Who killed Osama Bin Laden?

[Gob]

A tough new advert has been put out by a group calling themselves Special Ops OPSEC Education Fund, who say their mission is to "STOP the politicians, President Obama and others, from politically capitalizing on US national security operations and secrets!"

The organisation, which claims to be non-partisan despite being fronted by several Republicans, accuses the White House of putting national security at risk by leaking secrets.

But its main purpose is to attack President Obama for what it calls his bragging about the killing of Bin Laden and his claim of all the credit for a military operation.

Obama certainly did instantly seek maximum political advantage and rather laid it on with a trowel. Remember that moody picture of him watching the op?

After the killing, the White House and the president took pains to suggest that the operation wasn't something that just happened, but was a presidential priority.

They stressed it required Obama to make a difficult and agonising decision to authorise the actual mission, against the wishes of many advisors.

To counter this image a former Navy Seal Ben Smith says: "Mr President, you did not kill Bin Laden, America did."

The Obama campaign has accused the group of "Swift Boat tactics", recalling a highly effective ad from 2004 which questioned John Kerry's Vietnam record.

The new group rejects the accusation, saying that campaign was about narrow personal details, but theirs is about wider issues of national security.

At first sight this is only going to persuade the converted.

But the general thrust is in line with the current line from Mitt Romney's campaign.

Obama's biggest positive is his "likeability rating".

This suggestion that he's boastful and politically vain, like Romney's argument that Team Obama are running a campaign of hate and anger, is designed to undermine the president's personal appeal.

Some, of course, need no persuading.

The former Seal, Ben Smith, in an article (I am presuming there are not two former Navy Seals called Ben Smith) is not as terse as in the video, but even more dramatic.

He warns that America is in the middle of a "cold civil war", which is about to turn hot as "the Obama regime running our country into the ground" prepares to impose martial law.

He writes: "Keep preparing for rough times ahead. Stock your pantry in preparation for lean days, even as the regime attempts to make such things illegal.

"Focus your mind on liberty, that it should never die. I cannot tell you exactly what is coming but I know, as do you, that something unprecedented in American history, perhaps even all human history, is coming soon."

Before we are all forced to take to the hills, the verbal skirmishing will get harsher yet.

[loCAtek]

It's not just about OBL;

Intelligence and Special Operations forces are furious and frustrated at how President Obama and those in positions of authority have exploited their service for political advantage. Countless leaks, interviews and decisions by the Obama Administration and other government officials have undermined the success of our Intelligence and Special Operations forces and put future missions and personnel at risk.

The unwarranted and dangerous public disclosure of Special Forces Operations is so serious -- that for the first time ever -- former operators have agreed to risk their reputations and go 'on the record' in a special documentary titled "Dishonorable Disclosures." Its goal is to educate America about serious breaches of security and prevent them from ever happening again. You can view the full documentary at http://youtu.be/X-Xfti7qtT0.

"Crediting Obama for killing Bin Laden is like thanking Ronald McDonald for your hamburger; It was the cook who did the work, not the clown."



From the Wall Street Journal

Michael Mukasey: Obama and the bin Laden Bragging Rights
It's hard to imagine Lincoln or Eisenhower claiming such credit for the heroic actions of others.



Consider the events surrounding the operation. A recently disclosed memorandum from then-CIA Director Leon Panetta shows that the president's celebrated derring-do in authorizing the operation included a responsibility-escape clause: "The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven's hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out."

Which is to say, if the mission went wrong, the fault would be Adm. McRaven's, not the president's. Moreover, the president does not seem to have addressed at all the possibility of seizing material with intelligence value—which may explain his disclosure immediately following the event not only that bin Laden was killed, but also that a valuable trove of intelligence had been seized, including even the location of al Qaeda safe-houses. That disclosure infuriated the intelligence community because it squandered the opportunity to exploit the intelligence that was the subject of the boast.

The only reliable weapon that any administration has against the current threat to this country is intelligence. Every operation like the one against bin Laden (or the one that ended the career of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S. citizen and al Qaeda propagandist killed in a drone attack last September) dips into the reservoir of available intelligence. Refilling that reservoir apparently is of no importance to an administration that, after an order signed by the president on his second day in office, has no classified interrogation program—and whose priorities are apparent from its swift decision to reopen investigations of CIA operators for alleged abuses in connection with the classified interrogation program that once did exist.

While contemplating how the killing of bin Laden reflects on the president, consider the way he emphasized his own role in the hazardous mission accomplished by SEAL Team 6:

"I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority . . . even as I continued our broader effort. . . . Then, after years of painstaking work by my intelligence community I was briefed . . . I met repeatedly with my national security team . . . And finally last week I determined that I had enough intelligence to take action. . . . Today, at my direction . . ."

That seems a jarring formulation coming from a man who, when first elected, was asked which president he would model himself on and replied, Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln, on the night after Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender ended the Civil War, delivered from the window of the White House a speech that mentioned his own achievements not at all, but instead looked forward to the difficulties of reconstruction and called for black suffrage—a call that would doom him because the audience outside the White House included a man who muttered that Lincoln had just delivered his last speech. It was John Wilkes Booth.

The man from whom President Obama has sought incessantly to distance himself, George W. Bush, also had occasion during his presidency to announce to the nation a triumph of intelligence: the capture of Saddam Hussein. He called that success "a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq." He attributed it to "the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers. . . . Their work continues, and so do the risks."

He did mention himself at the end: "Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate them."

Every time, I hear the PreZ take credit for the mission, I think of this;

[Scooter]

This:

The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven's hands.

is a delegation of authority, not responsibility. Someone writing for the WSJ should understand the difference.

[Grim Reaper]

He warns that America is in the middle of a "cold civil war", which is about to turn hot as "the Obama regime running our country into the ground" prepares to impose martial law.

When facts are thin, fear-mongering can always be spread on thick to make things scarier than they really are. Apparently the big bad President is going to take away our freedoms if he gets re-elected.

And let's shine a little light on the situation, President Obama did thank everyone involved with the mission, not just take credit for himself approving the mission.

[loCAtek]

Meanwhile, he shouldn't be discussing mission details at all.

I've met with folks present at this President's military speeches ...who've walked out.

Didn't he vow to close Gitmo, where much of the intel was gathered?

[Scooter]

He would not have disclosed anything that he had not been advised was safe to say.

I've met with folks present at this President's military speeches ...who've walked out.

They are only disrespecting the uniform they are wearing by doing so. Gutter trash, IOW.

And yes, Guantanamo should have been closed long before now.

[Big RR]

Gutter trash? In a democracy? They have as much right to their opinion as anyone else and I won't criticize them for it. Why are you?

[Scooter]

Primarily because it never happened...

[loCAtek]

What never happened?

My source was Alpha Dog who withstood an Obama Speech, but not for long...

while withstanding many more SOS visits by Sec. Clinton ...

[Sean]

Primarily because it never happened...

LMAO - Give that man a coconut!

[rubato]

More "Swift Boat Liars for Evil".

I'm surprised that there aren't even a few Republican leaders repulsed enough by this kind of dishonesty to repudiate it.

But then I cannot think of any Republicans who qualify as 'leaders' any more now that Mc Cain has whored himself out for his party's nomination.

yrs,
rubato

[The Hen]

He would not have disclosed anything that he had not been advised was safe to say.

I've met with folks present at this President's military speeches ...who've walked out.

They are only disrespecting the uniform they are wearing by doing so. Gutter trash, IOW.

And yes, Guantanamo should have been closed long before now.

+100 on the speech containing what the Military had advised could be said about the operation.

The president does not disclose what hasn't been approved for disclosure.

Those present who walked out need to speak to their superiors as it would have been them that authorized the information.

[Scooter]

Millitary personnel walking out while the President was giving a speech would have been a front page story in every media outlet in the country. It's a fairy tale.

[The Hen]

Ahhh. I'll consider the source then.

[Sue U]

Personally, I think it's perfectly acceptable that our first Kenyan Muslim Socialist President Barry Barack Hussein NObama take credit for secretly flying to Pakistan and personally murdering Osama bin Hidin'. It's not like he's making a big public display of taking credit for something that never happened:



Ahem.

[The Hen]

Heh.