Bolton: Obama didn’t “get” bin Laden
John Bolton, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations told the attendees at the Conservative Political Action Convention that all President Obama did in regards to the Navy SEALs’ execution of Osama bin Laden was “get out of the way” according to the Washington Times;
“Basically what Obama did was get out of the way,” said Mr. Bolton Saturday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. “It was a decision that 99.99 percent of the American people would agree with. That does not equal a foreign policy.”
That kind of puts in perspective the story that Bite Me told earlier this week about Obama’s “gutsy” call;
“The president, he went around the table, with all the senior people, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he said, ‘I have to make a decision, what is your opinion?’ He started with the national security adviser, the secretary of state, and he ended with me. Every single person in that room hedged their bet, except (then-CIA director) Leon Panetta. Leon said go,” said Biden.
Biden told the president “my suggestion is don’t go,” saying there were more details that had to be checked to truly ascertain if bin Laden was indeed in the compound.
So yeah, it was “gutsy” to make the decision in that room where all of the pussies were afraid to pull the trigger, but when you’re talking about making the decision in the middle of the country that mostly wanted to see bin Laden dead or imprisoned, it doesn’t look so “gutsy”, then does it? It looks like the politically correct decision in that light.
I still think that the decision to kill bin Laden was also the political equivalent of “asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission”. It was easier than taking him alive and then dealing with the political fallout of his prison conditions and the lawyer-employment opportunities.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden
The other part of the story is that the POTUS had to sleep on it.
I guess even a blind pig finds an acorn occasionally.
If you truly want to understand Obama’s feelings on this matter, just take a good hard look at the picture from the war room, with him sitting in the corner, hunched over, and looking for all the world like a spanked little kid.
The pained expression on his face says it all. It’s an “I didn’t WANT to do this, mommy, but those big bad mean kids MADE me do it” look.
Jonn, Obama isn’t a pussy. He’s a “wannabe”.
While the ‘gutsy call’ is unadulterated PR, I likewise don’t get the fetish with the picture during the raid.
I don’t get the idea of the picture.
I didn’t think much of Panetta until I heard that he gave the order to move on bin Laden. And they’ve whitewashed the story since I heard it first — Panetta didn’t “recommend” anything. The request was sent in to move on bin Laden, Obama hesitated, and Panetta gave the go-ahead. That was how I heard it told first, and that’s the story I think is most accurate, no matter what the talking heads say now. Someone here might change my mind, but not the media.
Bottom line…Obama and his sycophants were ready to jump on success like a starving dog on a bone, but had it gone like Desert One they would have been jumping all over each other to dodge the blame and avoid answering any hard questions.
And for those still not sure, that AIN’T leadership.
If it had turned into Desert One I doubt Panetta would be SecDef right now Sparky.
Fellas, I must respectfully disagree. comrade obama was every single person in the room. I even saw the picture! A friend e-mailed it to me! Actually it was photoshopped but it was pretty funny.
Somewhat disagree. If he had passed, Hillery would have gutted him. You know it would have leaked like a bucket drilled with buckshot. His pecker was in a crack and he knew it.
Picture =’s publicity stunt
Actually Al, it would have hemorrhaged like a mo fo. Not even our dear old and trusted resident medic Spock could have saved it?
John Bolton’s assinine opinion and a $2.00 will get you a ride on a bus. Other than that it is worthless. As a matter of fact John Bolton is worthless.
Here are the facts, George Bush let Bin Laden go at Toro and then proclaimed that he really didn’t care about getting Osama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PGmnz5Ow-o
Then he dismantled the Bin Laden task force.
As far as it not being a gutsy call, it’s a call that “pussy” John McCain made clear that he wouldn’t make:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbauMlBWo6s
The fact is that you and idiot-Bolton are operating in hindsight. We NOW know that Bin Laden was there, but what if it were just a reclusive Pakistani? The idea that ordering an invasion of a country with nuclear power and powerful military, WITHOUT notifying Pakistani authorities WAS a gutsy call.
The fact is that the other “pussy” George W. Bush would NEVER of gotten Bin Laden, in fact President Obama had to reconstitute the Bin Laden task force. And of course, neither would McCaine.
It used to be that politics stopped at the waters edge. If this were a Republican that got him you’d be lining up to sing his praises.
Pretty sure there were years of intel gathering before all of this came to pass… I’m just surprised of all the things BHO claims he inherited from the previous administration he doesn’t tout the work G-dub put in as well.
Oh well, Campaigner in Chief has his mission, the SEALs have theirs.
#13 I’m not sure if I’m reading that wrong or what, but the way I’m seeing it you’re surprised that the Token Carter didn’t give credit to Bush’s staff?
And is it bad that my mind started thinking of Insipid as Nodrog? Hell that’s been a long time.
I was being sarcastic 😉
My fault for posting not long after waking up then. Oops.
The one trying to have it both ways is you Former. You want to pretend that Bush doesn’t exist when it comes to the economy but then proclaim that it was Bush’s success in killing Osama. Furthermore, you folks couldn’t wait to blame Clinton for 911, never gave credit to Bill Clinton for the good economy saying it was something Reagan did 20 years ago, blamed the Democratic Congress for the near depression, blame everyone but the perople at fault: The Republicans. The fact is that Obama hasn’t blamed Bush nearly enough.
If John McCaine were President, or if somehow George Bush were still President, Osama Bin Laden would be alive and well and planning attacks.
“Token Carter?” is that supposed to be funny? 64 Million Americans voted for President Barack Obama. “Tokens, are the black guys in the cast there supposedly just to show diversity. They’re not the stars of the show. As far as the Carter analogy, that too doesn’t hold as President Obama has been successful in both Domestic and foreign policy.
Token Carter is going to thump Romney or anyone else unfortunate enough to obtain the GOP nomination.
@17
I’m hardly pretending anyone didn’t exist. Merely saying you can’t solely claim to inherit the bad and not any good that came out. Having your cake and eating it too?
Successful with domestic policy? Really? Have you seen the unemployment rate? Not just the one the DOL puts out but, the actual forumla that also factors in underemployed, part timers who desire full time work, and those who are no longer able to collect unemployment and are no longer considered part of the work force as a result? What about the debacle of Solyndra and “green technology”? What about the debacle of Obamacare and the recent attempt at subverting the first amendment by attempting to force religious employers to provide insurance for birth control, abortion, and abortafacients? How about Fast and Furious where the AG lied in testimony before Congress and government agents died in a political scheme to subvert the 2nd amendment? An as for blaming Bush for the economy, you seem to forget that one of the big contributors to the collapse was the mortgage crisis which can be traced to the repeal of Glass-Steagal and the empowerment of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac by POTUS’ allies Frank and Dodd and signed by the last democrat to occupy the White House. (and which then community organizer Obama used to profit from.)
Success in foreign policy? You mean the rise of Islamism as a result of the administration supported Arab Spring/Islamist Winter? You mean the rapid deterioration of Iraq as a result of a pull out for the purpose of political expediency? You mean the attempt to further isolate Israel and the damage done to relationships with long term allies like Great Britain?
The key difference between Bolton and POTUS is that Bolton actually knows what he is talking about.
I like your screen name, it definitely describes your understanding of politics, economics, and history.
“insipid”, eh? Fits. So would “NaiveChild”. Are you a 9/11 Truther, too?
From your opinions posted here, my guess is you don’t know a damn thing about getting bin Laden that hasn’t been posted on DU or published in the mainstream media. And we all know that both are a true source of “accurate reporting” about the workings of the US government’s “black operations”.
Reality check time: had Clinton taken out or accepted custody of bin Laden any of the 3 times during his Administration when he had opportunity, we’re not having this conversation. Nor would we be remembering 9/11 today, either.
So don’t blame Bush for not getting UbL. If you wanna blame anyone, blame Clinton.
Insipid, Bolton is spot on. How did Obama even know about the compound in Pakistan? GITMO, Rendition, and enhanced interrogation. Things he campaigned against. Funny how things work out that way. You see him in no rush to close GITMO now.
Further, most of his advisers, despite being spineless worms and trying to get out of making a firm decision, the inertia of the operations surrounding the compound, essentially gave the president no choice but to go, and even then he needed a night to sleep on it. Apparently they had some Activity guys watching the house with all sorts of toys, and had the Kuwaiti brothers under close surveillance. The methodology of making certain that this was Osama, really stagger the imagination. Really at every level they checked rechecked, and continued to right up till the point that the SEALs were sent. Even then. . . You could see they didn’t want to do it right up till they actually did it.
But if you really want to talk about inexcusable insipid, then why is it that I know pretty much all the details of the hunt that lead to Osama. I do not have a security clearance. Why was there a History Channel special on it? Why have there been at least three books on the subject? He talks about his reliance on Drones, and Spec Ops. He uses them too much, and in the process shows the main weakness of Democrats as CiCs. They like these ops. If they work they can release them and bask in the glory. If they don’t. . . well they can simply classify it and nobody ever need know. At least with a Republican president, they have no problem doing ops “above board”
Guys,
insipid is just a useless idiot for the leftists. He gets his talking points handed to him, then goes out trolling for places he can post them. He’ll keep posting them over and over again, moving the goalposts when he starts to lose to facts, tossing out strawman arguments to deflect criticism or change the subject, etc. Basically, his job is to Alinsky the truth: keep telling your own lies over and over and over again. if you do it often enough, and in enough places, then some folks will start to believe it as the truth.
Don’t give him the time of day. He isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit.
Get me a mailing address and I’ll have my team start saving spit bottles to send him/her/it.
@23 let me guess you’re a skunk vomit (gingrich) supporter
@25: let me guess you’re an ideologue?
@25,
er, that would be a NO.
But thanks for playing. 🙂
I’m voting for Zombie Reagan. If Liberals piss him off, he’ll just eat them 😀
AW1 Tim: that’s the second time DUIDave has used that phrase. He forgot to download the latest talking points from his masters.
@28 Doc, sadly, Liberals and related progressives are safe: Zombies, and especially Zombie Reagan, like brains. They have none, so…
@30:Well “Return of the living dead” zombies yeah. But you’re typical Roemero Zombie is just looking for a warm meal (and liberals are all about making sure EVERYONE has a warm meal;) )
I believe that political zombies are quite different from actual living dead zombies. Political zombies would be like Insipid and DUIDave.
I’m still waiting for DUIDave to post up his SF-180 or DD-214.
You guys are such losers. Talk about a double bind. Obama doesn’t kill Osama, he’s ineffectual. Obama does kill Osama, well, he really didn’t kill him after all. Just once I’d like to hear one of you regulars say you were wrong. But I won’thold my breath.
Joey, Obama didn’t kill bin Laden, he wasn’t within 6000 miles of him. You did pay attention when it was pointed out to you that he took a poll, then slept on the thought before he could make up his mind? Now, that’s leadership./sarc
And sometimes a good leader steps back and lets his staff argue things out. But Osama is dead, and if the stories about Obama hesitating and Panetta “giving the go ahead” are true, by not stopping the operation he gave his implicit consent and we won.
Well, if I had a staff that almost to a man voted wrong on an issue, I’d be hiring a new staff. They obviously weren’t making decisions based on any relevant information. They were just making sure that there was nothing that they could be blamed for if things went wrong.
“Well, if I had a staff that almost to a man voted wrong on an issue…”
And yet the correct decision was reached. Explain that.
Because only Panetta had the balls to do what so obviously needed doing, and if word ever got out that we DID have Bin Laden in our sights and Obumbles did nothing, it’d make the election of 1984 (remember that one, douchebag?) look like a squeaker in comparison.
And don’t give me that bullshit about “Bush let Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora” either.
Holy fuck, Joey. “Implicit consent”???? Really? So now the decisions to run the country are made by “implicit consent”? If he doesn’t have the balls to make a decision, he steps back and lets someone else make the decision? Then, if things turn out great, he’s a wonderful leader, if things turn to shit, it’s someone else’s fault? Wait, that’s all we’ve heard for 3 years now.
#38 Sparky – we only have the word of the POTUS and insiders that Panetta wanted to go forward. The integrity of this administration is… unique.
#37 Joe: the correct decision was in terms of the message that immediately went out: “Obama Got Osama.” The issue was re-framed from National Security and/or Revenge to strengthening Obama’s non-existent National Security creds for a re-election bid.
Easy to explain, considering the Prez is very bald.