Obama didn't kill Osama Bin Ladan. Period!

[LA RAM FAN]

"President Obama made the right call to give the green light to the mission. But he did it in a way that he could shift the blame if things went wrong. Typical Obama. And typical of him to claim full credit for it, when he didn’t do anything but give a vague nod, while putting his top military officials at risk of taking the hit in case of a bad turn."

American Power: What 'Gutsy Call'? Obama Didn't Make 'Operational Decision' to Kill Osama bin Laden

Neither did Trump

PRAISING HIMSELF FOR ISIS RAID, TRUMP UNDERMINES HIS OWN VICTORY

Trump’s Baghdadi press conference shows how he ruins even his best moments
Trump could’ve just given his Baghdadi remarks and walked away. He didn’t — and made a mess.

During his question-and-answer session, Trump divulged multiple sensitive details about the raid in Syria that could possibly give US enemies intelligence advantages; admitted to keeping Congress in the dark about the operation; openly mocked the terrorist leader; praised his controversial travel ban; and insinuated the September 11 attacks might not have happened had Washington heeded his advice.

Overall, Trump squandered one of the best moments of his presidency by speaking cavalierly in his free-wheeling and self-aggrandizing manner.

“Talking about how many aircraft, where the aircraft are flying in, how they’re breaching a building, other technology they can bring to bear, knowledge about the tunnels and the mapping of those tunnels, these are operational details which are only about preening,” Michael Leiter, who led the US National Counterterrorism Center from 2007 to 2011, told me.

Trump divulged sensitive information about the Baghdadi raid

Toward the end of Trump’s press conference, the president made the case that he knew about the danger former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden posed to America before anyone else.

The entire riff, per the White House’s own transcript, is really worth reading nearly in full:

You know, if you read my book — there was a book just before the World Trade Center came down. And I don’t get any credit for this, but that’s okay. I never do. But here we are. I wrote a book — a, really, very successful book. And in that book, about a year before the World Trade Center was blown up, I said, “There is somebody named Osama bin Laden. You better kill him or take him out.” Something to that effect. ”He’s big trouble.”

...

Nobody ever heard of. I mean, al-Baghdadi everybody hears because he’s built this monster for a long time. But nobody ever heard of Osama bin Laden until, really, the World Trade Center. But about a year — you’ll have to check — a year, year and a half before the World Trade Center came down, the book came out. I was talking about Osama bin Laden. I said, “You have to kill him. You have to take him out.” Nobody listened to me.

And to this day, I get people coming up to me, and they said, “You know what one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen about you? Is that you predicted that Osama bin Laden had to be killed before he knocked down the World Trade Center.” It’s true. Now, most of the press doesn’t want to write that, but you know — but it is true. If you go back, look at my book. I think it was “The America We Deserve.” I made a prediction, and I — let’s put it this way: If they would have listened to me, a lot of things would have been different.

Okay, there’s a lot to unpack here, but two thoughts come immediately to mind.

First, Trump never actually said the US should kill bin Laden. In The America We Deserve, Trump does mention bin Laden, but doesn’t say the US or anyone should take the terror leader out. At most, Trump lumps bin Laden in with the many national security threats facing the US at the time.

What’s more, Trump implies the 9/11 attacks wouldn’t have happened had the US government listened to his take-out-bin-Laden advice. Of course, Trump never offered that warning in the first place, and it’s unclear that the 9/11 attacks wouldn’t have been carried out down the line, even without bin Laden’s leadership.

Second, people very much knew who bin Laden was well before 2000. He was a top target after al-Qaeda bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 224 people. The CIA even had a section dedicated just to bin Laden starting in the mid-1990s.

So, no, Trump is no counterterrorism savant.

did anybody else know IMMEDIATELY as i did when this old dead thread was brought back to life that it was none other than sealybozo trolling?

 

[g5000]

 

[g5000]

 

[Godboy]

I 100% agree with that tweet.

 

[Faun]

"President Obama made the right call to give the green light to the mission. But he did it in a way that he could shift the blame if things went wrong. Typical Obama. And typical of him to claim full credit for it, when he didn’t do anything but give a vague nod, while putting his top military officials at risk of taking the hit in case of a bad turn."

American Power: What 'Gutsy Call'? Obama Didn't Make 'Operational Decision' to Kill Osama bin Laden

Neither did Trump

PRAISING HIMSELF FOR ISIS RAID, TRUMP UNDERMINES HIS OWN VICTORY

Trump’s Baghdadi press conference shows how he ruins even his best moments
Trump could’ve just given his Baghdadi remarks and walked away. He didn’t — and made a mess.

During his question-and-answer session, Trump divulged multiple sensitive details about the raid in Syria that could possibly give US enemies intelligence advantages; admitted to keeping Congress in the dark about the operation; openly mocked the terrorist leader; praised his controversial travel ban; and insinuated the September 11 attacks might not have happened had Washington heeded his advice.

Overall, Trump squandered one of the best moments of his presidency by speaking cavalierly in his free-wheeling and self-aggrandizing manner.

“Talking about how many aircraft, where the aircraft are flying in, how they’re breaching a building, other technology they can bring to bear, knowledge about the tunnels and the mapping of those tunnels, these are operational details which are only about preening,” Michael Leiter, who led the US National Counterterrorism Center from 2007 to 2011, told me.

Trump divulged sensitive information about the Baghdadi raid

Toward the end of Trump’s press conference, the president made the case that he knew about the danger former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden posed to America before anyone else.

The entire riff, per the White House’s own transcript, is really worth reading nearly in full:

You know, if you read my book — there was a book just before the World Trade Center came down. And I don’t get any credit for this, but that’s okay. I never do. But here we are. I wrote a book — a, really, very successful book. And in that book, about a year before the World Trade Center was blown up, I said, “There is somebody named Osama bin Laden. You better kill him or take him out.” Something to that effect. ”He’s big trouble.”

...

Nobody ever heard of. I mean, al-Baghdadi everybody hears because he’s built this monster for a long time. But nobody ever heard of Osama bin Laden until, really, the World Trade Center. But about a year — you’ll have to check — a year, year and a half before the World Trade Center came down, the book came out. I was talking about Osama bin Laden. I said, “You have to kill him. You have to take him out.” Nobody listened to me.

And to this day, I get people coming up to me, and they said, “You know what one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen about you? Is that you predicted that Osama bin Laden had to be killed before he knocked down the World Trade Center.” It’s true. Now, most of the press doesn’t want to write that, but you know — but it is true. If you go back, look at my book. I think it was “The America We Deserve.” I made a prediction, and I — let’s put it this way: If they would have listened to me, a lot of things would have been different.

Okay, there’s a lot to unpack here, but two thoughts come immediately to mind.

First, Trump never actually said the US should kill bin Laden. In The America We Deserve, Trump does mention bin Laden, but doesn’t say the US or anyone should take the terror leader out. At most, Trump lumps bin Laden in with the many national security threats facing the US at the time.

What’s more, Trump implies the 9/11 attacks wouldn’t have happened had the US government listened to his take-out-bin-Laden advice. Of course, Trump never offered that warning in the first place, and it’s unclear that the 9/11 attacks wouldn’t have been carried out down the line, even without bin Laden’s leadership.

Second, people very much knew who bin Laden was well before 2000. He was a top target after al-Qaeda bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 224 people. The CIA even had a section dedicated just to bin Laden starting in the mid-1990s.

So, no, Trump is no counterterrorism savant.

Thanks for reviving this thread. I'm cracking up reading it.

 

[Faun]

I 100% agree with that tweet.

So do I. How prescient of Trump though, huh? That now applies exactly to him. All he did was nod his head from the front nine.

 

[skye]

I agree.

Hussein Obama did not kill Osama Bin Laden...Bin Laden died long before


But Hussein Obama did killed the swat team...those American patriots in the helicopter....so they would not talk


Hussein Obama is a traitor.


He should pay.

 

[Faun]

I agree.

Hussein Obama did not kill Osama Bin Laden...Bin Laden died long before


But Hussein Obama did killed the swat team...those American patriots in the helicopter....so they would not talk


Hussein Obama is a traitor.


He should pay.