White House modifies Osama bin Laden account
Multiple stories and contradictions from the White House over the details of Osama bin Laden’s death.
Idiots. The worst thing they could do is not get the story straight. By backing off from their original description of the attack on bin Laden’s compound the White House will only fuel conspiracy theories in the Middle East, where such things are rampant.
Is is too hard to find out what happened, then describe it accurately the first time? Or is exaggeration and lying so routine for these White House political appointees that even here they can’t resist embellishing the truth unnecessarily for political spin?
As I said, idiots.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Multiple stories and contradictions from the White House over the details of Osama bin Laden’s death.
Idiots. The worst thing they could do is not get the story straight. By backing off from their original description of the attack on bin Laden’s compound the White House will only fuel conspiracy theories in the Middle East, where such things are rampant.
Is is too hard to find out what happened, then describe it accurately the first time? Or is exaggeration and lying so routine for these White House political appointees that even here they can’t resist embellishing the truth unnecessarily for political spin?
As I said, idiots.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The thing is, even if Bin Laden didn’t put up a fight or wasn’t hiding behind a woman, the kill was righteous. I have no problem with the president ordering the execution of an enemy combatant, particularly one with the blood of at least 3000 Americans on his hands. You make war on us and ALL bets are off.
The story differences are minor and reconcilable, based on the position of the sources and the complexity of a 40 minute event.
Orchestration by the White House (or the lack thereof) of the details of the story does not impress me or upset me. This is not a movie script that all the players need to memorize. I see no major contradictions from people in the know.
Those (foreign and domestic) that wish to vilify the White House will do so. There is no escape from that and it is pointless to try.
I am still pleased with the outcome and am not willing to nitpick on these details. I think you will find most Americans in that camp.
Post script:
The significance of bin Laden’s capture may pale in comparison to the incredible value of the data captured from his compound as a result of the raid.
Our safety as a nation may have improved markedly due to this single effort and that treasure trove our forces gathered in.
@Limo I think the point is not that these are simple mistakes that can me reconciled, this is true. Its that the President and his staff knew well in advance this mission was going to happen, that means time to prepare and have proper statement ready. If you don’t think the presidents 40+ speech writers weren’t as much in the loop as the National Security Council you haven’t watched this president very closely.
While I think its important to respect Islam, Osama body really should be in some high security US morgue right now. Whether we tell the world otherwise is not the issue, so much of the JFK madness comes from the lack of proper autopsy after his death, was it understandable yes, but from the view of history it has fueled much madness and conspiracy.
Heck even 40% of Americans aren’t sure if Donald Trump is an American, says people aren’t sure of anything anymore.
The White House was know during the 2008 Campaign for is ability to stay on message, and keep there story straight, is it so much to ask that they bring that same level of professionalism to the meager business of ruling the country, or handing news of the death of terrorist that has been dogging the US for over 15 years.
I think that the fact that this mission was well planned is true. I think that the planning could be condemned for not tying up all the loose ends around synchronizing the communication.
I can live with that. The mission was planned and carried out magnificently. Since the forty minute event was not scripted, it was difficult to line up in advance.
We’ll be reaping the benefits of this mission for years to come.
There has to be something left for the administration’s critics to go after. They will find something every time. if Obama found a cure for cancer, his critics would say it took too long or it was too expensive or Michele was hiding it behind the kids’ sneakers.
I think this weakness in communication at the back end was an excellent choice for that role!
Here’s the reality: No matter what happens, conservatives won’t vote for Obama. Period. He’s a fool if he targets their votes–and he’s no fool. On the flip side, heavy duty liberals won’t vote for a conservative candidate, even if he/she has a halo. It’s not laudable, but it’s true—and it’s a surprise to no one. That’s the weakness of partisan politics–it has a heavy dose of tunnel vision.
National elections are swung one way or the other at the margins—and by independents.
Days like Sunday give the current administration some real currency with that group. That currency isn’t significantly affected by issues like these, regardless of the volume of the shouting from the critics.
Can we all agree that Pakistan is a lousy ally and we should stop funding that pit of vipers with foreign aid?
Donald Trump is an American?
Yes, they rushed the story to a hungry group of reporters and could have been more deliberate before giving an answer that wasn’t thoroughly scrubbed. Let’s brand them as professional liars—that’s real helpful.
If a lack of perfect information is a sin, it might be interesting to remember that more than 90% of Planned Parenthood’s funding pays for abortions or that a full 5% of our federal budget supports the arts. HA!!
If we only condemned elected officials when they depart from the truth, we’ll definitely be economizing on our exchanges and commentaries.
I see no mischief in this. Sorry.
Lino, no one is complaining about the operation itself. It went as perfectly as such things can, and the outcome was exactly what all of us hoped. No one cares if Osama was armed or not, or whether he was even trying to give himself up or not. The guy got exactly what he deserved and I’m glad the president gave the orders he did.
The question is, why didn’t the administration (members of whom actually watched this thing go down) not get the story straight the first time? By having to change the story the way they did, they are feeding the nut job conspiracy theorists (both here and abroad) who believe this whole thing is a crock. Granted, such people will never be satisfied, but there is no reason to help them with their delusions.
Hi Chris. No real argument from here on your points. It was not handled in a “six sigma” manner. I am just trying to give this whole thing a sense of scale and perspective.
On balance, it is not just worth the level of venom that I was hearing. I am far too pleased with the outcomes of our nation obtaining all this super-valuable intelligence and the taking out of this horrible bastard.
‘Shut up and move on,’ Kerry says
By: CNN Associate Producer Gabriella Schwarz
Washington (CNN) – Democratic Sen. John Kerry said it is time to stop questioning the exact occurrences in Osama bin Laden’s house before his death in Abbottabad, Pakistan, at the hand of U.S. Navy SEALs.
“I thinks those SEALs did exactly what they should have done,” the senator from Massachusetts and 2004 presidential nominee said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And we need to shut up and move on about, you know, the realities of what happened in that building.”
Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the information gleaned from bin Laden’s compound underscores his active role in the terrorist network.
“He was, in fact, the center,” Kerry said.
He also praised the Obama administration’s handling of the situation, despite errors in initial information disseminated by the White House, something he said is “the nature of the beast.”
“Letting these folks know that we have this information is actually a way of deterring certain activities from taking place,” Kerry said. “So I think they’re (al Qaeda) on the defensive, significantly so. And I think strategically the administration has done very, very well.”