Obama got elected promising to wage war without “betraying our principles.” To hear him tell it, waterboarding KSM was an atrocity unequaled since the holocaust. He couldn't take responsibility for the incarceration and interrogation of bin Laden. He had to make sure bin Laden died, whether he surrendered or not. On the other hand, Obama can't go before the world and justify a summary execution. He would look like the utterly unprincipled, braying ass that he is.
If the photos of UBL’s corpse show an exit wound in the forehead and photos from the scene suggest that UBL was shot in the back of the head while kneeling or lying down, the events of last Sunday are going to turn from a political dream for Obama into a nightmare. He can't defend summary extra-judicial execution. He can't scapegoat the SEALs, America would crucify him for it. He's got to hope no clear picture of what happened to UBL ever emerges, which is probably why we haven't seen the photographic evidence.
Pakistan is on pins and needles right now because they've just been nailed aiding and abetting bin Laden. This is a warning shot across Obama’s bow and as such it is extremely interesting.
Good post. I kind of like the “whisked away and alive for “questioning” by trained personnel while “somebody else’s body” is dumped into the ocean.
I could deal with that as well.