Panetta: Obama Couldn't Watch Bin Laden's Death but Heard 'Geronimo' Signal(video)

PBS ^ | May 3, 2011

[Nasher]

Couldn't see it because he was the only one in the room who wasn't seated at the Grown Up Table.

[China Clipper]

OK I'll bite

WTF is a "geronimo" signal??

[Jeff Winston]

I saw that image, daisy mae, and thought it was odd.

[Jeff Winston]

On a bit lighter note:

[daisy mae for the usa]

Life would be so dull without caption bubbles!! I’m glad we don’t have to worry about Osama any more. Proud of all those who stayed the course. 9/11 was a terrible thing.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Did you see the smile on Gates face? I never understood how he could stomach staying in that administration.

[saltus]

You have to admit that Bush failed.

There is a reason why people always mention the ‘fog of war’. I have yet to hear anyone mention the ‘lucidity of war’.

[Sprite518]

This story gets more bizarre by the hour.

Remember when the White House released that photo of Obama watching the take down. They must have found out from their internal polls that it did not play well to the far leftist. So now they change their story.

[saltus]

Not a good meme.

DUmmies already have a thread, Where was Bush?

Bush’s record/history is not good.

[PghBaldy]

He is saying NO ONE watched it:

JIM LEHRER: Did you have access to video of what was actually happening in the compound, et cetera?

LEON PANETTA: We had live-time intelligence information that we were dealing with during the operation itself.

JIM LEHRER: Did you actually see - or did you actually see Osama bin Laden get shot?

LEON PANETTA: No. No, not at all. We - you know, we had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound.

JIM LEHRER: What about at the White House situation room where President Obama was? Did he have any - was he seeing anything, any actual time, real-time action going on as well?

LEON PANETTA: I think they were viewing some of the real-time aspects of this as well in terms of the intelligence that we were getting.

JIM LEHRER: So do you think the - did the president see the shots fired at Osama bin Laden?

LEON PANETTA: No. No, not at all. I think we - you know, we saw from, you know, some of the operations that we knew that the helicopters had - were on the ground, that the teams were going into the compound. And that was the kind of information that we were following.

Once those teams went into the compound, I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we - you know, we really didn't know just exactly what was going on. And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information. But finally, Adm. McRaven came back and said that he had picked up the word "Geronimo," which was the code word that represented that they got bin Laden.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/jan-june11/panetta_05-03.html

[PghBaldy]

An article (I think in the Daily Mail) said/implied he was pulled off the golf course and wait straight there in his golf shoes... which explains why he looks so out of place (besides being a weak leader).

[PghBaldy]

One of the photos shows a clock- the time supposedly only makes sense if after the fact...

[kevao]

If the photo were staged, you’d think they’d at least have Zero looking presidential, and not cowering in the corner. I’m surprised the WH released this photo; it’s very unflattering.

[kevao]

I keep thinking about how Bush would have been a bit more enthusiastic delivering that same speech.

I suspect Bush would have allowed Petraeus to break the news.

[PghBaldy]

Here is one photo which is at 2:03 Tripoli time (so I guess that would be 8:03pm ET) It MUST be after, as Leon Panetta is there, and he apparently was running it from Langley earlier.

[over3Owithabrain]

Panetta isn't entirely clear, but it sounds like he is saying they were watching the copters landing on the ground, but once the Seals were in the compound they didn't see or know anything and relied on reports.

With a handy 20-25 minute "plausible deniability" window.

[Antoninus]

I noticed the seating as well. Obie was detached. I think he had to be coerced to make “the call”. Panetta, Daley or Gates, maybe all.

I'm amazed that anyone thinks that Obama is anything other than a speech-making prop with no real power. Of course other people are calling the shots.

[Cyropaedia]

You got that right. Bamster looks like the little kid sitting at the adults table.

Gates, or even Biden, looks like the one in charge.

[caww]

Why would he even be on the golf course if they knew this was coming down? I am not comfortable that our Pres. has to be dragged back to where he needs to be in an operation as this....unless of course he’s no longer in the loop as he’d like us all to think.

[PghBaldy]

It is all very disturbing to me. I am somewhat reassured that there are some people there who are TRYING to do the right thing, in spite of Obama. This whole thing reminds me of the Somali pirates incident, which lasted days, for no reason, except Obama.