Frequently Unasked Questions

The Obama Got Osama Victory Tour 2012 continued on CBS 60 Minutes last night.  Left unasked - did the disclosure by WikiLeaks a week earlier that Abbottabad was the home base for captured courier al-Libi prompt any discussion about moving quickly in case the target was freaking out at the mention of his hideout in a US goverment detainee assessment?

I don't expect Obama to tell the truth about this, but it doesn't seem to much to expect a serious reporter to ask.

The interview is comically self-promoting (Yes, it was a tough decison, but I make tough decisions every day; yes, I had a good week, but more importantly, America had a good week...") but I notice a couple of lapses.  First, Obama takes credit for being Commander of the Obvious, then backtracks:

So by the time they came to me they had worked up an image of the compound, where it was and the factors that led them to conclude that this was the best evidence that we had regarding bin Laden's whereabouts since Tora Bora.

But we didn't have a photograph of bin Laden in that building. There was no direct evidence of his presence. And so the CIA continued to build the case meticulously over the course of several months. What I told them when they first came to me with this evidence was: "Even as you guys are building a stronger intelligence case, let's also start building an action plan to figure out if in fact we make a decision that this is him or we've got a good chance that we've got him, how are we gonna deal with him? How can we get at that?"

Come up with an Action Plan!  Geez, I bet they ever would never have thought of that.  Oh, wait...

KROFT: When was that when you set that plan in motion?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, they first came to me in August of last year with evidence of the compound. And they said that they had more work to do on it, but at that point they had enough that they felt that it was appropriate for us to start doing some planning. And so from that point on we started looking at the time what our options might be.

Oh, so now they came to Obama to tip him off that it was time for some Big Guy involvement.  I believe Version II.

And this "I slept on it but not really" is funny:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yeah. Yeah. The decision was made. I made the decision Thursday night, informed my team Friday morning...

That would be the Sixteen Hours no one is asking about.  My guess is that on Thursday night Obama agreed that everyone should start moving in preparation for a final Go/No Go, which would have to be delivered by Friday.  Operationally, nothing would have changed had the final, final decision been made on Thursday night.  Still, I am just saying.

Comments

[Neo]

The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil similar to last week's raid that killed the al-Qaida leader, the Guardian has learned.

The deal was struck between the military leader General Pervez Musharraf and President George Bush after Bin Laden escaped US forces in the mountains of Tora Bora in late 2001, according to serving and retired Pakistani and US officials.

Under its terms, Pakistan would allow US forces to conduct a unilateral raid inside Pakistan in search of Bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al-Qaida No3. Afterwards, both sides agreed, Pakistan would vociferously protest the incursion.

"There was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him," said a former senior US official with knowledge of counterterrorism operations. "The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn't stop us."

"Gutsy decision" my ass.

[lyle]

I don't expect Obama to tell the truth about this, but it doesn't seem to much to expect a serious reporter to ask.

There is no such being in the Fluffers Guild United. Hell, from what I've heard reported, Bammy was so "gutsy", he actually pulled the trigger on UBL. Well, metaphorically, anyway.

[Ignatz]

--The Obama Got Osama Victory Tour 2012--

Shouldn't that be "The Billy White Shoes, I'm Dancin' But Not Spikin', Johnson Got Osama Victory Tour 2012"?

[matt]

best Twitter post ever. LUN, since I don't know how to drop images into these posts.

[Captain Hate]

LOL matt.

Comment last night @ AoS: Of course the JEF is gutsy; he's seen Moochelle naked.

[Dave (in MA)]

|

[Old Lurker]

OK Dave I'm not going to ask.

BTW, did I just hear on the radio that Carney reports completion of the Border Fence so now we can get on with immigration reform? Did I actually hear that?

[Neo]

extreme radical gutsy call

[Janet]

Maybe the radio spot was about our government fencing guns across the border?

[clarice]

Do you think we'd have heard much about the attempt if it were unsuccessful? If Osama was not there when the seals got there?

[matt]

that's a gutsy call, neo....

[lyle]

Maybe the radio spot was about our government fencing guns across the border?

Too funny.

[narciso]

Wasn't this the outfit that Joe Wilson was affiliated with, before he became a 'brave
dissident' crushed underfoot by the Bush
regime, oh wait, in the LUN

[Thomas Collins]

If the Guardian article is correct (see Neo's 4:13 PM post), Obama's actions in Pakistan are simply following the playbook written in the GWB Administration and forced upon Musharraf. Thanks, Barack, for following the GWB playbook and utilizing the intelligence infrastructure that GWB helped establish for tracking the Jihadists.

[Chubby]

just try to imagine what all those people would be saying if it had been Bush's gutsy call. They could not be calling it a gutsy call, that is for shure. Obama would have been first in line to slime Bush for approving an operation like that. HYPOCRITES!!!!!!!!

[Chubby]

I read elsewhere that Iran is now saying they have proof Osama died years ago.

[clarice]

Where'd they get it from? Madasahatter's sorcerers? Whoa--years ago? You mean it was Bush who made the gutsy move?

[Dave (in MA)]

OK Dave I'm not going to ask.

OK OL, I won't tell, then. You'll have to look at the filename.

[Chubby]

Clarice

not a gutsy call, a purported natural death

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/iran-claims-it-has-evidence-bin-laden-died-illness-some-time-ago

[Melinda Romanoff]

PL-

And their nuclear program is peaceful.

Oh, and these aren't the 'droids you're looking for.

[Chubby]

hahaha MR

[Jack is Back!]

Netanyahu makes more gutsy calls before breakfast each day then this twit has made in his life. The Gutsiest call of all will be when he decides to lower the employment rate, grow the economy and stop our decline. But that takes real balls without the aid of some specially trained killers who have more guts than you have brains. Geez!

[Danube of Thought]

TC, I hope never to see a team with either Bynum or Artest win anything. Happy to see that team get swept in disgrace.

[Frau Quertreiberin]

I'd recognize Jesus Quintana anywhere. Makes me thirsty for a White Russian, Dave(in MA).

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Okay if Dave can post ball washers, I can post a pic of Obama keeping his eye on the ball.

[Frau Quertreiberin]

clarice, wasn't it scuttlebutt that some of OBL's sons were "guests" of Iran?

[Frau Quertreiberin]

Ahem, I have it on good authority, that it's technically called "shining the ball."

[Jack is Back!]

Sara, he is playing Quick Start tennis for kids. It started in Europe. One reason that they wipe our butts in tennis. What a complete dufoos and showoff. My son started in Quick Start and did a Kim Clijsters camp last year in Belgium. We are getting desperate to sign him up to demonstrate.

[Jack is Back!]

Watching Fox. Dr. K is en fuego. Quoting Trotsky apologist to compare with Gutsy. "Trotsky was such a visionary that none of his prophecies have come true yet". LOL.

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

The Fox All-Stars now have Karen Tumulty from WaPo on their team and from all of her presence and statements I can only surmise that Mr. Feldman is better off saving money and only asking for the Sports section be put on the door step. Unless of course you either clean a lot of fish or have a bird.

[MarkO]

I need to be certain that I understand the reason for all the praise and reverence. Obama made a courage decision, one for which he should be renown in history. It is known as a "gutsy call" The gutsy call was to take months to decide to kill the leader of the world's terrorist network?

Which part of this was a difficult choice? It could only be difficult for someone who really didn't want to do it. There. That seemed to help.

[centralcal]

Karen Tumulty, JiB? Good grief they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for the panel aren't they? Is she on very often? (Sadly, the show airs while I am still at work, and only get to see it rarely.)

[Danube of Thought]

Woot! Woot!

"President George W. Bush got a bigger bounce in his Gallup job approval rating for capturing Saddam Hussein than President Barack Obama got for killing Osama in Laden. Obama got a 6-point bounce in his Gallup job approval after he announced that U.S. Navy SEALS had raided a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bush got either a 7-point or a 9-point bounce—depending on the day you calculate from (Gallup used both figures)--after he announced that U.S. forces in Iraq had captured alive former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein."

[MoodyBlu]

Can anyone say just how close we came to getting bin Laden at Tora Bora, if in fact there was a chance? It is quite muddled to me and I suspect many others.

[Threadkiller]

"Well, they first came to me in August of last year with evidence of the compound." ,but I mistook there info as a racist attack on the GZM I was suporting at the time.

[Threadkiller]

their info...

[Cecil Turner]

Can anyone say just how close we came to getting bin Laden at Tora Bora, if in fact there was a chance?

Nobody knows. But it's obvious to anyone who can read a map and calculate lift requirements that there was no chance of inserting enough ground troops to make an effective cordon around the area. So that meme is risible, though amazingly persistent.

That would be the Sixteen Hours no one is asking about.

The lefties are generally portraying this as a complex decision (which it wasn't), but the sixteen hours is really irrelevant. If you're embarking on a mission that entails building a replica compound and practicing the assault, a few more hours for the political decision makes no difference whatsoever.

[Threadkiller]

...supporting...

I will now return to my previously scheduled drinking.

[PD]

Come up with an Action Plan! Geez, I bet they ever would never have thought of that.

I imagine this is the kind of thing where, having had An Actual Idea, Obama thinks it's one of the most brilliant things ever, and decides he needs to suggest it to other people for their benefit. And failing to realize this is the kind of thing everyone else already knows and takes for granted.

Remember, this is the guy for whom decisive action is calling a White House Summit and having the participants break up into small groups so they can report back to him the results of their meaningless jaw sessions.

[PD]

Pretty soon Dave (in MA) will be posting links to Shake Weight commercials.

[Extraneus]

I imagine this is the kind of thing where, having had An Actual Idea, Obama thinks it's one of the most brilliant things ever, and decides he needs to suggest it to other people for their benefit.

They say this happens a lot when you smoke weed.

[Dave (in MA)]

PD, and how would that describe Kroft's interview? Well, come to think of it...

[clarice]

"Clarice, wasn't it scuttlebutt that some of OBL's sons were "guests" of Iran?"
Frau Quertreiberin | May 09, 2011 at 06:42
___

More than just scuttlebutt. I believe i has been reliably confirmed.

[clarice]

**iT has been*

[narciso]

Stranger stories have been suggested

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1272931/Osama-bin-Laden-Iran-claims-Feathered-Cocaine-documentary.html

[Granny Jan]

What a "GUTSY" call. It was so gutsy that the words "gutsy call" or decision miraculously appeared from coast to coast from TV to blogs to editorial pages within the span of hours. Now that's gutsy. Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn4Xb9aUd2o

[narciso]

Nothing to see here, people, move along;

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/05/09/nothing-ever-happens-in-latin-america/

[matt]

The revised statement from the White House is that they meant to say it was a "Gusty" call. A lot of hot air was blown.

It was also reported today that the SEAL team actually included a Special Operations Cat trained to spray when it detected the odor and pheromes of Bin Laden. The dog story was a myth.

[centralcal]

Excellent, Granny Jan! I am a big fan of yours (over at MOTUS). Your videos always capture the "moment," and the liberal propaganda we are subjected to, seen with clear eyes.

[Frau Quertreiberin]

Speaking of Gutsy...quit calling his wife Buttsy.

(TK - Prost, der Pfarrer säuft!)

[Frau Quertreiberin]

matt, I hope the Special Ops cats are richly rewarded..

[narciso]

I got a flavor of this, with the Mediencritik
Blog:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,761077,00.html

[daddy]

From Narciso's link:

"In his two-page document, Uthmann, a judge for 21 years, cites section 140 of the German Criminal Code, which forbids the "rewarding and approving" of crimes. In this case, Merkel endorsed a "homicide," Uthmann claimed. The violation is punishable by up to three years' imprisonment or a fine."

[daddy]

Narciso,

It also makes me think there must have been a lot of selective "listening" on the part of this German Judge, what with all those German Muslim's rallying in the streets and cheering as the Twin Tower's collapsed. Either this German Judge didn't hear them, or for some reason he didn't think 9/11 was a crime. That's all I can figure.

[deals]

Obama vs Osama,
obama got the victory in 2011, and he proof that he is the best rather than bush and bill Clinton. love obama's blog. :)

[clarice]

Granny Jan, sorry I missed you but I loved the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn4Xb9aUd2o

[clarice]

The Fourth Circuit panel hearing Obamacare today is not promising:

"The panel of judges -- selected at random by a computer -- turned out to have all been appointed by Democratic presidents, including two by Obama: James Wynn and Andre Davis. The third, Diana Motz, was appointed by President Bill Clinton."

[MayBee]

Frequently Unasked Questions -- FUQ

[mockmook]

"FUQ"

Heh.

[SWarren]

Ha, ha, ha,Frau
Gutsy and Buttsy - Too funny!!!

[hit and run]

Frequently Unasked Questions -- Unanswered.

FUQ U.