Obama the Gutsy Warrior

Adm. William McRaven

Blackfive: "GUTSIEST CALL EVER" DELEGATED TO MAN W/ ACTUAL GUTS  "There are even fairly reliable reports that Obama had the idea polled to see if he would bear blame for a mission failure or for chickening out and saying no go. But once the results said it was politically viable, the story was that bravely brave Sir Barry hollered "Follow Me" and led his minions to the Situation Room to watch the show.

"As it turns out, it was even lamer than that. A memo has come to light that shows responsibility was pushed down the chain to ADM McRaven.... And you can be sure that if it had gone south, McRaven would have been portrayed as a trigger-happy SEAL who led the Prez astray."

The author of this post then contrasts the above with the press statement Gen Eisenhower wrote on D-Day when things looked bleakest on Omaha Beach:

“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Harve area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”

The Man Who Got bin Laden: The Most Deadly Would-be Journalist in the World "Vice Adm. William McRaven, himself a SEAL, was on the ground in Afghanistan as bin Laden met his end, linked electronically to CIA chief Leon Panetta at agency headquarters in Langley, Va. “I have to tell you that the real commander was Admiral McRaven,” Panetta told PBS Tuesday night. “He was on site, and he was actually in charge of the military operation that went in and got bin Laden.” "

sodahead

Gutsy call?  "Team Obama has already painted Romney as a heartless executive who didn’t hesitate to fire people and, er, execute poorly-performing companies as a Bain executive.  What exactly would keep Romney from taking a risk with a terrorist mastermind in his crosshairs?  The attack was an overreach, and an opening for critics to challenge Obama’s actual role in the mission — and when Time Magazine published the mission orders from Leon Panetta to Admiral William H. McRaven, commander of US Special Operations Command, Big Peace pounced:"


NY Times: Warrior in Chief  "Soon after Mr. Obama took office he reframed the fight against terrorism. Liberals wanted to cast anti-terrorism efforts in terms of global law enforcement — rather than war. The president didn’t choose this path and instead declared “war against Al Qaeda and its allies.” In switching rhetorical gears, Mr. Obama abandoned Mr. Bush’s vague and open-ended fight against terrorism in favor of a war with particular, violent jihadists."
For which I would say Mr. Obama deserves a hearty well-done!  Oh, by the way: "Asked his view, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said, “Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go.” "


Max Boot responds to the NY Times article above: Obama Hardly a Hawkish Warrior-in-Chief   "These are hardly the actions of a hawkish commander-in-chief. (At least in my view as a Romney defense adviser.) Yet the reality of Obama’s foreign and defense policy, which especially because the death of bin Laden has turned notably more dovish, has been obscured by the president’s attempt to focus most of the public’s attention on his drone strikes and commando raids on al-Qaeda."


Memo Reveals The 'Gutsy' Bin Laden Call That Wasn't  "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."
...."Luckily, operational control was in McRaven's hands, and the planning, execution and decision-making were virtually flawless. 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."
...."Finally, it was the courageous and well-trained Navy SEALs who put their lives on the line and got a small measure of revenge for Sept. 11, 2001. It is President Obama who is falsely taking all the credit." (Emphasis added by TD)


White House Politicizes Situation Room  "The White House invited NBC News Anchor Brian Williams into the Situation Room Thursday as part of its campaign to tout Obama’s killing of Osama Bin Laden a year ago, according to Politico."

Here is how Obama uses our SEALs for his reelection: