The key elements that allowed for the mission to come together...to find and then kill Bin Laden...were the fact that the Bush administration set up a very comprehensive intelligence apparatus, got legal approval for establishing enhanced interogation techniques (water boarding, sleep deprivation, nutrition modification, contant music playing, and phsycological methods) to glean the intel from the captured terrorist leaders. In addition, he established off-shore places to hold these prisoners were their security could be maintained, and where no calls to try and extend these enemy combatants (who according to the rules of war in the geneva convention could have been summarily executed) US legal protection. Barack Hussein Obama and the DNC leadership vocally and directly opposed all of this, both as a Senator and then later when running for President, where he vowed to end it. After being elected, he did end most of it, but was never able to close down GITMO because he had no better alternative acceptable to the American people.
But, lickily, by that time the military, the CIA, and the NSA already had gleaned the essential intelligence and they followed it and ultimately used it to find Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan. Once it was known, and an operation was planned, it was put off for several months by the Obama administration. We do not know exactly why, but the longer it was put off, the more likely it was for bin Laden to either find out, or move somewhere else. Could it be possible Obama was waiting for the best opportunity to gain political capital before making the call? You be the judge.
Ultimately the call was made and the armed forces of this nation, assisted by the CIA and NSA, pulled off the mission to a tee and assaulted and killed bin Laden and then got everyone out of the situation safey. For the decision to make the call...to say, "Yes, do it," the credit goes to Obama. But, given the same circumstances with the avowed leader of the terrorists who killed over 3,000 Americans on 911, who would not have made that call? The answer to that is clear...but also not without controversy as we shall see.
The credit for getting us to that point, for the hard decisions and then the discipline to stick with it, goes to others, notably the Bush administration and the intelligence, clandestine, special forces, and regular forces of the US Military.
At the time, Obama, although identifying the units involved and how they went about it (which was a horrible mistake from an intelligence and special forces standpoint, they would have rather the details not been made public), Obama indicated that there should be and would be no chest thumping or spiking the football regarding this operation. That was a correct course of action.
However, now several moths before his re-election bid, Obama, on the 1st anniversary of the event, flew to Afghanistan and made a big show of taking credit for the operation, saying "I did", and "my decision," and "me," over and over, and rarely or not at all mentioning the other critical players who made this possible.. You would have thought he himself caught the terrorists, detained them, interrogated them, analyzed and follow-ed up on the info, found the courier, tracked him to Pakistan, planned the mission, made the call, and went in himself to shoot bin Laden.
It was as brazen a politicization and "spiking the football" display as can be imagined. In short, it was dispicable. He even went so far as to indicate that his challenger, Mitt Romney, if he had been President, would not have made the same call, thus trying to use a critical national event, that should uniyte us, to divide us and cast disperison on his opponent.
A sad spectacle for the office of the Presidency.
The fact is this, had Obama relly been in charge the whole time, we never would have captured the other terroorists, never would have gottent he specific information, and never would have been able to conduct the mission into Pakistan to get Osama. The least Obama could do is to admit this, graciously, and give that credit where it is due, along with the high prasie of the military personnel who risked their lifes for years to make this a reality, and ultimately risked their lifes going in to get bin LAden.
Clinton, in suppoorting Obama talked about how tough a call it was and what a "terrible risk," Obama took should those troops have been captured, tortured or killed. Really, Bill? Obama was taking the risk? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?
What a sad day that this administration and its supporters would be so callous about the lifes of our service personnel and so anxious and selfish to try and bolster their political careers on a mission like this which was for the good of all Americans.
But this is the truth of the matter and something every American should consider when voting this fall, in November 2012.
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