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President Obama's Greatest Foreign Policy Failure: Killing bin Laden
Forbes ^ | 9/13/2012 | Richard Miniter

Posted on 09/13/2012 1:15:37 PM PDT by mojito

....There are three things wrong with the bin Laden raid that suggest Obama is unsuitable as a wartime president: the planning, the execution and most importantly, the aftermath. Let’s examine those in reverse.

Putting publicity ahead of victory.

Obama ran to the cameras and raced to tell the world that bin Laden was dead– just hours after his body bobbed beneath the waves in the wake of the USS Carl Vinson. He was anxious for the credit, not realizing that the credit would keep. He forgot about the military advantage of surprise.

In his hurry, Obama forgot the two trash bags of papers, hard drives and thumb drives that the SEALs had dragged from bin Laden’s lair. Those documents and devices contained a treasure trove of intelligence: the whereabouts of al Qaeda’s senior commanders, the secret sources of funds, its hideouts, its sleeper cells, its pending plots.

With a few weeks to translate and analyze those captured documents, the CIA and other services could have been providing actionable intelligence to guide commandos to the secret locations of al Qaeda leaders all over the world. With the element of surprise and clearly defined targets, nearly every al Qaeda leader could have been killed or captured.

The entire al Qaeda apparatus could have been wiped out. The terror organization could have been eliminated.

If he waited a few weeks, Obama could not have just announced the death of bin Laden, but the death of al Qaeda. This is the best way to end wars, with victory.

Instead, Obama threw it all away for a momentary star-turn before the cameras late on a Sunday night in May 2011.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: binladen; emptychair; obama; obamaiscarter; obamaisclinton; obamaislbj; obamaleaks; opsec
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The Muslim Brotherhood is alive and the US economy is dead.
1 posted on 09/13/2012 1:15:42 PM PDT by mojito
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To: mojito

Notice that US Troops in Afghanistan continue to die at the same rate as before the killing of Osama.

I don’t think Osama was quite the big fish they made him out to be. Strategically, killing him didn’t mean all that much in the big picture, it served more of a propaganda purpose....That’s why Bush really didn’t care too much about capturing him. It wasn’t the “War on Bin Laden”, it was the “War on Terror”. Sure, I’m glad he’s dead, but Obama has milked way too much out of it than deserved. I’m sure if Bush killed Osama and Republicans cheered as much as the Democrats have, the Democrats would just have accused Republicans of being blood-thirsty yadda yadda.

Remember when Saddam was captured, all they cared about was that he got a fair trial.


2 posted on 09/13/2012 1:21:05 PM PDT by dfwgator (I'm voting for Ryan and that other guy.)
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To: mojito

With a few weeks to translate and analyze those captured documents, the CIA and other services could have been providing actionable intelligence to guide commandos to the secret locations of al Qaeda leaders all over the world. With the element of surprise and clearly defined targets, nearly every al Qaeda leader could have been killed or captured.
///
FORBES is an ignorant idiot.
Obama passed on 4 plans... delaying it for months.
i read that we had a post within sight of Obama,
for MONTHS.
certainly i expect that we gathered intelligence.
(in fact, i would have argued, against killing him...
and instead keeping him under surveillence.
...we could have stopped any big attacks,
as long as we did that... for years...
...just as seemed to happen under President Bush...)


3 posted on 09/13/2012 1:21:13 PM PDT by Elendur (It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: mojito; Noamie

Great article.


4 posted on 09/13/2012 1:23:47 PM PDT by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: mojito

What makes Forbes think that O didn’t want to warn the other Muslims ASAP?


6 posted on 09/13/2012 1:25:55 PM PDT by expat2
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To: mojito

King Obama, an amateur immature fool.


7 posted on 09/13/2012 1:25:59 PM PDT by Logical me
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To: mojito; pnut22
To lightly paraphrase pnut22:

Barack spends a week bragging that he killed Osama.
People storm an embassy saying we are all Osama.
The media blames a movie no one has ever seen or heard of.

8 posted on 09/13/2012 1:26:23 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1333 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama, a queer and present danger)
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To: Elendur

but if Forbes thinks that with modern cell phones, communications, and the support of the Pakistani ISI,
that the death of Osama could be kept secret for WEEKS...
that, is simply foolish.


9 posted on 09/13/2012 1:26:34 PM PDT by Elendur (It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Elendur

Hello?


10 posted on 09/13/2012 1:27:06 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: mojito
Not mentioned in the article is the downed helicopter a few weeks after the Osama event which killed some of the SEALS whsaid to be part of the raid.

Did this happen because Obama/Biden publicized info on the mission?

11 posted on 09/13/2012 1:28:41 PM PDT by what's up
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To: mojito
I'm sorry, but this article is acting as if Obama was the only route by which the other terrorists would know Bin Laden was dead. Those around him who were not killed would have SURELY informed those that needed to know, word would have gotten out anyway.

I get the authors point, but lets not pretend either....

12 posted on 09/13/2012 1:28:48 PM PDT by Paradox (I want Obama defeated. Period.)
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To: mojito

If he waited a few weeks, Obama could not have just
announced the death of bin Laden, but the death of al Qaeda. This is the best way to end wars, with victory.

&&&
He has not desire to eliminate al Qaeda, as their goals and his are similar. And an American victory is anathema to him.


13 posted on 09/13/2012 1:28:51 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Pray for our republic.)
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To: mojito; All

14 posted on 09/13/2012 1:29:21 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: mojito

Great article. Too bad MSM will ignore the real story.


15 posted on 09/13/2012 1:29:33 PM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: null and void

add that it was on 9-11.


16 posted on 09/13/2012 1:31:28 PM PDT by morphing libertarian
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To: dfwgator

Back during the Iraq war, during Bush’s time, the left was all in a tizzy that getting Bin Ladin was the end-all be-all of the response to 9-11.

They even believed it themselves, though it was just their excuse for hating Bush.

That hatred extended from Fla 2000, and the denial of the “Clinton 3rd term” through Algore.


17 posted on 09/13/2012 1:32:13 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working fors)
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To: mojito
"...just hours after his body bobbed beneath the waves in the wake of the USS Carl Vinson..."


18 posted on 09/13/2012 1:32:24 PM PDT by rlmorel ("It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." Voltaire)
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To: mojito

> The entire al Qaeda apparatus could have been wiped out. The
> terror organization could have been eliminated.

It can be said that Obama’s failure renders him responsible for each and every death that results from al Qaeda terrorism.


19 posted on 09/13/2012 1:33:13 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: mojito

Killing Osama was bad!?

Did Michael Moore write this article?

Please tell us how we should have announced it. Should we have said nothing?

This argument is cowardly and dishonors those he murdered and so do those of you who have twisted this into pretzel logic.


20 posted on 09/13/2012 1:34:21 PM PDT by sakic
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