Shouldn't this thread be titled "Thank you CIA, NSA, NGIA, and Seal Team Six"? The presidential nut-hugging is a little over the top. Apparently, there is never a good time for unity on this board. Just pathetic individuals taking political pot-shots at on another that gain us nothing around here. The groups I listed above put more time, sweat, effort, blood and tears tracking and eliminating OBL than either Bush or Obama. They are the ones we should thank. They risk their lives for us, so that we can spit hatred at one another on here.
I appreciate him having the nuts to make the order. At the end of the day, if anything went wrong, he would have been labeled responsible. Sure, those kind souls at the CIA/NSA/etc did the legwork, and the SEALs got the target. But Obama put his face on the damn thing, and, as SWTsig pointed out, went against a lot of conventional politics and diplomacy in authorizing it.
Actually Secretary Gates was opposed to the raid, and wanted to send stealth bombers, as reported in the Times this morning. *oops*
Repped. Even Obama himself took the high road and acknowledged this in his speech. He didn't gloat at all and certainly didn't use the opportunity to scream "nanny nanny boo-boo!!" at his predecessor like a lot of his supporters are currently doing. But I guess that's just today's political climate. I'm not a fan of Obama, but I give him MAJOR MAJOR props for giving the go-ahead on this mission. He showed me something and he now has a helluva lot more of my respect than he did 48 hours ago. That's for sure. That is AWESOME.
This event has also made it pretty easy to spot the mentally disturbed folk amongst us. Not that most of us didn't already know. Thanks again, President Obama, for doing what your two predecessors didn't have the foresight and/or courage and/or smarts to do.
It is true that we don’t know exactly what the sequence of events was that led to Bin Laden being found, but it is also true that Bush pulled back resources in the hunt for Bin Laden in order to redirect them to an illegal and ill though out war in Iraq, and that he lost track of Bin Laden and had no idea where he was for the rest of his term. It’s also true that, like basso and bigtexxx, Bush clearly never really cared about the victims of 9/11, or Katrina, or about what’s good for the US in general. They only really care about what’s good for them and their friends, not the country. Bush was more concerned about making a grab for Iraqi oil than he was with finding Bin Laden, or driving the Taliban out of Afghanistan. He was more concerned with cutting the taxes paid by his rich friends than he was with rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and improving the education system to make the country stronger going forward. Obama, otoh, made finding Bin Laden a priority, and two years later he got him. He’s also well on the way towards digging the US out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and dialling back on Bush’s drunken spending on wars and the war machine. Obama acts in the best interest of the country, not just himself and his friends. The difference between the two couldn’t be more striking, strong, competent and successful leadership vs. a weak, foolish, and self-serving failed leadership. This is just the reality that this situation highlights very well.
At the risk of engaging in Bush bashing I don't think the last Admin. deserves that much credit. While yes the hunt for OBL was continuous the previous Admin. let the trail go cold after Tora Bora and also made tactical mistakes at Tora Bora that allowed OBL to escape. As even Rush Limbaugh noted Obama made some very tough calls that went against what his advisers were saying. If this thing had gone bad he would've taken the blame like Carter did in the Desert One incident.
I am curious but do you think Carter deserved the blame for the disastrous attempt to rescue the hostages? Do you think GW Bush deserved the blame for OBL escaping at Tora Bora? I agree that most of the work is done by the agencies you note but the President is the Commander and Chief and in operations like this he is the one who makes the critical decisions to proceed or not and as such gets the lion share of credit or blame. Its like at the end of a close basketball game where a coach has to make key decisions like who is on the court, when to foul and etc.. The players do all the work but the coach still gets the credit or the blame. Also just to add: Thank you CIA, NSA, NGIA, and Seal Team Six!
Dick Cheney Says 'Obama Deserves Credit' for Osama Bin Laden's Death "The administration clearly deserves credit for the success of the operation," Cheney told ABC News, adding that getting bin Laden has long been "the ultimate goal, the ultimate objective" of the U.S. counterterrorism program. Cheney praised President Obama for the judgment he exercised in making the call to go forward with the raid. "We all owe him the same sense of satisfaction that I'm sure they feel," Cheney said. link
Changing the leadership of a combat theatre is a pretty big change as no two generals are going to command the same. Also while Obama retained the same Secretary of Defense he did change a lot of the other roles like CIA director. He also undertook a timetable for withdrawl from Iraq and a surge in Afghanistan which the last Admin. didn't do.
Why any of you react to the stupidity of certain posters here is beyond me. They have so much hate in them that you know exactly how they're going to react (or not when it's their side). What's the point of even engaging them? Well done, Mr. President.
the CIA, NSA, NGIA, and Seal Team Six don't have a mission to accomplish if Obama doesn't give them the go ahead. someone ultimately called the shot on this thing and it was none of the guys you just listed. you know it's completely possible to applaud the guy who put his ass on the line in making the decision just as easy as it is to applaud the badasses who actually executed it to perfection, right? these things are not mutually exclusive.
Actually the most prominent person in this thread spewing bile is you. Congrats on your contribution to unity!
<object width="550" height="341"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailykostv.com/flv/player.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="flashvars" value="config=http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002872/vxml.php?550"></param><embed src="http://www.dailykostv.com/flv/player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="550" height="341" flashvars="config=http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002872/vxml.php?550"></embed></object>
not as sad as blood for oil and 9/11 linked to iraq all over this message board. The blood is on their hands and I hope those posters here feel good about how this has all gone down. You should be glad you were not here after 9/11, there was so much fear mongering ,and war hawking here for iraq I thought this was a rush limbaugh message board. Funny how reality and facts weeded those people out...you just don't see those posters here anymore for good reason. In the meantime, we are left holding the bag while bush and cheney co. are busy basking in the maui sun with their beds of cash. Oh well who cares about all the soldiers that died in iraq as long as oil is a million dollars a gallon and halliburton can get some more no bid contracts. That's what bush meant by 'Mission Accomplished'... Mission accomplished setting up bush and co and their childrens childrens childrens children. WHERE ARE WMDS FROM IRAQ??!?!?! oh yeah that was just some big f-ing joke right? Sad? How about sick?
