Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Tim Groseclose ·
July 30, 2012 at 7:41pm
As the Daily Caller reports, President Obama canceled an order to kill Osama bin Laden three times, each time due to the urging of aide Valerie Jarrett. The earliest such canceled order was in January 2011. Two more were in February and March 2011. On May 2, 2011, Obama finally approved the Navy Seal mission. This all comes from a new book by Richard Miniter, Leading from Behind.
Miniter uses the anecdote to criticize Obama. But, in at least one way, the president and his advisers deserve praise from the incident: They must have known the whereabouts of bin Laden for at least four months--yet that information was never leaked to the press.
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
How they got to killing Osama hardly seems important now. But, if Valerie Jarrett is our shadow Commander-in-Chief, that's troubling.
May '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
"...yet that information was never leaked to the press."
Which shows that they can keep a secret when it's in their own best interest. So all the rest of the leaks must have been intentional...
Aug '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Gosh Mel you think that our shadow CnC is troubling ? What about her birthplace ? Just because it's Iran, what could possibly be troubling ?
How about the woman behind the Sec State, you think that tiny,inconsequential detail about her family all working for the Muslim Brotherhood makes any difference to things ?
Nahh.....heck we're lucky they didn't bomb Washington DC.
Jan '11
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Anita Dunn claimed that the White House was a hostile environment for women. Well, maybe some women.
Feb '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
That's pretty faint praise. Quite an accomplishment, yes-- but exactly why they would know for that long and not do anything with that timely info before bin Laden moved on, is quite beyond me.
Feb '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
I guess we're just lucky that someone didn't tip off bin Laden.
Aug '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Probably because someone caught her decorating the Christmas tree with condoms and pictures of Chairman Mao.
Apr '11
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Does any one think they will include this in the Movie version?
But, seriously do we know why Valarie Jarrett objected the first three time? That I think would be the real meat of the story. Did she want to have it done closer to election day? What made him say yes on the fourth try? Is that in the book.
Nov '11
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Valiuth:
But, seriously do we know why Valarie Jarrett objected the first three time? That I think would be the real meat of the story. Did she want to have it done closer to election day? What made him say yes on the fourth try? Is that in the book. · 58 minutes ago
This.
Did he finally decide her objections were insufficient and overrule her, or did the situation change? Was the intelligence more questionable earlier on, or did something in Pakistan change?
If we don't know why, we don't know whether it might have been legitimate or not.
Edited on July 30, 2012 at 10:44pmJul '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
We don't know that. It's not like the palace media would have published such info even if it had leaked, because it would hurt Obama big time.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
I've always maintained that the raid was a "no-brainer." Apparently to Valerie and Barack, it wasn't quite so easy. His is a wimp.
Dec '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Busy System Admin
That's pretty faint praise. Quite an accomplishment, yes-- but exactly why they would know for that long and not do anything with that timely info before bin Laden moved on, is quite beyond me.
I would argue it's more an indictment than praise. Under a semi-normal administration the news that the White House didn't leak a top national security secret would not be news. One of Taranto's "Bottom Stories of the Day" items. Shouldn't keeping secrets be a foregone conclusion? Even Richard Armitage's outing of Plame didn't involve a real secret.
Maybe Biden will come out and give us some real insight into the deliberations, just like he did when he outed Team Six after the raid.
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Tuck: "...yet that information was never leaked to the press."
Which shows that they can keep a secret when it's in their own best interest. So all the rest of the leaks must have been intentional... · 5 hours ago
Excellent point.
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Busy System Admin
That's pretty faint praise. Quite an accomplishment, yes-- but exactly why they would know for that long and not do anything with that timely info before bin Laden moved on, is quite beyond me. · 5 hours ago
Once again, excellent point. Related, what if someone had leaked that info to the press during that four months. It would have been a tragedy.
Jul '10
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Rumor has it that Jarrett objected because of the possible downside political risk of NOT getting him. Ultimately Panetta as CIA head was told that he would bear the burden politically if it failed.
Or so I've been told.
Dec '11
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Again I am reluctant to criticize the decision without knowing the details. Had one of the earlier raids been greenlit and failed, this could have turned into Obama's Tora Bora. The most important thing in the end is that he WAS got, and that the mission was a success. Can anyone here guarantee that the same could be said if he had pulled the trigger earlier?
May '12
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Tim, this is one of the first after action reports which indicated that Obama was not quite in charge as projected. Immediately after the raid, there was an article or two (and I am not one to quote) that suggested it was Panetta who led the charge and got Obama to okay the raid.
With that as my background, I can feel the dynamics. It seems that whomever gets to Obama last is the one whose option is selected. The previous two, then, were Jarrett as the last one. On the raid, Panetta cleverly waited till Obama was in a safe place away from Jarrett, aka the golf course, to make the pitch.
The rest is history
Aug '12
Re: Obama Canceled Order to Kill bin Laden Three Times
Sounds like careful and prudent planning to me. Job well done.