Obama bin laden killed by american forces

[LuvRPgrl]

I havent been this excited in a loooong time. Immediately I got a call from Camp pendelton and the marines are celebrating !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Thunderknuckles]

This is some great news!! However, it also means Obama will be elected to second term in office.

[logroller]

This is some great news!! However, it also means Obama will be elected to second term in office.

Great news...hell yes. I'd like to buy Obama a beer and shake his hand. But I don't think that equates to a vote.

[gabosaurus]

Interesting that spokespeople for the Obama administration are taking no credit for the operation.
They give the credit to intelligence officers ("going back 10 years, this didn't start 2 years ago") and military specialists who trained for and pulled off the mission.

Something else that I thought was intriguing was that the White House has stated that the mission was "a unilateral mission by the U.S. military special forces." This statement was issued after the Pakistan government said the attack was a "joint effort between U.S. and Pakistan."

I wonder what the U.S. policy toward Pakistan will be now that it is now that bin Laden was living in a large compound in Abbottabad, which is almost completely comprised of military bases. Meaning bin Laden's presence there was obviously supported by Pakistani govt reps despite their protestations to the contrary.

[DragonStryk72]

Interesting that spokespeople for the Obama administration are taking no credit for the operation.
They give the credit to intelligence officers ("going back 10 years, this didn't start 2 years ago") and military specialists who trained for and pulled off the mission.

Something else that I thought was intriguing was that the White House has stated that the mission was "a unilateral mission by the U.S. military special forces." This statement was issued after the Pakistan government said the attack was a "joint effort between U.S. and Pakistan."

I wonder what the U.S. policy toward Pakistan will be now that it is now that bin Laden was living in a large compound in Abbottabad, which is almost completely comprised of military bases. Meaning bin Laden's presence there was obviously supported by Pakistani govt reps despite their protestations to the contrary.

Actually, Bin Laden apparently declared war on Pakistan. Not sure where he was going with that one, but they were talking about it on the news leading up to the annoucement from the president on CBS. I doubt Pakistan was supporting them that much as this point.

[revelarts]

Interesting that spokespeople for the Obama administration are taking no credit for the operation.
They give the credit to intelligence officers ("going back 10 years, this didn't start 2 years ago") and military specialists who trained for and pulled off the mission.

Something else that I thought was intriguing was that the White House has stated that the mission was "a unilateral mission by the U.S. military special forces." This statement was issued after the Pakistan government said the attack was a "joint effort between U.S. and Pakistan."

I wonder what the U.S. policy toward Pakistan will be now that it is now that bin Laden was living in a large compound in Abbottabad, which is almost completely comprised of military bases. Meaning bin Laden's presence there was obviously supported by Pakistani govt reps despite their protestations to the contrary.

It's been well known that Pakistan has been playing all sides against the middle. They have been hide AlQuida and Taliban. As well as drug running/montary support of Taliban and possibly covering for Undercover nuke trading. US Intelligence is well aware of our "ally's" activity.

[red states rule]

It is great news!!

People in the US are very happy

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Now I am sure there will be some on the left who will not share in the celebration. Why wasn't OBL taken alivethey will ask; or they will moan how this will only piss off the terrorists even more

[red states rule]

Interesting that spokespeople for the Obama administration are taking no credit for the operation.
They give the credit to intelligence officers ("going back 10 years, this didn't start 2 years ago") and military specialists who trained for and pulled off the mission.

Something else that I thought was intriguing was that the White House has stated that the mission was "a unilateral mission by the U.S. military special forces." This statement was issued after the Pakistan government said the attack was a "joint effort between U.S. and Pakistan."

I wonder what the U.S. policy toward Pakistan will be now that it is now that bin Laden was living in a large compound in Abbottabad, which is almost completely comprised of military bases. Meaning bin Laden's presence there was obviously supported by Pakistani govt reps despite their protestations to the contrary.

Give Obama time Gabby, with his poll numbers and the US economy sinking so low - he will use this good news to try and convince people he is doing a good job

BTW, will you be sending the family of OBL a sympathy card?

[revelarts]

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2010

The threat posed by al-Qaida and the Taliban is exaggerated and the western-led counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan risks becoming a "long, drawn-out disaster", one of the world's leading security thinktanks warned today.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the west's counter-insurgency strategy has "ballooned" out of proportion to the original aim of preventing al-Qaida from mounting terrorist attacks there, and must be replaced by a less ambitious but more sensible policy of "containment and deterrence".

The critique of the US- and British-backed military policy is contained in the latest strategic survey from the IISS, a respected but usually uncontroversial body. IISS officers made clear today they have departed from their normal practice because of the serious threat to the west's security interests in pursuing the current Afghan strategy.

In an effort to ignite a fresh debate and bring about a new approach towards Afghanistan, they challenge claims, not least from David Cameron, that the presence of thousands of British troops in Afghanistan is necessary to prevent al-Qaida from returning and thus increasing the threat to the UK.

"
Al-Qaida and Taliban threat is exaggerated, says security thinktank

Strategy institute challenges idea that troops are needed in Afghanistan to stop export of terrorism to west


It is not clear why it should be axiomatically obvious that an Afghanistan freed of an international combat presence in the south would be an automatic magnet for al-Qaida's concentrated reconstruction," the IISS director-general, John Chipman, said.

Al-Qaida is now "engaged in Pakistan in very small numbers", not remotely comparable to the situation in Afghanistan pre-September 2001, Nigel Inkster, an IISS director and former deputy chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, said. No such threat is likely to come from al-Qaida elsewhere, including Yemen and Somalia, he added.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...at-afghanistan

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/top...intellige.html

A question from Dana: intelligence agencies and al-Qaeda

As Top Secret America wraps up its first week, I wanted to join in here with an observation and a question.

Over the past two years, one of the most thought-provoking observations I have heard from both military and intelligence folks is this: There are probably 500 al-Qaeda members left in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. At most, the organization may have a couple thousand people worldwide.

Why do we need such a large intelligence effort---the 1,300 agencies we identified that are a part of this effort--- to defeat a couple thousand people? And why haven't our efforts been even more focused on the al-Qaeda network in the last nine years?

"Mission creep" seems to have triumphed in all but the most disciplined of organizations. These are taboo subjects for officials to discuss in public because it can so easily be interpreted as minimizing the threat (although notice that CIA director Leon Panetta said as much on a recent Sunday talk show.)

Can anyone help me out here? Is this a valid way to look at things? And why not focus almost exclusively on al-Qaeda?

I am told that the other side of the coin is getting Americans, Congress and the media (yup, that's me) to have a more realistic reaction to near-misses and even attacks as well. What do you think?

I'm looking forward to your responses in the comments section. We're seeking debate and information here, not ranting and politicizing.
...

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/

2009

...U.S. intelligence officials have concluded there are only about 100 al Qaeda fighters in the entire country.

A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.

President Obama made only a vague reference to the size of the al Qaeda presence in his speech at West Point, when he said, "al Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same number as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border."

A spokesperson at the White House's National Security Council, Chris Hensman, said he could not comment on intelligence matters.

Obama's National Security Adviser, Gen. James Jones, put the number at "fewer than a hundred" in an October interview with CNN.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., referred to the number at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee in October, saying "intelligence says about a hundred al Qaeda in Afghanistan."

As the President acknowledged, al Qaeda now operates from Pakistan where U.S. troops are prohibited from operating. "We're in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country," he said.

Intelligence officials estimate there are several hundred al Qaeda fighters just across the border in Pakistan. ....

Time to leave Afghanstan and Pakistan.
Draw down to about , what?, 2500 military and 200 intell folks. to surgically deal with that many people if al quida can even get out of country to attack.

PAST time to wind this thing up.

[revelarts]

Did I mention get out of Libya,

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[Missileman]

ABC just reported that Osama's whereabouts have been known for 8 MONTHS. I wonder if all the handwringing fucked up BamBam's golf grip.

[LuvRPgrl]

Interesting that spokespeople for the Obama administration are taking no credit for the operation.
They give the credit to intelligence officers ("going back 10 years, this didn't start 2 years ago") and military specialists who trained for and pulled off the mission..

Of course let the first piece of bullshit come from you.
Obama's statement to the country was SHOCKINGLY short, but he seriously made sure everyone new that it wass BECAUSE OF HIS DECISION TO MAKE FINDING OBAMA THE TOP PRIORITY OF THE CIA,, that is the reason we caught him.

Hell, I hadnt known that it never left the number one priority status.
Does anyone serioiusly think Bush ever went to the director of the CIA and said, "hey, this Obama guy, he is kinda embarrassing me, so lets take the focus off of him, and lower his priority status, hmmm, lets say, to seven."

[DragonStryk72]

ABC just reported that Osama's whereabouts have been known for 8 MONTHS. I wonder if all the handwringing fucked up BamBam's golf grip.

knowing where Osama is, and having a clean shot that won't kill innocent civilians are two different things. I'll give him the win on this point, but it still doesn't make up for all the other craptastic moments of the last 3 years

[LuvRPgrl]

ABC just reported that Osama's whereabouts have been known for 8 MONTHS. I wonder if all the handwringing fucked up BamBam's golf grip.

I think Obama would have absolutely loved it if he could have waited for about another year, but alas, he couldnt wait any longer.

[CSM]

Obama gave himself plenty of credit in his speech. I am sure we will be reminded constantly between now and the election of his role in this event.