Goal Was Never to Capture bin Laden

The Atlantic ^ | 5/4/11 | Yochi Dreazen, Aamer Madhani & Marc Ambinder

[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.

[WoofDog123]

I assume you have read http://grendelreport.posterous.com/obama-overruled

look at this and the situation room pic and I don’t disbelieve it at all. that man doesn’t look like he is even welcome, much less respected, in that room, and he looked unhappy.

[TigersEye]

Will do on both counts. I already pinged you to a
non-informational post. That's a one-off though.

Stay safe. Stay ready. Stay happy.

[thecodont]

Thanks for the link.

What I find really interesting from it:

“Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was.”

[BreitbartSentMe]

I also find the scenario that the ‘adults’ in the Sit-Room sent someone to retrieve Bambi from the golf course once the mission was underway 100 times more believable than the one stating that he made the ‘gutsy-call’ to authorize the raid, and then hit the links for 1/2 a round of golf. The first scenario also explains why he was wearing golf shoes in the Sit-Room, and he didn’t have a seat at the big table.

[cynwoody]

Doesn't this make Obama and Holder WAR CRIMINALS?

UN High Bitch for Human Rights Navi Pillay is already on the case. If GWB had pulled off this operation, you know whose side Obama would be on.

[WoofDog123]

this is the first time ulsterman’s source had delivered something I thought fairly close to concrete as you can get - this was from april 28th.

A: Hell yes – print it! Oh Jarrett…poor Valerie. She’s picked an enemy far tougher and far more connected than she is. I’ve told you before – there has always been chaos with this White House. With an absentee president who only cares about image, that’s gonna happen. So Jarrett has been running the show. She has built up her presence…her power, from day one. And she’s had her way on almost every critical issue. She pushed out Rahm, she’s alienated many of the most influential Congressional Democrats, she’s pissed off the military – oh that’s another story I’ll have to share with you soon. That one is still playing out right before our eyes though, so we gotta let that one turn out first. She’s gonna get burned on that too. But let’s stick with what happened a few weeks back in the White House that has people talking, and the donors pushing the big concerned button once again.

Read more: http://newsflavor.com/politics/us-politics/white-house-insider-obamas-west-wing-civil-war/#ixzz1LRoXyAuu

[WoofDog123]

“Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was.”’“Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was.”

biden makes comments that are off-color but they are generally truthful, at least in his view. Remember his comment about obama losing his teleprompter or it breaking or something ‘oh no what’s he gonna do now?’