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2012 Feb 22 |
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http://www.theatlanticright.com/2011/05/04/did-panetta-clinton-gates-and-brennan-bypass-obama-in-order-to-kill-bin-laden/
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Posted by Michael Merritt   |   4 comments

(Panetta and Obama, separated by a table. Clearly a coup is brewing.)

What??

Yea, that’s what my reaction was when I found this interview on Twitter tonight. An alleged White House insider claims that CIA Director Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and National Security Advisor John Brennan, along with Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, bypassed an indecisive President Obama and advisor Valerie Jarrett, so that the operation against Osama bin Laden might take place before he slipped away.

It has all the makings of a…well, of an episode of 24. During the course of that series, slippery White House officials seemed to regularly contravene the authority of the President, and it was usually in order to complete the overarching national security goal.

However, I don’t think even 24 ever explored a high ranking official taking military forces of out the Chain of Command:

I have been told by more than one source that Leon Panetta was directing the operation with both his own CIA operatives, as well as direct contacts with military – both entities were reporting to Panetta only at this point, and not the President of the United States.  There was not going to be another delay as had happened 24 hour earlier.

None of the big boys/gals are covering this, with the exception of Red State, and no doubt for good reason. The entire account is from one, unattributed source, which is the biggest journalistic faux pas there is (though one increasingly ignored). Obviously nobody is eager to report anything about this without some kind of separate confirmation, which they’re unlikely to get.  That, and the fact that it sounds so much like a primetime drama gives it red flags for being a hoax.

Of course, it’s a story that fits in nicely with the typical conservative narrative of Obama as an indecisive and slow-to-act Commander in Chief, which is true.  However, some things about this story just don’t fit. The account of Jarrett’s uber-powerful stranglehold on Obama’s decision-making ability, based on concerns over collateral losses and further enraging jihadis, just seems far-fetched. Obama actually hasn’t been afraid to go after terrorists, even with a certainty of collateral damage and making terrorists angry.  We’ve been in Waziristan for over a year, and the CIA has gone to Yemen and other countries.  All with operations that have resulted in civilian deaths.

If you ask me, the person reporting these details seems to have a vendetta against Jarrett, as she gets the lions-share of attention as the opponent to Panetta et. al., with Obama being sidelined almost completely.

So, take this one with a salt lick sized grain.

  1. Posted by Word
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #112270 ›
    Word It seems the left and right in the oval office are sterotyped. If this was Bush he would be waving his cowboy hat, yelling Yeehaw and saying kill me some scum sucking terr'ists!! If this is Obama in the White House he is a hesitant, hand wringing, walking the halls bemoaning the need to inflict pain and suffering on another human individual.....no way a liberal, or more specifically a Progressive liberal would do any such thing. Sterotyped. I have found Obama to be rather ruthless, throwing off the shackles of niceness attributed to Progressives and ordering up drone strikes, civilian casulties and escalations of the war on terror. On the same hand I saw Bush looking for ways to cut back on the collateral damage and to try and appease the left, the iraqis, the pakistanis and the saudis. Sterotypes dont seem to fit. Obama is a bloodsucking warmonger and his idol is GWB.
    • Posted by Hhronec
      | Quote | Trackback | Link #112289 ›
      Hhronec It was my understanding from several newscasts that Leon Penetta was the one urging Obama to give the command to take out Bin Laden. There were many others in the security meeting that were against it. Ultimately, it was the president's decision and his alone. all aspects were discussed, including repercussions that may follow such a mission prior to the decision. Equating GWB to Obama is like comparing apples to oranges, and with that comparison, I am being most kind.
  2. Posted by Word
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #112303 ›
    Word Seriously you think Obama is not just like GWB? Thats funny. He has a wikileaks leaker locked up in solitary for 23 hours a day. He has not closed Gitmo. He has killed 100's if not 1000's of innocents with drone strikes into pakistan.....ITS A SURE BET THAT OBAMA HAS KILLED MORE CIVILIANS THEN GWB...even though those on the left would attribute every suicide bomber as being personally directed by GWB. He ordered a SURGE in Afghanistan....we now have 100k troops in Afghanistan and 50k in Iraq where GWB had 50k in Afghanistan and 100k in Iraq. He has greatly increased the FISA wire tapping, voted for the Patriot Act and uses every aspect of it in his duties as president. He order the trial to be moved to NYC then changed his mind and has now ordered the same process that GWB ordered for the suspects in gitmo. Military Tribunals. Obama is following GWB's policies to a tee. His foreign policy is to continue the same policy vs North Korea asking the Chinese to step in and do the dirty work. He has order attacks on another Muslim Country in Libya all in the name of securing peace. And I am not even done in making comparisons but Ill stop now. Give me a break..........Obama IS BUSH.
    • Michael Merritt Actually I said Obama is indecisive and slow-to-act, but when he finally makes up his mind, he expands on what Bush did. Although I would not be surprised to hear that some of these convert ops in Yemen and the like also took place under Bush. But, notably, Bush and Obama are different in some ways. Bush liked to go for the bombastic and flashy approach, from what we know, anyway. Feet on the ground and a real presence. Obama, on the other hand, likes to go covert, and so we have CIA ops in Yemen, and killing bin Laden (yeah I know, Seals are military, but that unit was covert), and in Waziristan. So we see a lot more predator drone strikes than necessarily more feet.
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