White House fumbles getting its Osama bin Laden story straight From DEBKAfile "Two days after the US President Barack Obama's triumphal announcement that Osama bin Laden was dead, the White House was grappling with a serious credibility problem: Questions and contradictions are mounting about the how and why US elite SEALs killed the most wanted man in the world at his mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2. New information proving the first stories wrong comes not just from a defensive Pakistan government but also from US officials."
Personally, I couldn't care less how OBL got it. Be thankful these leftists weren't press darlings when we killed Yamamoto in WW2.
PJ Tatler "I was told – in these exact terms, “we overruled him.” (Obama) I have since followed up and received further details on exactly what that meant, as well as the specifics of how Leon Panetta worked around the president’s “persistent hesitation to act.” There appears NOT to have been an outright overruling of any specific position by President Obama, simply because there was no specific position from the president to do so. President Obama was, in this case, as in all others, working as an absentee president.
"I was correct in stating there had been a push to invade the compound for several weeks if not months, primarily led by Leon Panetta, Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, David Petraeus, and Jim Clapper."
More details here. " 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."
This report suspect " Upon closer inspection of the article, it appears a well-informed. A little TOO well informed. Why would an insider talk to some blog instead of Fox or the NYT?
"Also, some of these points (presumably)come from private conversations. Even the highest aides aren't there for personal conversations of the President. Until we get a report from a real news source, it's not true. "
From the article comments.
Victor Davis Hanson: Rules for Killing Rogues "Americans rejoiced at news of the end of this psychopathic mass murderer, and, privately, are probably relieved that he was not captured and extradited to Guantanamo. If bin Laden had been taken alive, we might be revisiting the controversy surrounding the Obama administration’s failed efforts to try in a civilian federal court bin Laden’s subordinate, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the master planner behind 9/11.
"But what, exactly, are the moral, legal, or practical rules in going after terrorist leaders or the savage dictators of rogue regimes?"