Posted by
ApolloSpeaks on Sunday, May 08, 2011 11:44:11 AM
Behold the Mohammed Ali of American wartime leaders. He floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee. Ain't he pretty.
I am writing this piece to correct the mistakes that I made in the article I posted last week "Desperate Obama Orders Killing of Bin Ladin (
see)." It was a hastily written and badly flawed piece in that I didn't follow the chain of events in proving my premise that political desperation, not patriotism, national security or justice, is what ultimately forced Barack Obama to move against the compound in Abbottabad, that luckily for him and the nation housed Osama bin Laden.
This piece sets out to prove that the most hyper-partisan and self-serving president in US history, the man from Chicagoland the capital of corruptocratic machine politics; in short, this man of staggering stupidity, blindness and incompetence in domestic and foreign affairs, was weak and indecisive in moving against Bin Laden's compound until politics forced him to act.
Let me begin by agreeing with a statement made by Jonah Goldberg that "it's inconceivable that any Republican or Democratic president (Obama included) would have passed up the opportunity to kill the world's most wanted man. For killing murderers like bin Laden is simply what U.S. presidents do (see )."
To be sure, if any president of either party had bin Laden safely in their sights he would not have hesitated to mete out justice by capturing or killing him. But here's the problem with Obama: leading up to the operation that killed Osama Obama wasn't satisfied that he had him in his sights. Believing with near certainty for many months that there was a prestigious target resideing in the Abbottabad compound Team Obama could only guess it was bin Ladin-and that wasn't good enough for Obama to act.
For after seven months of diligently spying on the facility from a nearby safehouse the CIA had failed to make positive identification of its occupant. The reason for this failure was bin Ladin's extreme caution and cunning. For there were no telecommunications equipment or internet access in the facility that could be eavesdropped on. And as revealed to interrogators by Bin Ladin's wounded wife, the world's most wanted man never once set foot outside the compound while it was under surveillance; in fact, in the six years residing there bin Laden was an absolute homebody confining himself to his room and an enclosed courtyard where he'd pace back and forth probably for exercise.
Think about this: bin Ladin's fortified facility came to the CIA's attention in August of last year. And shortly thereafter (in September) it was concluded that a high value target was living inside, possibly, or most likely, Osama bin Laden. But after seven months of info gathering and surveillance using every possible means: Pakistani informants, satellite images, telephoto lenses and listening devices (in an attempt to record bin Laden and his cohorts) the CIA made no progress in confirming that the target was bin Laden. All that time with Obama waiting for and requiring confirmation as a necessary condition for attacking the compound he felt that he wasn't morally obligated to act. With a positive ID yes, but without that no. If bin Ladin had been ID'd and Obama did nothing and it ever leaked out it would be a political catastrophe. Obama may be weak and stupid, but that dumb he is not. Though he was told by Leon Panetta that the target was probably, most likely bin Laden an extremely cautious and fearful Obama refused to greenlight the operation.
But with the economy stagnant and his polls tanking, and Donald Trump blasting him to the cheers of Republicans for being a weak, incompetent, and ineffective president (leading the nation into decline and embarrassing it before the world) a ticked off Obama clenched his fist and decided to act. Indeed, a decisive leader (a Reagan, Bush or McCain) would have acted much sooner. After the CIA concluded in September (from the comings and goings of the al Qaida couriers and other intel) that the occupant of the compound was a big man, and most likely bin Laden, an intrepid leader would have quickly ordered the Seals to start training for the mission, and had them ready to act by November, or before Christmas the latest. But due solely to political pressure Obama instead waited till April to start the program. Desperate for a stunning victory in the War on Terror to make him look gutsy, tough and competent to a public losing faith in him Obama nixed his requirement of a positive ID and launched the operation.
Postscript I: Obama's 19th Lie
No sooner was this highly professional and brilliant operation over and bin Laden dispatched to his fool's paradise than amateur hour took over at the White House with our bumbling president and administration marring the victory and making a mess of things with lies and contradictions about the operation-and the foolhardy suppression of bin Ladin's gruesome photos. In fact Fox News reports that it counted a total of "18 untruths" told by the White House in the aftermath of the raid; but instead of me listing them (16 of which you can find here) I have discovered a 19th lie, the biggest whopper of them all; the lie that president Obama authorized in March a plan to bomb the compound using B2 stealth planes carrying 2,000 pound bombs. As the story goes once Obama learned that the bombing would reduce the compound to rubble, run the risk of civilian casualties (bringing international condemnation) and possibly destroy all evidence of bin Laden's death, he called it off (see).
This story is so obviously and preposterously false that a ten year old could see through it. Are we to believe that Obama is so abysmally stupid and detached from reality that he authorized this mission without an inkling as to its devastating effects-and this after witnessing how many deadly drone attacks on militant compounds throughout Waziristan, Pakistan (see)? Or are we to believe that when Obama signed off on this B2 attack he wasn't warned beforehand by Secretary Gates about the carnage and wreckage it would cause? This story is a piece of lying White House propaganda to extoll Obama's great judgment in military matters and concern for human life. Truth is over 800 days in office and Obama still lacks the judgment, instincts, character and maturity for the job.
Postscript II: Clinton, Panetta, Gates and Trump
No doubt about it: our weak, dithering, indecisive Hamlet-like President hesitated for seven months before taking action against bin Laden; and was probably pressured into it by Donald Trump and those bolder souls within the administration (Clinton, Panetta, Gates, etc.) who wanted him to act. In short, when the truth is made known it will be seen that Obama (forced to act against his instincts) deserves very little real credit for Bin Ladin's death.
Also read my: