CNN Reporting Bin Laden is dead

[ben says]

People do not have the right to conduct a campaign of random death against civilians for their political purposes.

We have the right not to be killed for someone else's politics.

There is no shame in celebrating this basic principle of self preservation.

This is Justice.

I normally agree with you Stephen, but surely you can appreciate the irony in the above statement. Take out the context, and the above statement could just as easily be used to justify the assassination of our Commander in Chief. It's an unpopular opinion, but regardless of intent, we have a hell of a lot more civilian blood on our hands as a result of 9/11 than Bin Laden. It's not conjecture, but rather documented fact. That's why his death is so bittersweet to me. A celebration of his killing seems a de facto celebration of our methods. As previously stated, that's something I just don't feel comfortable lauding.

And perhaps I'm still jaded from the capture of Saddam Hussein. From those celebrations in the street. From the partying, and cheering, and chants of USA! USA! And still, here we are, years upon years upon years later, still reading the death tolls in the daily paper, still hearing excuses from Bush, and then Obama, and then whoever else, as to why deadlines for withdrawal are repeatedly ignored or pushed back while billions upon billions upon billions of dollars drains from our nation's coffers each month.

Amen...

[acme54321]

It's hilarious that some people think Obama had anything to do with this other than giving the go ahead after being briefed on the situation, come on. 

[CityLife]

It's hilarious that some people think Obama had anything to do with this other than giving the go ahead after being briefed on the situation, come on. 

From the Trump school of reasoning aren't you. Yea the President didn't hold 5 meetings with the National Security Council in the last few months. He had nothing to do with the CIA's renewed focus in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He just merely signed off on an order.....

This article from Time will make you think otherwise. I'll copy and paste a neat little excerpt.

"The likelihood, officials told the President, was between 50% and 80%. No slam dunk. Obama went around the table asking everyone to state their opinion. He quizzed his staff about worst case scenariosâ€"the possibility of civilian casualties, a hostage situation, a diplomatic blow-up with Pakistan, a downed helicopter. He was presented with three options: Wait to gather more intelligence, attack with targeted bombs from the air, or go in on the ground with troops. The room was divided about 50-50, said a person in the room. John Brennan, the President’s senior counter-terrorism adviser, supported a ground strike, as did the operational people, including Leon Panetta at the CIA. Others called for more time. In the end, about half of the senior aides supported a helicopter assault. The other half said either wait, or strike from above.

Obama left the meeting without signaling his intent. He wanted to sleep on it. At about 8:00 a.m. on Friday, just before he boarded a helicopter that would take him to tour tornado damage in Alabama, Obama called his senior aides into the Diplomatic Room. He told them his decision: A helicopter assault."

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/02/inside-the-situation-room-weve-idd-geronimo/#ixzz1LEqNeJtN

[JaxNative68]

"I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."
-Mark Twain

[acme54321]

It's hilarious that some people think Obama had anything to do with this other than giving the go ahead after being briefed on the situation, come on. 

From the Trump school of reasoning aren't you. Yea the President didn't hold 5 meetings with the National Security Council in the last few months. He had nothing to do with the CIA's renewed focus in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He just merely signed off on an order.....

This article from Time will make you think otherwise. I'll copy and paste a neat little excerpt.

"The likelihood, officials told the President, was between 50% and 80%. No slam dunk. Obama went around the table asking everyone to state their opinion. He quizzed his staff about worst case scenariosâ€"the possibility of civilian casualties, a hostage situation, a diplomatic blow-up with Pakistan, a downed helicopter. He was presented with three options: Wait to gather more intelligence, attack with targeted bombs from the air, or go in on the ground with troops. The room was divided about 50-50, said a person in the room. John Brennan, the President’s senior counter-terrorism adviser, supported a ground strike, as did the operational people, including Leon Panetta at the CIA. Others called for more time. In the end, about half of the senior aides supported a helicopter assault. The other half said either wait, or strike from above.

Obama left the meeting without signaling his intent. He wanted to sleep on it. At about 8:00 a.m. on Friday, just before he boarded a helicopter that would take him to tour tornado damage in Alabama, Obama called his senior aides into the Diplomatic Room. He told them his decision: A helicopter assault."

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/02/inside-the-situation-room-weve-idd-geronimo/#ixzz1LEqNeJtN

Yeah me and Trump are tight


Your little article says exactly what I did.  He was briefed on the situation and have the go ahead on an assault.  Helicopters, groundstrike, whatever it be.  Do you thing any other president would have done anything radically different?  To suggest that he was found all because of Obama is rather far fetched.

[CityLife]

It's hilarious that some people think Obama had anything to do with this other than giving the go ahead after being briefed on the situation, come on. 

From the Trump school of reasoning aren't you. Yea the President didn't hold 5 meetings with the National Security Council in the last few months. He had nothing to do with the CIA's renewed focus in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He just merely signed off on an order.....

This article from Time will make you think otherwise. I'll copy and paste a neat little excerpt.

"The likelihood, officials told the President, was between 50% and 80%. No slam dunk. Obama went around the table asking everyone to state their opinion. He quizzed his staff about worst case scenariosâ€"the possibility of civilian casualties, a hostage situation, a diplomatic blow-up with Pakistan, a downed helicopter. He was presented with three options: Wait to gather more intelligence, attack with targeted bombs from the air, or go in on the ground with troops. The room was divided about 50-50, said a person in the room. John Brennan, the President’s senior counter-terrorism adviser, supported a ground strike, as did the operational people, including Leon Panetta at the CIA. Others called for more time. In the end, about half of the senior aides supported a helicopter assault. The other half said either wait, or strike from above.

Obama left the meeting without signaling his intent. He wanted to sleep on it. At about 8:00 a.m. on Friday, just before he boarded a helicopter that would take him to tour tornado damage in Alabama, Obama called his senior aides into the Diplomatic Room. He told them his decision: A helicopter assault."

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/02/inside-the-situation-room-weve-idd-geronimo/#ixzz1LEqNeJtN

Yeah me and Trump are tight


Your little article says exactly what I did.  He was briefed on the situation and have the go ahead on an assault.  Helicopters, groundstrike, whatever it be.  Do you thing any other president would have done anything radically different?  To suggest that he was found all because of Obama is rather far fetched.

He had 5 meetings with the National Security Council in the last few months. That article just detailed the final decision of action. From the other 4 meetings the National Security Council gave the orders to the CIA and JSOC to begin training teams for a helicopter mission, to prepare plans for a ground attack, drone/missile attacks, and the many other logistical matters that were involved.

I've yet to see anyone say that he was found solely because of Obama. In fact, earlier in the thread I said that the intel that led to the courier may have even come as a result of a team Bush had organized.

However, to say that Obama did not play a major role throughout the entire situation is preposterous.

[acme54321]

Well obviously he did, he's the commander in chief.  He gives the go ahead.  Maybe my original post was a little misworded.  I should have said that to say that Bush wasted all that time and didn't really want to catch bin laden (which is what some of the earlier posts I saw were hinting at), then Obama came in and got him right away was a little much.  They were both presidents doing their jobs.  Why would Bush not want to catch him?

[CityLife]

Well obviously he did, he's the commander in chief.  He gives the go ahead.  Maybe my original post was a little misworded.  I should have said that to say that Bush wasted all that time and didn't really want to catch bin laden (which is what some of the earlier posts I saw were hinting at), then Obama came in and got him right away was a little much.  They were both presidents doing their jobs.  Why would Bush not want to catch him?

Just stop. You are in way over your head.

Guess who nominated Leon Panetta head of the CIA? You guessed it, Barack Obama. Guess who found Bin Laden? The CIA...Is this starting to make sense?

You clearly have no idea about US Foreign policy with your Bush comments, but I've gotta go to dinner, so I'll let Stephen or someone else educate you.

[Ralph W]

[civil42806]

ughhhh I hate that graphic

[civil42806]

Well obviously he did, he's the commander in chief.  He gives the go ahead.  Maybe my original post was a little misworded.  I should have said that to say that Bush wasted all that time and didn't really want to catch bin laden (which is what some of the earlier posts I saw were hinting at), then Obama came in and got him right away was a little much.  They were both presidents doing their jobs.  Why would Bush not want to catch him?

Just stop. You are in way over your head.

Guess who nominated Leon Panetta head of the CIA? You guessed it, Barack Obama. Guess who found Bin Laden? The CIA...Is this starting to make sense?

You clearly have no idea about US Foreign policy with your Bush comments, but I've gotta go to dinner, so I'll let Stephen or someone else educate you.

Ummmm sorry lets give the professionals there due.  The Cia has screwed the pooch so much that they deserve one.  But the analysts and professionals don't change regardless of what political hack is in charge.  "THE ONE" gave the go ahead, props to him, it was a risky adventure and if it went south, he would have been jimmy carter (hostage rescue) or gerald ford (mayaguez incident).  Look the last one up on wiki.  I'm just glad we didn't decide to arrest him and bring him back for trial.  Osama got what he long deserved, but its not overwith and hopefully the "war on terror" or what the latest term we use will continue successfully

[CityLife]

Well obviously he did, he's the commander in chief.  He gives the go ahead.  Maybe my original post was a little misworded.  I should have said that to say that Bush wasted all that time and didn't really want to catch bin laden (which is what some of the earlier posts I saw were hinting at), then Obama came in and got him right away was a little much.  They were both presidents doing their jobs.  Why would Bush not want to catch him?

Just stop. You are in way over your head.

Guess who nominated Leon Panetta head of the CIA? You guessed it, Barack Obama. Guess who found Bin Laden? The CIA...Is this starting to make sense?

You clearly have no idea about US Foreign policy with your Bush comments, but I've gotta go to dinner, so I'll let Stephen or someone else educate you.

Ummmm sorry lets give the professionals there due.  The Cia has screwed the pooch so much that they deserve one.  But the analysts and professionals don't change regardless of what political hack is in charge.  "THE ONE" gave the go ahead, props to him, it was a risky adventure and if it went south, he would have been jimmy carter (hostage rescue) or gerald ford (mayaguez incident).  Look the last one up on wiki.  I'm just glad we didn't decide to arrest him and bring him back for trial.  Osama got what he long deserved, but its not overwith and hopefully the "war on terror" or what the latest term we use will continue successfully

I can't really decipher what you are trying to say, but somewhere in there are you trying to say that the Director of the CIA didn't have an impact on the organizational capacity of the CIA? You can damn well bet Panetta, a CIA outsider shook things up when appointed. He has also made capturing Bin Laden the organizations #1 priority after Obama told him to do so.

You can also bet that they didn't have a bunch of GS-7's straight out of college handling the case. It was handled by the cream of the crop who Panetta, the NSC, and Obama hand picked to do so.

It is freaking killing a lot of people that Barack did well here.

I feel very fortunate to not hold myself to any political ideology and thus not have to lie to myself to justify positions.

[CityLife]

Well obviously he did, he's the commander in chief.  He gives the go ahead.  Maybe my original post was a little misworded.  I should have said that to say that Bush wasted all that time and didn't really want to catch bin laden (which is what some of the earlier posts I saw were hinting at), then Obama came in and got him right away was a little much.  They were both presidents doing their jobs.  Why would Bush not want to catch him?

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority" -- G. W. Bush 3/13/02

Iraq was Dubya's #1 priority. Had we not wasted valuable time, money, and resources in Iraq Bin Laden would have been found far sooner.

When Obama took charge, he made finding and killing Bin Laden the #1 priority of the CIA and JSOC.

[Timkin]

Dubya's Priorities SOMEWHAT had to do with Oil.. seeing as he and Daddy are in the Oil business.

[CityLife]

Don't forget old Dicky C, with his ties to Haliburton.