The Obama "To Make Important Statement" MEGATHREAD

[Monoriu]

How *do* you fly helicopters all the way to Islamabad without sirens going off?

How do you know that the sirens didn't go off?

[Brazen]

Have we had this one yet?

[dps]

Alot of people thought Clinton was kind of a joke prior to and early on in the 1992 campaign.

Those that had even heard of him, which most people outside of Arkansas hadn't.

In late 1991 and early 1992, the media dubbed the 7 announced Democratic candidates as "The Seven Dwarfs" and Clinton was probably the most obscure of those (the others were mostly Senators, who tend to be better known outside their home states than governors).

[katmai]

Have we had this one yet?

[The Larch]

A honest question for the yanks, particulary to the ones of a more martial persuation: Will hard proof be produced at some point in the short or medium term about this operation and its results and/or particulars or do we have to trust the official statements at face value?

I'm just going to have to go out on a limb and take my chances on the "Wag-the-Capricorn One" machine, because this news, and they way it was done, is just too damned satisfying.
Simply really, really satisfying.

I managed to find this:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54132.html

Sources: Osama bin Laden burial video may be released

The Associated Press is citing two Pentagon officials who say that a video of Osama bin Laden's burial at sea will likely be made public soon, perhaps along with photos of his corpse.

The terrorist leader was dropped into the North Arabian Sea from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson early Monday.

Briefing reporters at the White House on Monday, Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan said the administration would likely release a photo of bin Laden, but would do so cautiously. "We don't want to do anything to compromise our ability to be successful the next time we get one of these guys and take him off the battlefield," he said.

Also:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54151.html#ixzz1LFIKX93k

Osama bin Laden raid yields trove of computer data

The assault force of Navy SEALs snatched a trove of computer drives and disks during their weekend raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, yielding what a U.S. official called "the mother lode of intelligence."

The special operations forces grabbed personal computers, thumb drives and electronic equipment during the lightning raid that killed bin Laden, officials told POLITICO.

"They cleaned it out," one official said. "Can you imagine what's on Osama bin Laden's hard drive?"

U.S. officials are about to find out. The material is being examined at a secret location in Afghanistan.

"Hundreds of people are going through it now," an official said, adding that intelligence operatives back in Washington are very excited to find out what they have.

"It's going to be great even if only 10 percent of it is actionable," the official said.

Savoring the military and intelligence triumph, officials late Monday described new details about how the mission unfolded:

The SEALs took fire on their way to the compound's third floor, where bin Laden had been sleeping, officials said. The encounter with bin Laden lasted only seconds, and ended with a kill shot to his face.

The team's photos of bin Laden are gruesome, complicating officials' deliberations about whether to release them.

Officials also have images of bin Laden in a white shroud before his burial at sea.

The raid was not supposed to last more than 30 minutes. The forces finished in 38 minutes, even though they lost one of their choppers and had to go to a back-up plan.

Four helicopters were used in the raid. Two went in, and two were in reserve.

Hovering above the compound on the way in, one of the choppers developed a mechanical problem that caused it to lose lift, officials said. The pilot made a controlled landing, according to the officials. When he couldn't get the bird airborne again, the SEALs blew it up and left in one of the reserves.

Officials described the reaction of the special operators when they were told a number of weeks ago that they had been chosen to train for the mission.

"They were told, 'We think we found Osama bin Laden, and your job is to kill him,'" an official recalled.

The SEALs started to cheer.

Radioing a commander on Sunday, the team reported the capture with a pre-arranged signal: "Geronimo!"

[lustindarkness]

I expected we would hear about intel gathered during the raid, what has not been said yet is if they took anyone alive, does not seem that way, but then that means there was only 4 people in the house? Hmm.

[The Larch]

I expected we would hear about intel gathered during the raid, what has not been said yet is if they took anyone alive, does not seem that way, but then that means there was only 4 people in the house? Hmm.

At some point it was mentioned that 2-3 people were taken prisoner and would be transported to Gitmo, but details seem to be wavering. For instance, it seems that there are contradicting reports regarding the killing of the bin Laden wife that was in the building, about wether he was armed or not, and about the woman used as a human shield.

[Bluebook]

*shrug* We'll see.  Remember how everyone loved George H. W. Bush after the Gulf War ended and his approval rating was like 95%?

Yeah, some people tend to forget that you never win elections based on past performance. Churchill is probably the best example of that. The public will elect the person/party they believe has the best ideas for the future. But they will not reward a leader for something good he or she did in the past. The memory of the public opinion is short and shallow, and the election is more than a year away.

As for Obamas chance to get reelected I would say it will all depend on very basic things, unemployment and household economy. Clinton (or whoever it was) was not too far off with "its the economy, stupid".

[Monoriu]

What about that other guy, the head of Taliban, Omar something? 

[Caliga]

What about that other guy, the head of Taliban, Omar something?

Mullah Mohammad Omar?  IIRC it's not certain that he's still alive, but even if he is I'm not sure he'd be the target of a kill operation like Osama was.

[Caliga]

McCain: "You know, my hero is a guy named Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt used to say walk softly -- talk softly, but carry a big stick. Senator Obama likes to talk loudly. In fact, he said he wants to announce that he's going to attack Pakistan. Remarkable.  You know, if you are a country and you're trying to gain the support of another country, then you want to do everything you can that they would act in a cooperative fashion. When you announce that you're going to launch an attack into another country, it's pretty obvious that you have the effect that it had in Pakistan: It turns public opinion against us."

McCain was so full of shit.  I remember this exchange and remember thinking so at the time, too.  If he'd been elected he would have taken bin Laden out, too... maybe he would have used a MOAB instead of doing the commando-style raid Obama did, but either way bin Laden would have been dead as a MRF.

[CountDeMoney]

McCain was so full of shit.  I remember this exchange and remember thinking so at the time, too.  If he'd been elected he would have taken bin Laden out, too... maybe he would have used a MOAB instead of doing the commando-style raid Obama did, but either way bin Laden would have been dead as a MRF.

My point is: attacks on Obama's ability to make the calls that matter were erroneous.  Oh, and they're not applicable in 2012, either.

Shit and filth like this--



--aren't going to work for the GOP anymore.  Time to work another angle, Teabaggers.

[Ed Anger]

I've still got a murder boner.

[Razgovory]

Does anyone really think Bush or Clinton or Bush Sr. or Cart...ok, maybe not Carter.

But really, its not like any other President would be all "No no, lets not kill Osama...."

Not Clinton, no.  And I'm not 100% sure about Bush-41.

When did Clinton say, "No no, lets not kill Osama..."

Osama bin Laden: missed opportunities
The CIA had pictures. Why wasn't the al-Qaida leader captured or killed?

By Lisa Myers Senior investigative correspondent
NBC News
updated 3/17/2004

As the 9/11 commission investigates what Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush might have done to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, one piece of evidence the commission will examine is a videotape secretly recorded by a CIA plane high above Afghanistan. The tape shows a man believed to Osama bin Laden walking at a known al-Qaida camp.

The question for the 9/11 commission: If the CIA was able to get that close to bin Laden before 9/11, why wasn't he captured or killed? The videotape has remained secret until now.

Over the next three nights, NBC News will present this incredible spy footage and reveal some of the difficult questions it has raised for the 9/11 commission.

In 1993, the first World Trade Center bombing killed six people.

In 1998, the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa killed 224.

Both were the work of al-Qaida and bin Laden, who in 1998 declared holy war on America, making him arguably the most wanted man in the world.

In 1998, President Clinton announced, "We will use all the means at our disposal to bring those responsible to justice, no matter what or how long it takes."

NBC News has obtained, exclusively, extraordinary secret video, shot by the U.S. government.  It illustrates an enormous opportunity the Clinton administration had to kill or capture bin Laden. Critics call it a missed opportunity.

The fact that Clinton did launch cruise missiles at Bin Laden, or at least his camps, indicates he was willing to kill him.

[KRonn]

This stuff about equating Pres Obama with bin Laden is just disgusting. Just negates the views of someone spewing that crap. Sadly though, it's part of the political nastiness that goes on, which seems to have gotten worse over the past fifteen years or so, and I don't see it abating anytime soon. Getting worse as the left and the right, mainly the extremes of each, get more rabid towards each other.