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Math

The operation to penetrate his compound, remove his security, and take out Osama bin Laden, took 38 minutes. The burial “ceremony” that proceeded his watery disposal as a bobbing shroud of dead terrorist meat took 40 minutes.

This? I can’t say. Just tossing it out there, for what it’s worth.

Full disclosure: writing this post took 2 minutes, 24 seconds.

(thanks to JD)

65 Replies to “Math”

  1. Bob Reed says:

    I was told we wouldn’t have to do any math…Besides, I’m better with letters than numbers.

    All this sounds plausible, but did we ever find out if Ulsterman’s contact is fictional or not?

    I have a hard time keeping track of these things.

  2. Joe says:

    I am going to respectfully disagree with Ms. Geller on this one. I do not know what President Obama was waffling about (I am not defending that), but about the decision to send special forces to actually kill and recover Usama Bin Ladin. Yeah it was high risk, but I am sure that team was completely into doing it. I do not want to put people’s lives at risk without good cause, but there is something about certainty of a kill that you would not get from a drone bombing. And if they recovered a treasure trove of documents and computers from the safe house as they claim–that alone justifies the risk. I am not sure what happened to the other survivors in the house. Were they released to the Pakistanis or were any of them taken into custody (they probably could not have taken them all with only three operational helicopters).

    Which makes the whole 24 hour burial at sea thing so strange. I am all for disposing of the body in a manner that avoids a shrine (which burial at sea does). But at a minimum have some third parties view the body on board the ship before you tossed him over board.

  3. Pablo says:

    Who is this Ulsterman dude and what’s his track record? It’s certainly plausible. Comforting even, to think that our boys in brass know a punk when they see one. How credible is this source? Anyone know?

  4. Jeff G. says:

    I have my doubts. But the amount of time Obama spends campaigning and golfing and playing — and delegates the specifics of things — gives the thing an air of plausibility. Which is in itself a kind of indictment.

    I just posted it because I found it kinda interesting, if a bit on the conspiratorial side.

  5. Joe says:

    A coup within the White House? Maybe that is why Plugs was working his rosary, he was afraid someone in the military might take a shot at him.

    I am doubtful. But the leak about where the intelligence came from? That I can believe was something unauthorized.

  6. Jeff G. says:

    Great egret line by the way, Pablo.

  7. B. Moe says:

    When I first saw that picture my immediate reaction was that it looks like Obama is a wallflower at Hillary’s party. I wouldn’t rule out that account at all.

  8. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Everytime I read one of Ulstermann’s “conversations” with his insidery source, I start hearing Hal Holbrooke talking to me from the shadows. And if that’s what I’m hearing, I figure that’s what Ulstermann is hearing as well, which tells me he sees himself as Robert Redford. And that in turn means these clandestine tete-a-tetes go on in the parking garage of his mind.

  9. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Obama looks like a man child sulking in the corner. That’s a terrible picture of the President of the United States.

    And by terrible, I mean great.

  10. Pablo says:

    Here’s more (and newer) of the same.

    Nothing changed with the president’s opinion – he continued to avoid having one. Every time military and intelligence officials appeared to make progress in forming a position, Jarrett would intervene and the stalling would begin again.

    That sure sounds like our Bumblefuck.

  11. Ernst Schreiber says:

    As much as I love the idea of a CIA coup (gasp!) saving O’Bumbles from himself, I can’t credit it.

  12. Pablo says:

    I can’t help but think “Hillary.”

  13. Joe says:

    But one Democratic communications hand sent advice to a slew of other Democratic operatives in the wake of the announcement hammering on the need to make sure Obama comes out on top.

    “In your day jobs, do not let Republicans turn this into continuing the Bush legacy. This has to be about Obama’s decisive leadership,” the guidance said. “He is the one who oversaw bringing bin Laden to justice, much like how Bush failed to do so at Tora Bora and then claimed Osama wasn’t a priority.”

    For Democrats, the argument is critical because they don’t want to let credibility on national security issues slip back into their post-Vietnam home in the Republican Party. And they need to fight the insinuation, fed by recent NATO action in Libya that one official characterized as “leading from behind,” that Obama is a weak leader.

    Business as usual for the Dems? Oh yeah.

  14. Ernst Schreiber says:

    How so, Pablo? As Ulstermann’s insider’s “source”?

  15. Silver Whistle says:

    She’s certainly bitter and twisted enough, Ernst, but I don’t see her as that reckless.

  16. Stephanie says:

    A poster at JOM which I think put this account into some context so I’m pasting it here for examination:

    I normally think the WH Insider guy is too good to be true.

    But something is sort of tweaking me about the latest update.

    The Insider’s story was basically that Obama didn’t know anything about the raid until they dragged him off the golf course and shoved him into the situation room.

    Now AP this morning reported something that dovetails with all of that. Their more flattering angle is that no one could tell Obama was carrying this great secret all weekend – about the raid. He was cheerfully flying around meeting supporters, doing fundraisers, making fun of Trump at the WHCD, all having given the go ahead on the raid and knowing this was about to go down. Then, he surprisingly played only nine holes at Andrews AFB instead of his customary 18, and suddenly headed to the WH, without even taking off his golf shoes. At that point he had a tense look on his face and a clenched jaw (I’m semi-quoting from the article).

    So here’s what I’m wondering. Which sounds more plausible and fits with the timeline?

    The AP account says Obama knew exactly what was going on all weekend, and was such an expert actor that he never betrayed a hint of anything unusual, until he headed into the WH wearing his golf clothes and looking tense…

    OR

    The Insider’s account, which says Panetta was the one who ordered the raid and Obama had no idea what was going on until they grabbed him off the golf course.

    Think of how he looked in that situation room photo, all hunkered down and, frankly, scared. Especially in contrast to everyone else in the room who looked much better prepared.

    I think the Insider’s account could be bogus in some respects, but now, based on the AP’s unwitting corroboration, I am prepared to believe that Obama actually had no idea the raid had been ordered until they came and interrupted his golf game.

  17. Ernst Schreiber says:

    It’s too good to be true; too detailed in the wrong places, e.g. ” The president had been instructed by Jarrett to inform Mr., [sic]Panetta”, “Jarrett refused to allow the president to give that approval.”

    Also, I believe as a matter of law, that JSOC can only carry out an operation with a presidential directive. Panetta, Clinton, and Gates could have planned the whole thing, but I don’t think the helicopters would have taken off on just Panetta’s say so.

  18. JD says:

    He gives actual golfers a bad name. I bet he gives himself putts.

  19. Abe Froman says:

    That makes sense, Stephanie. But I’m violently allergic to fog of war/anonymous insider bullshit whether I like what I hear or not. That’s what I get for reading Newsmax and WorldNut Daily in my 20’s.

  20. Pablo says:

    How so, Pablo? As Ulstermann’s insider’s “source”?

    Perhaps not directly, but ultimately in the scenario I’m imagining.

  21. Pablo says:

    She’s certainly bitter and twisted enough, Ernst, but I don’t see her as that reckless.

    Keeping in mind that Panetta is a Clintonista, and that Gates and Petreaus are adults, and can see her scheming her way around Jarrett and the Ditherer in Chief, particularly if Daley could be convinced. Taking Osama out is a no-brainer at this point.

    It will be interesting to see if Jarrett soon finds herself needing to spend more time with family.

  22. Pablo says:

    “I” can see her scheming…

  23. newrouter says:

    that picture of the situation room showed baracky as not having a seat at the table. so there’s that.

  24. Silver Whistle says:

    Guy should play more golf.

  25. Stephanie says:

    Abe, I am too, but I also take the adage about ‘kernels of truth’ and add ‘the art of misdirection’ and apply them to see if the conjecture can be confirmed by narratives. Sometimes it is the small, seemingly innocuous, off the cuff remark that is thrown out there that is more enlightening than the in your face stuff they want you to see. And embellishing, serial liaring, narcissistic personalities and their fluffers can’t help themselves.

    It’s who they are. It’s who they want to believe themselves to be and to be seen as being. They want to be seen as ‘in the know on the good stuff’ and will throw the MBM some bones to let them know they are getting the real poop from a true believer and to give themselves some skin in the story. And those bones and skin will form the true body of the narrative that is at odds with the official one, but is probably truer to the details than the official one.

    As they say it ain’t the crime, it’s the cover up – it also ain’t the reported facts, it’s the tid bits that reveal the truth.

  26. Stephanie says:

    As to their narrative that they conducted a memorial service that lasted 40 minutes, I will note that burials at Arlington are requested to be 10 mintues long and no longer.

    I hope that tid bit they tossed out for muslim consumption bites them in the ass…

  27. Mueller says:

    The Insider’s account, which says Panetta was the one who ordered the raid and Obama had no idea what was going on until they grabbed him off the golf course.

    So.What? Panetta is the president now?

  28. newrouter says:

    i was reading this: 7 Minutes Vs. 16 Hours: How The Media Reports Delay

    first thing that came to mind: dude was trying to find a way to vote present.

  29. geoffb says:

    Various factions all trying to come out on top might explain how the story of a raid that they watched live on video keeps changing

  30. Stephanie says:

    Bingo, geoffb. And they each have to add their little spice to the pot.

  31. Actually, 40 minutes to get an entire carrier crew to drink a quart of water and line up to piss is pretty good time.

  32. Stephanie says:

    Don’t forget the time it takes to cut up all the fish and pork entrails for chum.

  33. Joe says:

    newrouter: Agreed, why the delay? Seems like you start getting things into place immediately (SEAL team and drones) just in case you see some movement from the compound.

  34. LBascom says:

    If I were a pro-Obama guy, I would see all this conjecture as sour grapes nonsense. If I cared enough I could play devils advocate and effortlessly counter all the speculation.

    If this mission turned out bad, there would be no question it belonged to Obama, just as Carter owns the failure to rescue the Iranian hostages. It seems inconsistent to say otherwise in success.

  35. bastiches says:

    Yeah, too many red flags on this one. It’s hard to believe that Panetta let alone the JSOC would go wild weasel without CinC’s explicit orders.

    Further, if Paninni was the one that railroaded Obummer into the operation, why would he be transferred to the Pentagon and not the Post Office?

    I can see Executive Office subalterns circumventing Valarie Jarette for a variety of things but not one that would and has thrown our Paki ‘alliance’ into the fire for all to see. Too visible, too many cascades being set up for this to be believable.

  36. newrouter says:

    “Too visible, too many cascades being set up for this to be believable.”

    maybe but alot of cascades going on about what happened. me classic baracky. it turns to poop.

  37. bastiches says:

    PS. That ‘treasure trove’ of intelligence collected during the raid?

    Toast. Useless. No AQ or ISI reference contained therein are now completely without use.

    Obummer’s ego vetoed the CIA and Pentagon in the timing of the release of the raid info. I don’t think even Carter would have hung up on the intel guys in order to rip-saw a fresh election platform step.

    The man-child strikes again.

  38. newrouter says:

    oh the humanity dept. where’s lindsay graham!!11!!

    According to Isikoff, early information about the courier for Bin Laden came from none other than “Mohammed al-Qahtani, who was subjected to some of the most humiliating interrogations at Guantanamo. Among the enhanced interrogation techniques used on him were being forced to wear a woman’s bra, being led around on a leash and forced to perform dog tricks and being subjected to cold temperatures that twice required his hospitalization, according to a later U.S. military report.”

    link

  39. newrouter says:

    KUWAIT: The local Al Anba newspaper has obtained what it claims is Osama bin Laden’s will, written on December 14, 2001, when he was on the run from the US in Afghanistan.

    In the will, Bin Laden takes credit for most of his achievements in terrorism, culminating in the 9/11 attacks. He also orders his wives not to re-marry after he’s dead.

    Perhaps surprisingly, he asks his children not to join Al Qaeda or join “the front” in the war against the West. Instead he “expresses regret to his children” for not having spent enough time with them because he was too busy working at his jihad.

    link

    this calls for some harry chapin Cat’s in the Cradle

  40. serr8d says:

    Obama knowing of and sitting on Osama’s whereabouts for 3 years, forced to act by…WikiLeaks?

    “Wikileaks released a set of leaked Guantanamo prisoner files to the public last week. Among them is a document dated from 2008, which mentioned both Osama’s trusted courier’s name and Abbottabad, the city in which Osama had been hiding. There are speculations that, fearing al-Qaida realized their courier may have been tracked and move Osama, the US administration accelerated their plan and attacked the target site over the weekend. This link highlights the relevant section of the document.”

  41. newrouter says:

    more dish

    The following day, and with Panetta’s permission, Clinton met in private with Bill Daley and urged him to get the president’s full and open approval of the Panetta plan. Daley agreed such approval would be of great benefit to the action, and instructed Clinton to delay proceeding until he had secured that approval. Daley contacted Clinton within hours of their meeting indicating Jarrett refused to allow the president to give that approval. Daley then informed Clinton that he too would fully support Panetta in his actions, even if it meant disclosing the president’s indecision to the American public should that action fail to produce a successful conclusion. Clinton took that message back to Panetta and the CIA director initiated the 48 hour engagement order. At this point, the President of the United States was not informed of the engagement order – it did not originate from him, and for several hours after the order had been given and the special ops forces were preparing for action into Pakistan from their position in Afghanistan, Daley successfully kept Obama and Jarrett insulated from that order.

    link

  42. serr8d says:

    From that linked document…

    (S/NF) Detainee has knowledge of al-Qaida possibly possessing a nuclear bomb. Al-Qaida associate Sharif al-Masri stated in June or July 2004, upon encountering difficulties in moving the nuclear bomb, al-Qaida would find operatives to use it. However, detainee told Sharif al-Masri that al-Qaida currently had no operatives in the US. The operatives would be Europeans of Arab or Asian descent. The device wass reportedly located in Europe.40 Sharif al-Masri reported detainee would know about the bomb and its exact location.41 Sharif al-Masri believes if UBL were to be captured or killed, the bomb would be detonated in the US, detainee would be one of those able to give the order.42

    From that same document, however, the detainee’s ‘writing on the wall’ ‘damaged government property’. Spitting on a guard, ‘physically combative’. A plastic shank, ‘possession of dangerous contraband’. There is evidence of overstatement, IOW.

  43. serr8d says:

    Valerie Jarrett? Seriously? That Ulsterman piece is garbage. There’s no way even BHO would allow such a guttersnipe as Jarrett that much influence over Him.

    Why, M’Chelle might find out and would sit on Jarrett!

    I believe BHO was idly involved, at arm’s length, until the time came to either place blame or take credit. He sat there in the Situation Room, distant and ignored, looking like he’d bet a couple grand on a basketball game that could go either way. His mind likely raced with ways to spin another failure, if one occured, on someone else. He probably released the Trump-destroying birth certificate just as a stress-relieving exercise, a personal distraction he could toy with.

    Jarrett might be an on-the-side piece of ass, but she’s not anything that would get in the way of BHO’s massive A-bomb narcissism. She’s not even in his league.

  44. Stephanie says:

    Funny, cause the folks I know who are plugged in in Chicago say Obama doesn’t take a dump without consulting VJ. She’s invariably described as his handler.

  45. newrouter says:

    “Daley successfully kept Obama and Jarrett insulated from that order.”

    chitown buds looking out no? oh the daley babe hil is involved. gaffamatic w/hairplugs

  46. Pablo says:

    Jarrett might be an on-the-side piece of ass, but she’s not anything that would get in the way of BHO’s massive A-bomb narcissism. She’s not even in his league.

    That is not their history. She is his Rove, except she was both Obamas’ sponsor into the Chicago machine. She’s probably one of very few, like maybe two, people that can grab an earlobe and make him come.

  47. Stephanie says:

    She’s probably one of very few, like maybe two, people that can grab an earlobe and make him come.

    Other mysteary solved…

  48. JD says:

    that can grab an earlobe and make him come.

    That is an interesting skill. I have been tugging on my earlobe ever since I read that. No luck. Will keep trying.

  49. JD says:

    Still trying.

  50. Spiny Norman says:

    Oh my.

    This is getting entirely too weird. They can’t possibly be that amateurish, can they?

  51. Stephanie says:

    JD, I think the ‘earlobe’ has a horned spike attached…

    And no, you don’t want to google it.

  52. Pablo says:

    It helps if you’re being dragged, JD.

  53. geoffb says:

    They can’t possibly be that amateurish, can they?

    Yes! They can!

  54. serr8d says:

    JD, remember, docs say never put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow. Must be you’re working with a small tool.

  55. JD says:

    Still tugging on my earlobe. Still cannot figure out how pulling on your ear can make you cum” but I will find out. Maybe yu Ned Dumbo sized ears like Teh One.

  56. Danger says:

    Looks like someone else knows a little math

    “NBC News reported that Obama invited former President George W. Bush to attend the event but Bush does not plan to attend.
    NBC said Bush plans to mark the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 at ground zero in September”

    Abe and Bob,

    Make sure you bring the bullhorn cus the prompted one needs a lesson!

  57. B. Moe says:

    What happened in the interim began with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s post-Sept. 11 orders to rebuild Special Operations Command into a combatant division on par with Central Command and other prestigious war-planning and war-fighting headquarters.

    It would be nice to see Rummy start getting some of the credit he deserves.

    Don’t think it will happen, but it would be nice.

  58. SDN says:

    Also, I believe as a matter of law, that JSOC can only carry out an operation with a presidential directive.

    Ernst, there was a 1987 Tom Clancy book wannabe called State Scarlet. The plot is unimportant, but one point involved the President being in Moscow for an emergency summit. The President is worried he’ll be taken hostage or killed, and the officer with the “football” is reassuring him that there are several other people (VP, SecDef, SecState, NSC, etc.) who can all order the nuclear launch if he’s killed.

    “All these are people have the authority to launch if you become incapacitated.” He paused, and continued. “As a practical matter, Mr. President, they can also launch whether you are or not.”

    So yes, jugears could be bypassed if the right people agreed to it.

  59. Matt says:

    *It would be nice to see Rummy start getting some of the credit he deserves.*

    Obama singlehandedly pulled this off. He planned the mission, flew the helicopters, repelled into the compound, killed Osama’s body guards then had a Howard’s End moment with Osama before personally shooting him.

    No credit goes anywhere but to the One. Racist.

  60. McGehee says:

    I’ve been seeing Ulsterman’s “inside source” stuff for a while and events haven’t tended to back up the alleged scuttlebutt. ‘Sall I’m gonna say.

  61. Abe Froman says:

    Abe and Bob,

    Make sure you bring the bullhorn cus the prompted one needs a lesson!

    I wish I was that kind of wingnut. But I’m more of the writing “Obama suckz ballz” in permanent marker on the bathroom walls in bars sort.

  62. gu1tar says:

    Glenn Reynolds’ among others has trouble with the sourcing. Understandable. But the source would be gone if it were exposed. This was the same issue faced by Woodward and Bernstein w/ Deep Throat. So, yes, the sourcing it problematic, just as it was during Watergate. But the thing about this potentially explosive story is that it’s far more consistent with the Obama we know than the current WH narrative. Not that that’s proof of anything. But what’s needed is information that we can trust only an insider would know–or some second source verification of details we can safely assume no one external to the core WH circle would know. If any of this is true, we might expect further details from an insider with a major pang of conscience (or serious political ax to grind). We can also expect the story to be ignored, dismissed, or assaulted until one of those tactics makes it go away.

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