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Goal Was Never to Capture bin Laden
The Atlantic ^ | 5/4/11 | Yochi Dreazen, Aamer Madhani & Marc Ambinder

Posted on 05/04/2011 10:27:53 AM PDT by LibWhacker

The Navy SEALs knew their mission was to kill the al Qaeda leader, not take him alive

In the weeks before President Obama ordered Navy SEALs into Pakistan in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, administration officials weighed using American warplanes to obliterate the terror mastermind's fortified compound from the sky or sending commandos on a high-risk mission to assault the structure from the ground.

But there's one option the administration appears to have never seriously considered: taking bin Laden alive.

In an important new detail about Sunday's raid, the White House disclosed on Tuesday that bin Laden was unarmed when the SEALs shot him in the head and chest, killing him instantly. The administration said that bin Laden resisted capture, but hasn't suggested in any of its public comments that the SEALs were in any immediate danger when they opened fire on him during their assault on his compound in an affluent Islamabad suburb of Abbottabad.

The SEALs' decision to fatally shoot bin Laden -- even though he didn't have a weapon - wasn't an accident. The administration had made clear to the military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command that it wanted bin Laden dead, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions. A high-ranking military officer briefed on the assault said the SEALs knew their mission was not to take him alive.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: binladen; capture; goal; seals
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To: LibWhacker

We got a lot of info out of KSM. Assuming he could have been captured (sounds like it), killing Osama before we had the opportunity to get information out of him is a big waste. But this administration has ruled out harsh interrogation, secret prisions, rendition.... It is pretty safe to assume that under Obama, there would be no upside to detaining Osama - he would sit comfortably in a cell, bothered by nobody and only talking to his team of lawyers. Given this, Obama surely felt that killing Osama was the way to go. But if his house was filled with computers and thumb drives and other evidence, that suggests that Obama was not just a spiritual figurehead but was actually involved enough in what AQ was up to that he would have had enormous intelligence value. Too bad, but this is what happens when ACLU types run the country.


41 posted on 05/04/2011 11:23:26 AM PDT by Stingray51
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To: LibWhacker
Goal Was Never to Capture bin Laden

It really irked ME was that WH Spokesclown Jay Carney described the "burial" at sea using the words that the deceased's body was "elevated and EASED into the Sea"... More accurately the body "SLID" into the sea, but once again, let's not upset the Muslims....
Let's face it Muzzies, He was DUMPED OVERBOARD...

42 posted on 05/04/2011 11:25:34 AM PDT by FDNYRHEROES (In just His first 3 days, the War on Terror became the War on Free Speech.)
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To: Jim Noble

So close but so far away.

That should be “But Madam Sec. Clinton! What about our arrangement?”


43 posted on 05/04/2011 11:30:43 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: Travis McGee; Squantos

I have been searching for the best thread to post this in. This one is as good as any other.

Now that a few days have gone by, a picture of what really went down is forming in my mind. We sent in roughly 20 of our best of the very best of our best in the world military types into a fortified compound about one acre in size. Entry by the “Front Door” was not practical due to 2 security gates on the only entrance. So, our forces repel in from helos in the middle of the night. No matter how you try to describe it, it is NOT QUIET! hasbin laden had to know he was under attack.

Our 20 or so elite team members systematically swept thru the compound while in a firefight. They split into 2 sub teams each advancing on the two buildings. As they swept / cleared each building, they shot any and all that “needed shootin’”. Anyone still alive was secured and zip-tied.

hasbin laden was found in the 3 story building, on the 3rd floor. He was found in a room with his wife and children near the end or the raid. To me this means that when the raid started, hasben laden knew he was in deep doo-doo. He gathered his wife and kids and hid in a far corner room on the top floor.

In the end, this loud mouthed rich dude who declared war on the United States did not fight, he cowered in the dark behind his wife & kids. I suspect his diaper was quite full as well. The scum that convinced people living in poverty to kill themselves in suicide attacks was himself living in luxury in a mansion, and died a coward’s death. He most likely spent those last 40 minutes whimpering in total fear as the gunfire came closer and closer.

Maybe I am perverted, but the above picture warms these old bones. I am tempted to stand in the front yard and pass out sweets, dance on my tippie-toes, and moon mecca.


44 posted on 05/04/2011 11:32:01 AM PDT by Petruchio (I Think . . . Therefor I FReep.)
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To: LibWhacker

This whole thing is getting stranger.

He’s on the 3rd floor of a tall compound. Somehow we’re able to land a few choppers on his lawn and engage in a huge firefight to get all the way up to the 3rd floor and he’s unarmed when we get there and doesn’t fire a shot? What was he doing the entire team the choppers approached, landed, and the SEALS made their way to the top floor?

He had no guards or security with him. Yet he did have 5 computers, 100 hard drives and all this other material.

There wasn’t even anyone on the roof or on the ground who had a stinger missile or rpg to aim at any incoming aircraft.

His daughter told a Pak TV station that he was taken alive and then shot execution-style.

Now they won’t release any photos or documentary evidence of anything that took place.

I’m beginning to wonder if there was any firefight. It sounds like he was sleeping and we just caught him unawares. If someone didn’t just turn him in and there’s been this huge cover story(which would explain all the inconsistencies and changed facts)

Not that I mind that.

But I doubt we’ll ever get the real story. Whatever it is I doubt it went down like we’ve been told.


45 posted on 05/04/2011 11:33:13 AM PDT by jeltz25
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To: Bush_Democrat

“Consider this leak along with the other ones of HRC and Petraeus making Bambi sign a non-disclosure agreement protecting the team, and the other ones about Panetta forcing Bambi’s hand by giving a ‘go’ order to the team already. “

do you have a link on these items? googled but didn’t come up with anything.


46 posted on 05/04/2011 12:14:46 PM PDT by WoofDog123
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To: jeltz25

Amen. The idea that the Paks did not mobilize to defend their elite military hangout during a noisy firefight cum helicopter crash is hard to believe. Something is fishy (other than Bin Laden’s new habitat). Of course, we will always be told that the SEALs can’t talk due to security concerns.

Al Qaeda does not attack the West in retaliation, or because they are “inflamed.” They attack because they think we are weak and decadent. The conduct of the Clinton and 0bama administrations reinforces their beliefs.


47 posted on 05/04/2011 12:23:22 PM PDT by hellbender
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To: hellbender

agreed. and that’s one reason I think Obama did the right thing in sending in guys on the ground as opposed to doing a Clinton-style cruise missile strike. He sent a message that we will come and find you and we won’t just lob missiles from hundreds of miles offshore.

But then he gives him some secret muslim burial and won’t release any photos or evidence. It’s just very strange.


48 posted on 05/04/2011 12:27:16 PM PDT by jeltz25
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To: WoofDog123

Well, it’s interesting because the google links HAD been there before. Memory-hole monitors are certainly fast! Now the only one I see is for a thread in FR. Anyone know how to search google cache?


49 posted on 05/04/2011 12:56:57 PM PDT by BreitbartSentMe (ATLAS SHRUGGED was supposed to be a warning, NOT a newspaper.)
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To: WoofDog123; Bush_Democrat
Google
we overruled him

obama signed non disclosure petraeus


Some articles still remain.
50 posted on 05/04/2011 1:21:14 PM PDT by papasmurf (War is hell, but not the worst hell. Having a PRES__ENT comes close!)
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To: AppyPappy

Or......he’s alive an being flushed for that data as we speak.

Who knows....


51 posted on 05/04/2011 1:48:19 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: Steel Wolf
Killing them loses potential information, but it was information we weren't going to get anyway. It also cuts down on repeat offenders delightfully. It's a much better way to operate against terrorists. In this day and age, I'd rather interrogate a man's cell phone and computer than the man itself.

In this case I agree and supposedly we lifted all kinds of hard drives, DVDs and flash drives from Bin Laden's lair
Bin Laden would have become a rallying point and liability if alive. 
Far better we killed him and disposed of him at sea like some garbage. He is dead and gone. 
We can interrogate all his computer files and other stuff we took at our own leisure

Plus Bin Laden was kicking back with his two wives.  Bin Laden being holed up was not so active as before. Not so much valuable intel could have been extracted from him.

52 posted on 05/04/2011 1:58:11 PM PDT by dennisw (NZT - "works better if you're already smart")
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To: Petruchio; TigersEye; Travis McGee

We just will not know what and how they did such. We can speculate based on our own experiences yet that is all it would be.

Who is to say that the Helicopter wasn’t dumped in the compound for speed as was done in the Son Tay prison raid in NVA long ago. Did these men on point HAHO in from 20,000 feet 15 miles away for a quiet landing in the compound versus noise of aircraft.

Upon the code word Geronimo were helicopters then diverted to extract the shooters and their prize ?

40 minutes is a hell of a long time on the ground for such efficient theater to perform.

Leave nothing but brass and smoking holes with a few collateral fatalities of those who got in the way and boom yer gone after gear and tools are swept up .......

Unlimited what if scenario we can discuss yet , these guys do have to keep some stuff secret or it’s compromised by their next target or mission.

I have no problem saying good job SEALS and the other members of their team while reminding myself that Erkel Mugabe is not to be believed, trusted or honored in any form .


53 posted on 05/04/2011 3:03:08 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: sickoflibs
I thought Obama was going to reason with our enemies... that sure went out the door fast.

Yeah, but that's good news...

54 posted on 05/04/2011 5:23:35 PM PDT by GOPJ (Osama bin SEALed - http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2009/05/terrifying-brilliance-of-islam.html)
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To: sickoflibs

Murder! Murder! And his poor wife’s leg too! Where is the left? ;p


55 posted on 05/04/2011 5:56:42 PM PDT by Impy (Don't call me red.)
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To: LibWhacker
"The SEALs' decision to fatally shoot bin Laden -- even though he didn't have a weapon - wasn't an accident. The administration had made clear to the military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command that it wanted bin Laden dead, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions." Then it was NOT the Seals decision.
56 posted on 05/04/2011 6:05:26 PM PDT by kalee (The offences we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we engrave in marble. J Huett 1658)
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To: LibWhacker
The administration had made clear to the military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command that it wanted bin Laden dead, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions. A high-ranking military officer briefed on the assault said the SEALs knew their mission was not to take him alive.

Panetta says just the opposite - that the SEALs made the call on the scene.

57 posted on 05/04/2011 6:11:31 PM PDT by Interesting Times (WinterSoldier.com. SwiftVets.com. ToSetTheRecordStraight.com.)
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To: Squantos

Thanks for the ping. Good thoughts all and I couldn’t agree more with your closing statement.


58 posted on 05/04/2011 6:32:38 PM PDT by TigersEye (Who crashed the markets on 9/15/08 and why?)
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To: TigersEye

Ping me if ya find more info Tiger. Always something to learn.

Stay Safe...


59 posted on 05/04/2011 6:53:19 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: WoofDog123

Well, here is a story that repeats some of the info, collating it from other places.

http://www.thepostemail.com/2011/05/03/did-the-u-s-military-act-on-its-own-authority-to-kill-bin-laden/


60 posted on 05/04/2011 8:06:20 PM PDT by BreitbartSentMe (ATLAS SHRUGGED was supposed to be a warning, NOT a newspaper.)
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