Obama killed Osama. Finally!
At the urging of Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden on three separate occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011 Navy SEAL mission, according to an explosive new book scheduled for release August 21. The Daily Caller has seen a portion of the chapter in which the stunning revelation appears.
In ”Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him,“ Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the “kill” mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. Obama’s close adviser Valerie Jarrett persuaded him to hold off each time, according to the book.
Miniter, a two-time New York Times best-selling author, cites an unnamed source with Joint Special Operations Command who had direct knowledge of the operation and its planning.
Obama administration officials also said after the raid that the president had delayed giving the order to kill the arch-terrorist the day before the operation was carried out, in what turned out to be his fourth moment of indecision. At the time, the White House blamed the delay on unfavorable weather conditions near bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.But when Miniter obtained that day’s weather reports from the U.S. Air Force Combat Meteorological Center, he said, they showed ideal conditions for the SEALs to carry out their orders.
“President Obama’s greatest success was actually his greatest failure,” Miniter told The Daily Caller Friday. ”Leading From Behind,“ he said, traces the arc of six key Obama administration decisions, and shows how the president made them — and, often, failed to make them.
I think Miniter is being a little tough on the President here, frankly. And that’s because Obama had a very good reason for delaying the kill mission: namely, that Valerie Jarrett can be quite unpleasant — hell, downright mean — when she doesn’t get her way.
And it weren’t all of us she was gonna be bitching at for those next several months.
So please. Cut a brother some slack.
“At the time, the White House blamed the delay on unfavorable weather conditions near bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.”
Not according to this Accuweather report.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/weather-played-a-major-role-in/49150
“Obama killed Osama.”
In the final analysis, that’s what matters.
Sorry, quote got cut off above.
“ At the time, the White House blamed the delay on unfavorable weather conditions near bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.But when Miniter obtained that day’s weather reports from the U.S. Air Force Combat Meteorological Center, he said, they showed ideal conditions for the SEALs to carry out their orders.”
Not according to this Accuweather report.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/weather-played-a-major-role-in/49150
The ends justify the means?
Color me stunned that’s what you, the not-even-close-to-being-a-liberal-fascist-but-instead-just-care-more-than-others, got of this!
There will of course be those quick to pooh-pooh this book’s claims but there’s no real point arguing with them before we’re really sure there’s anything to argue about.
I’d wait until someone with some chops has something to offer against Miniter’s assertions, not any comment-thread TruthSquadees.
Jeff G: The ends justify the means?
Huh? The word “justify” refers to the morality of the ends and means. What are you talking about?
It’s almost as if they are assigned their roles.
Your assertion that all that matters is that the killing got done — and the implication that it shouldn’t matter why it may have been put off and put off.
You?
Gee, if only we had all-weather helicopters.
Jeff G: Your assertion that all that matters is that the killing got done — and the implication that it shouldn’t matter why it may have been put off and put off.
The decision-making process can be interesting, but by any reasonable measure, it was a successful operation, even if there were delays, or quite possibly, because there were delays. Furthermore, Accu-weather verified the weather conditions, which seems to contradict the story.
If only Miniter and his editors had thought to check accuweather before making the claim. Drat! Foiled by the internets and the Google-fu of Zachriel the Truth-Teller!
Actually, that’s not true. By the measure of “could have done it sooner and not risked losing the opportunity,” the constant refusals to act don’t inspire the kind of confidence the final result was supposed to instill in us.
But that’s just fancy talk for “you’re full of shit, and we recognize you for the liberal fascist and Obama apologist you are.”
Don’t forget sophist and proud advocate of voter fraud.
Surely it’s a great comfort to the tiny-minded propagandists at large in the world that their savior Barack Obama can do no wrong. Or at least, religiosity usually carries one comfort or another.
Everybody should make a close reading of that accuweather report.
If you want to see how a good assertion monkey asserts, that is.
Killing Bin Laden wasn’t the right decision, in my civilian opinion. Now, capturing him, bringing his boney frame back to the US and putting him under the hot lights to gather information, followed by many perp walks broadcast at each and every opportunity would have been the way to go. We would have humiliated Bin Laden, learned a lot about the Taliban and humbled his minions.
Since I don’t have the insight into Accuweather that some do, perhaps that wouldn’t have been possible.
Think I’ll go looking for a Happyfeet-hijacked thread.
Accuweather? For effing Pakistan? On the border of the effing tribal areas?
Don’t do it, McGehee! You have so much to live for!
What Rob said. C’mon man, step away from the ledge!
And make Obama choose between alienating his core supporters or risk having the all wise all holy independent voters turn against him? C’mon Carin, we’re talking ends, and means to those ends here!.
Hell, the only reason they sent the SEALS in to shoot him between the eyes was because the most important (political) consideration was to make sure he was dead.* Otherwise, Obama would have just ordered a cruise missle launched at him.
*What do you suppose the debate and hesitation was all about: what’s worse for the administration, bombing the shit out of an Abbatabad compound and having Bin Laden survive (or being unable to prove he was dead, which amounts to the same thing, politically), or having a Desert One repeat?
Well, I think the fallout is that those of us who had figured he was dead for the past eight or so years will never be satisfied that the SEALs did bust a cap in his head. I’ve been calling bullshit on this story from the git-go since we never saw a body.
Since when has Obama missed achance to do a victory dance? If it really was Bin Laden, he’d have hauled his corpse around like Weekend at Bernie’s.
Crawford: Accuweather? For effing Pakistan? On the border of the effing tribal areas?
Oh, gee whiz.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/pk/abbottabad/258955/weather-forecast/258955
Ernst Schreiber: Hell, the only reason they sent the SEALS in to shoot him between the eyes was because the most important (political) consideration was to make sure he was dead.* Otherwise, Obama would have just ordered a cruise missle launched at him.
For all manner of reasons, it was necessary to know with certainty that bin Laden was dead.While capture was a possibility, that was much less likely of success, operating as they were under the radar with only moments to act.
For all manner of reasons, it was necessary to know with certainty that bin Laden was dead.While capture was a possibility, that was much less likely of success, operating as they were under the radar with only moments to act.
Proof? Why, there is none!
And of course, he can’t simply tell Jarrett to shut up – she’d report him to the boss and he’d get an ass-whoopin’…
Anybody wondering WHY Valerie is so un-fireable? Anyone?
Bueller?
Given the fact that he stood there and let himself be shot, I think you severely overstate the failure risk.
Ernst Schreiber: Given the fact that he stood there and let himself be shot, I think you severely overstate the failure risk.
Before the raid, there was no way to reasonably judge the amount of resistance they would encounter, or whether there might be bombs rigged to explode.
“. . . wondering WHY Valerie is so un-fireable?”
The answer may lay somewhere in the bowels of this story. Then again, it may simply be sitting there in plain sight.
Oh, gee whiz.
ain’t that the goddamned truth?
Thunderstorms in the area! Three hours before the op. Wind gusts of up to 30 mph! A sliver of moonlight instead of a moonless night!
My God! What the hell were those crazy sonsofbitches thinking! Thank God cooler heads in D.C. prevailed and they made those savages stand down for 24.
Like Bill Clinton said, you can always kill him tomorrow.
Interesting that they’d put all those lives at risk just so somebody could shoot him in the head then, don’t you think?
I’m this close to calling this latest iteration of the Turing test a failure.
Before the raid, there was no way to reasonably judge the amount of resistance they would encounter, or whether there might be bombs rigged to explode.
Do you actually know anything about the Navy SEALs? Could there be a reason that they’re steamed at the Wonce?
(sdferr, you are correct about the hiding in plain sight story about Jarrett.)
Zachariel, when not being an inartful sophist, is a mendoucheous twatwaffle. Good Allah, the left must be scared.
For all manner of reasons, it was necessary to know with certainty that bin Laden was dead.While capture was a possibility, that was much less likely of success, operating as they were under the radar with only moments to act.
Baseless assertion followed by baseless assertion followed up by baseless assertion topped off with complete asspull
Soon to be followed by a Wikipedia link.
Scared about what in particular JD? See, I’m nurturing a hypothesis that they’ve actually missed the bus, and haven’t a clue what it is they should actually take seriously.
Helmet-mounted camera footage is just so much more titillating than warhead-mounted camera footage. And that’s what really matters in Jugears McDowngrade world.
There’s a reason for the long gap between responses. There’s a reason it doesn’t make arguments but rather sticks with short, empty retorts.
This bot isn’t an expert system but rather follows text patterns to trawl the available databases for strings that appear relevant.
That infamous photo of SCOAMF sulking in the corner suggests otherwise, Squid.
bh, what if this bot is supposed to mimic it’s We Are the 99% Percent! programers’ troofiness?
GIGO and all that.
That photo is not of Staff watching the Bin Laden slaying, though. It’s a candid shot from some random meeting in the Situation Room.
Everything about this guy is fake.
He’s prolly over at DU yucking it up about how he showed us.
Zachriel: While capture was a possibility, that was much less likely of success, operating as they were under the radar with only moments to act.
bd: Baseless assertion followed by baseless assertion followed up by baseless assertion …
Are you really claiming the Americans knew as much before the raid as after the raid? Or that they didn’t have to consider that a bomb may have been used against them?
I fail to see what he thinks he is accomplishing here.
Hmmm, yes, that is a possibility, Ernst. If only we could just take a look at the code.
Because everyone knows, militant jihadis hiding out in a suburban compound with their three wives who hate each other ALL wear suicide vests. Just in case.
Heh, or that, upon not seeing any bomb, quick thinking SEAL’s nevertheless executed their orders: shoot first, ask questions never?
If, I had to guess Cranky? Friction burns.
Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the SEAL team drag the corpse back with them? Wasn’t it dumped at sea shortly after?
If they could drag his sorry carcass out of the compound without endangering the mission, I’m pretty sure they could have dragged his live body out just as easily.
Well sdferr, it’s so much less risky to cart out a dead body than a zip-tied and gagged 6-7 jihadi suffering from kidney failure, you see.
Exactly, Squid.
Speaking of videos, has anyone seen that Rashid Khalidi tape yet?
With only moments to act. Asspull.
Bh – you are racist for even asking that question.
Are you really claiming
I knew what followed would be complete bullshit.
I love it when these clowns land in here like they’re some kind of avenging angel here to enlighten us.
Zachriel has proven that he knows jackshit about military tachtical operations. Dude, playing Call Of Duty doesn’t make you an expert.
Squid: If they could drag his sorry carcass out of the compound without endangering the mission, I’m pretty sure they could have dragged his live body out just as easily.
Because until subdued, a live terrorist in his own house can still set off a bomb.
Especially the bomb he doesn’t have! Those are the easiest to set off, without question.
sdferr, decrepit terrorists are the worst that way! He could have been thinking, “Damn! Maybe I should have had some bombs in here.”
Buried at sea. What a waste.
My preference: strapped to a 2000-lb JDAM and dropped on ISI HQ.
Because until subdued, a live terrorist in his own house can still set off a bomb.
One of these days, we’re going to have to develop the capacity for our special forces operatives to subdue an enemy. You’d think the Obama Jeenius Bar could have come up with something during the long months that they were delaying the mission.
I suppose they were too busy coming up with ways to create 3,500 jobs when they only had $38,600,000,000.00 to work with.
“Obama killed Osama.”
In the final analysis, that’s what matters.
Lie. Obama did no such thing. A SEAL did, a man of great skill, and great character, the exact opposite of Obama.
How did Valerie Jarrett get on this thread?
Pro-tip: pounding the table with your shoe doesn’t make table-pounding more persuasive.
I fail to see what he thinks he is accomplishing here.
I imagine he thinks he’s being wicked clever.
And of course, he can’t simply tell Jarrett to shut up – she’d report him to the boss and he’d get an ass-whoopin’…
Anybody wondering WHY Valerie is so un-fireable? Anyone?
I don’t wonder one bit.
Dude , that’s totally racist. You should be ashamed of your self.
It’s an Neal R. beta version designed to collect data on who influences who on the right side to map the 2.0 version of the “Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce“. The rise of the right side internet has made the old map of 1.0 obsolete. It should be mocked as humor doesn’t fit into its paradigm.
In reference to geoffb’s link, the left is projecting again.
Again? When did they stop?
They take breaks from projecting to whine instead.
Not according to this Accuweather report.
Because when you want to know the classified, all-weather capabilities of our Navy SEALs, an accuweather staff writer is definitely your go-to guy for the analysis.
So let me get this straight – the gutsiest call any president has made in modern times was which weather forecast to watch?
SW – Zachriel is a booger-eatin ninja of asshattery
Wait, I thought it was knowing which of the women in his life to pay attention to at which moment?
JD, I expect fully half of the boogers are not his property.
Aha. He didn’t build those boogers?
Wait, I thought it was knowing which of the women in his life to pay attention to at which moment?
It does get difficult, sdferr.
According to emails released by hacker group Anonymous, Osama’s body was actually flown to the US for cremation. But does that make any sense? If you’re going to dispose of his carcass why lie about the means, burial at sea v. cremation in the US? No, either he’s still alive in a small damp cell somewhere, or the taxidermists are having a hard time getting him prepped for Obama’s October world victory tour. Never shoot ’em in the head, it makes it hard to get a life-like pose.
bureaucrats gone wild
In short, the DEA here commandeered private property from a law-abiding businessman and ineptly deployed it in an operation that got a man killed and now endangers a family that had nothing to do with the case. There is a term for what the DEA did with that truck: grand theft auto.
The DEA is running neck-and-neck with the ATF for the title of most dangerous federal law-enforcement agency; in my view, both should be dissolved and their responsibilities handed over to some more responsible party, such as a group of drunken rodeo clowns or ADD-addled teen-agers.
Whoever approved this operation belongs in a jail cell next to whoever approved Fast and Furious.
link
Huh, looky here – “Federal Court finds Obama appointees interfered with New Black Panther prosecution“.
Anyone else recall Obama screwing around with Gen. McChrystal when it came time to discuss what should be done about Afghanistan?
So, it’s really not much of a stretch to think Obama was unable to decide whether or not to go ahead with the Osama raid.
Add in the reports that Obama’s input on the raid was either neutralized or Obama was handed a fait accompli and the accusation that Obama dithered isn’t really much of a surprise.
Zachriel, when you’re ready take a shot at explaining why the White House insisted on leaking details about the op to make Obama look good before the SEALS and their friends had a chance to go through all the material they confiscated and lugged out with them in addition to bin Laden’s lifeless corpse.
“Zachriel has proven that he knows jackshit about military tachtical operations. Dude, playing Call Of Duty doesn’t make you an expert.”
Wait…are you implying that you don’t really fire the bofors on an AC-130 by switching to it with the blue x button and then pulling the left trigger?
And I suppose that real plasma rifles don’t overheat like they do in Halo either…
I suppose that O + O + O + Square is not how someone REALLY whirls flaming swords around on 50 foot chains to cut up zombie hoplites…
Heh Palaeo.
Anyone else recall Obama screwing around with Gen. McChrystal when it came time to discuss what should be done about Afghanistan?
I remember this.
OT: What’s everyone think about the Wonce having to call and make nice with the Big Dog for the convention? Doesn’t doing that—harking back to the days o’ Bill—scream pathetic?
Swen, the thought that the Obama bunch could pull off such a secret operation where OBL is still alive boggles the mind.
I usually get mildly annoyed when other people say this, but fuck it*.
THREAD WINNER!!
*only ‘cuz I’m imagining Ayres struggle as we speak, working on Obamas third autobiography, trying to get the proper feel of of the moment. Going for the atmosphere Eisenhower faced in the invasion of Normandy no doubt…
Lee, didja read VDH today? He has a good one.
Politicians don’t kill people, warriors kill people.
What politicians do is get people killed, which is not at all the same thing.
In fact, you can expand this principle in a lot of directions: Politicians don’t fire people, bosses fire people — what politicians do is get people fired.
“The decision-making process can be interesting”
Especially for a guy that needs permission to borrow his advisor’s jeans for photo ops. Good thing ol Valerie is a meteorol-savant cus SOCOMS strategy divison would never consider weather planning when advising on a COA.
The fact that our military does not yet have gun-mounted chainsaws is all it took to ruin the accuracy of the real world for me.
Wait, our military doesn’t have anything like N7 Shadows? Ninja babes with personal cloaking devices and the shadow strike ability?
Darn it…
Thanks, Lee…
I know this is an absolutely true statement about our military forces because I heard it in a movie once.
Hell, you think YOU have it bad?
I live in a world where Chic-Fil-A is a violent hate group that must be stopped before they kill us all with their delicious chicken filets, and nuggets, and hate. Meanwhile the new Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam who threaten people with death and injury are considered heroic forces for justice.
And there are no working giant robots except stupid slow ones designed for forestry work in environmentally sensitive areas.
Here’s your “Voltron” kiddos. Try not to have TOO much fun.
http://www.botjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/logging-spider.jpg
Oh yeah, having a pair of balls, and not being sufficiently ashamed of it, is considered to be a form of mental illness here.
Rape is only properly illegal if Whoopie Goldberg feels like it’s a case of “Rape Rape”.
We drove up the price of meat to get the price of gasoline down and it didn’t work, and it messes up older engines. AND we shut off the water to the California valley to save some fish that MIGHT be in the pumps. Now they want us to buy electric cars even though producing the electricity means using a lot more of what the electric cars are supposed to stop us from using.
Companies and people get sued and lose property rights because of specialized invertebrate populations that are thought only to exist locally.
A puddle is a wetland.
CO2 is toxic.
Republicans are the party of slavery.
Black is white.
Up is down.
Science is settled.
Spaghetti is a religion and cheap snark is a sacrament.
Anti-semitism is grounds for a Nobel Peace Prize.
We make movies about sparkly 90 +year old teen aged vampires that walk around in day light and look like a bad James Dean caricature with too much lip gloss on.
It’s like a bad game of Gauntlet. Elf needs food, death is coming, and no one can find the damned exit. Also the change machine is out of quarters and the arcade manager is an idiot who can’t find his keys.
So far Ted Cruz is polling about nine points ahead of Dewhurst. I hope it bears out. The big day is tomorrow. I early voted for him.
Leigh, I’m anxiously awaiting Bubba’s blade selection. It’s like watching a superhero movie; you already know he’s going to stick it to the bad guy. The fun is in the buildup and how he finally does it.
That Bumblefuck is apparently unaware that Clinton hates his guts is a thing of wonder. Smartest President evah!
That Bumblefuck is apparently unaware that Clinton hates his guts is a thing of wonder. Smartest President evah!
He’s desperate. He can’t campaign anymore than he currently is (w/o cutting into his golf outings). No, this is a wonderful development.
Popcorn worthy.
“leigh says July 30, 2012 at 11:17 am
What Rob said. C’mon man, step away from the ledge!”
Happyfeet is not a ledge so much as a pasture. He’s really not capable of anything that can’t be washed off with a hose.
I’m anxiously awaiting Bubba’s blade selection. It’s like watching a superhero movie; you already know he’s going to stick it to the bad guy. The fun is in the buildup and how he finally does it.
I can’t wait. It’s going to be a thing of beauty, too. Bubba isn’t called Slick Willy for nothing. President Fuck-up will be looking at his guts spilling out on the floor and saying, “But I thought we were friends?”