporting of the event that continued to center continued to theatrically center piece Obama, over and over again, came off cheap and ego maniacal. Just like all the anniversary hoopla this year focusing on Obama.

The above article does a much better job of highlighting how he came to a go decision than ANY of the politically spun ego central mode post the event.

btk

Great link....great reading...thank you

[Guest]

Very good article, BTK and a very interesting read.

I definitely say it was the right call to make and President Obama had the final say - and he made the right call. The Navy Seals did an excellent job.

Naysayers can say what they want but they have to remember the Navy Seals would not have made a move without the call from the President.

If the mission had failed, no one but President Obama would be blamed. Give the man credit! He made the right call, the Navy Seals did an excellent job, bin Laden is dead.

You hear Pres. Obama praising everyone about the raid. They all deserve praise - beginning with the President who had the final call on the mission.

[Guest]

Interesting article, considering the source, with information I hadn't read before.

He can have the credit for guessing correctly with the intel available to him, and trusting the Seals to do the job.

(I'd still like tangible proof of the outcome, but that's just me. I don't trust easily in tales told)

It's not this episode that going to matter in November, though.

[Guest]

Brian Williams' Rock Center did an excellent job of reporting this event told in the eyes of all who were present in the room that day. Many posters on this forum would refuse to watch it, but they're doing themselves a disservice by not watching this very historical event and how it unfolded.

[Guest]

Brian Williams' Rock Center did an excellent job of reporting this event told in the eyes of all who were present in the room that day. Many posters on this forum would refuse to watch it, but they're doing themselves a disservice by not watching this very historical event and how it unfolded.

Rock Center with Brian Williams - President Obama: Bin Laden raid is 'most important single day of my presidency' (http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/02/11493919-president-obama-bin-laden-raid-is-most-important-single-day-of-my-presidency?lite)

[Guest]

I do not watch Brian Williams as he is a certified Obama promoter without shame. If he or NBC is presenting ANYTHING it would only be in concert with the political direction and bias of the network which just happens to be just toooooo very Obama....no matter the subject.

I will take some other 3rd party accounting thank you....like the one I linked above. I am not a CNN fan either, but give credit where it appears to be sincere reporting....Brian Williams is not.

btk

[Guest]

I do not watch Brian Williams as he is a certified Obama promoter without shame. If he or NBC is presenting ANYTHING it would only be in concert with the political direction and bias of the network which just happens to be just toooooo very Obama....no matter the subject.

I will take some other 3rd party accounting thank you....like the one I linked above. I am not a CNN fan either, but give credit where it appears to be sincere reporting....Brian Williams is not.

btk

Funny you should mention that. I dont watch too much tv reporting, but caught an ad for one of the shows on MSNBC and it was actually a commericial for the Obama campaign.

I find that startling.....of course when you send Sharpton to make news and then have him also report the news...what can you expect.

[Guest]

Very good article, BTK and a very interesting read.

I definitely say it was the right call to make and President Obama had the final say - and he made the right call. The Navy Seals did an excellent job.

Naysayers can say what they want but they have to remember the Navy Seals would not have made a move without the call from the President.

If the mission had failed, no one but President Obama would be blamed. Give the man credit! He made the right call, the Navy Seals did an excellent job, bin Laden is dead.

You hear Pres. Obama praising everyone about the raid. They all deserve praise - beginning with the President who had the final call on the mission.


Buggyone: Can't put my hands on it now but a WSJ article which I addressed on another thread reported that inteligence knew back in 2010 where bin Laden was housed. When they all finally came together to discuss the mission Admiral William McRaven made the decision and Obama made it clear that if the mission failed it would all blow back on Admiral McRaven. I'll see if I can locate the article and return the info to this thread on another post

[Guest]

Buggyone: Can't put my hands on it now but a WSJ article which I addressed on another thread reported that inteligence knew back in 2010 where bin Laden was housed. When they all finally came together to discuss the mission Admiral William McRaven made the decision and Obama made it clear that if the mission failed it would all blow back on Admiral McRaven. I'll see if I can locate the article and return the info to this thread on another post

No where in the CNN article was Admiral McRaven mentioned at all. McRaven was in Afghanistan at the time and was the operational commander. The President had to make the decision to go or no go. The admiral earned his 4th star for the successful raid.

All involved should be commended.

[Guest]

HOW TRUE...WHO KNOWS....

"Killing Bin Laden: Like so many others, the final decision to pull the trigger on the world's most-wanted man was delegated to an admiral who undoubtedly would have been thrown under the bus had the mission failed.

It's been almost a year since President Obama's leadership and foreign policy bona fides were allegedly established by the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. A campaign film narrated by Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks tells of the president's alleged solitary, agonizing decision.

With apologies to Vice President Biden, maybe President Obama doesn't carry quite as big a stick as Joe would lead us to believe.

As reported by Big Peace, Time magazine has obtained a memo written by Leon Panetta, then-director of the Central Intelligence Agency and now-Secretary of Defense, that says "operational decision-making and control" was really in the hands of William McRaven, a three-star admiral and former Navy SEAL.

"The timing, operational decision-making and control are in Adm. McRaven's hands," the memo says. "The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the president. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the president for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and, if he is not there, to get out."

In other words, it was McRaven's call to pull the trigger or not on the raid.

Some would say that this is a distinction without a difference, sort of like a head coach in football drawing up the game plan and letting his offensive coordinator actually call the plays. Then, technically, President George W. Bush gets the credit, since it was on his watch our war on terror was declared, Navy SEALs and Special Forces funding was increased and the hunt for Osama bin Laden began."

"There was no repeat of the incident years before of Sandy Berger, last seen stuffing classified documents in his pants, telling a CIA and Northern Alliance team in Afghanistan, on that occasion literally a matter of feet away from bin Laden, that if they want to grab him, they'll have to do it on their own. So they didn't.

This time, we had an admiral and former Navy SEAL making the decision."

Bin Laden Raid Decision Was Navy Adm. McRaven's, Not President Obama's - Investors.com (http://news.investors.com/article/609557/201204271858/navy-admiral-made-bin-laden-decision.htm?p=full)

OR...

"The first anniversary of the SEAL Team 6 operation that killed Osama bin Laden brings the news that President Obama plans during the coming campaign to exploit the bragging rights to the achievement. That plan invites scrutiny that is unlikely to benefit him.

Consider the events surrounding the operation. A recently disclosed memorandum from then-CIA Director Leon Panetta shows that the president's celebrated derring-do in authorizing the operation included a responsibility-escape clause: "The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven's hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out."

Which is to say, if the mission went wrong, the fault would be Adm. McRaven's, not the president's. Moreover, the president does not seem to have addressed at all the possibility of seizing material with intelligence value—which may explain his disclosure immediately following the event not only that bin Laden was killed, but also that a valuable trove of intelligence had been seized, including even the location of al Qaeda safe-houses. That disclosure infuriated the intelligence community because it squandered the opportunity to exploit the intelligence that was the subject of the boast


"While contemplating how the killing of bin Laden reflects on the president, consider the way he emphasized his own role in the hazardous mission accomplished by SEAL Team 6:

"I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority . . . even as I continued our broader effort. . . . Then, after years of painstaking work by my intelligence community I was briefed . . . I met repeatedly with my national security team . . . And finally last week I determined that I had enough intelligence to take action. . . . Today, at my direction . . ."

That seems a jarring formulation coming from a man who, when first elected, was asked which president he would model himself on and replied, Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln, on the night after Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender ended the Civil War, delivered from the window of the White House a speech that mentioned his own achievements not at all, but instead looked forward to the difficulties of reconstruction and called for black suffrage—a call that would doom him because the audience outside the White House included a man who muttered that Lincoln had just delivered his last speech. It was John Wilkes Booth."

"The man from whom President Obama has sought incessantly to distance himself, George W. Bush, also had occasion during his presidency to announce to the nation a triumph of intelligence: the capture of Saddam Hussein. He called that success "a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq." He attributed it to "the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers. . . . Their work continues, and so do the risks."

"He did mention himself at the end: "Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate them."

"That is not to say that great leaders, including presidents, have not placed themselves at the center of great events. But generally it has been to accept responsibility for failure. "

Michael Mukasey: Obama and the bin Laden Bragging Rights - WSJ.com (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577374552546308474.html?m od=googlenews_wsj)

[Guest]

Amazing how the haters of President Obama can take such a good event as the killing of bin Laden and try to make it seem our President had NOTHING to do with the situation.

They obviously have NO perception that the President is one who gives the final say to go or not to go. Yes, McRaven was the operations ground commander. Did you expect Pres. Obama to suit up and grab a rifle? If the mission had failed, it all would have come back to Pres. Obama and your speculation of Pres. Obama blaming it on McRaven is just pure tripe. That is what a hater would accuse the President of planning to do.

The mission went off, bin Laden is dead, McRaven got a reward in the form of another star, all the military got thanks from the President, but the wubers still want to kvetch. Typical of their ilk. GROW UP.

[Guest]

Let us not forget that the flap over this story BEGAN not when it happened...it began this year when the President decided to include a rap at Romney in an ad using this paticular event and stress HIMSELF.

Grown ups handled and complimented quite a bit when it happened, but grown ups would not have USED this event a year later.

[Guest]

Let us not forget that the flap over this story BEGAN not when it happened...it began this year when the President decided to include a rap at Romney in an ad using this paticular event and stress HIMSELF.

Grown ups handled and complimented quite a bit when it happened, but grown ups would not have USED this event a year later.

Don't confuse my friend Buggy. He thinks he's on a roll.

[Guest]

Please, please, please republicans keep talking about this. It just makes the American people realize why President Obama should be reelected.

[Guest]

Just a few....


"Arianna Huffington: President's bin Laden ad "despicable"


Arianna Huffington: President's bin Laden ad "despicable" - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505267_162-57423987/arianna-huffington-presidents-bin-laden-ad-despicable/)

"Obama again hurts his campaign suggesting Romney wouldn't have killed Bin Laden....what is wrong with this man??"

Obama again hurts his campaign suggesting Romney wouldn't have killed Bin Laden....what is wrong with this man?? (http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/obama-again-hurts-his-campaign-suggesting-romney-wouldnt-have-killed-bin-ladenwhat-is-wrong-wit/question-2625072/)

"Tactless ad could hurt Obama's campaign"

Tactless ad could hurt Obama's campaign | NYU's Daily Student Newspaper (http://nyunews.com/opinion/2012/05/01/01house/)

"Hi, I Killed Osama bin Laden and I Approve This Message"

Hi, I Killed Osama bin Laden and I Approve This Message - By Michael A. Cohen | Foreign Policy (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/01/hi_i_killed_osama_bin_laden_and_i_approve_this_mes sage)

"A year after the raid, six months ahead of Election Day, renewed reminders of bin Laden have prompted Republicans to say Obama has taken too much personal credit for the killing of the terrorist whose group attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, leading to a decade-long war in Afghanistan. "

"“It’s not unusual or remarkable that a campaign would try to work with Hollywood and with others to play up the things that are admirable about their person,” Judge said. “What I do think is over the top is when the man himself comes off as putting them in the spotlight.”

Bin Laden Death Drives Campaign Debate as Threats Live On - Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/bin-laden-death-drives-campaign-debate-as-threats-live-on.html)

[Guest]

OR

"Why Progressives Should Be Uneasy About Obama's Bin Laden Ad
By Conor Friedersdorf"

Why Progressives Should Be Uneasy About Obama's Bin Laden Ad - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/04/why-progressives-should-be-uneasy-about-obamas-bin-laden-ad/256502/)

"Obama's tacky 'I Shot Bin Laden' ad
has turned a military triumph
into a political disaster"

Lucianne.com News Forum - Thread (http://lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=678657)

[Guest]

talking about Obama's constant reference of self or first person (on most things not just OBL) is going to be negative for Romney???

One needs to believe what one needs to believe to be happy and go to sleep at night....just like the fans who continue to back their favorite team in sports...even when they are losing.

btk