Posted on 04/30/2012 10:29:28 PM PDT by Steelfish
The Path To bin Laden’s Death Didn’t Start With Obama Text Size PrintE-mailReprints By Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., April 30
Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. is a 31-year veteran of the CIA and the author of “Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives.”
As we mark the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, President Obama deserves credit for making the right choice on taking out Public Enemy No. 1.
But his administration never would have had the opportunity to do the right thing had it not been for some extraordinary work during the George W. Bush administration. Much of that work has been denigrated by Obama as unproductive and contrary to American principles.
He is wrong on both counts.
Shortly after bin Laden met his maker last spring, courtesy of U.S. Special Forces and intelligence, the administration proudly announced that when Obama took office, getting bin Laden was made a top priority. Many of us who served in senior counterterrorism positions in the Bush administration were left muttering: “Gee, why didn’t we think of that?”
The truth is that getting bin Laden was the top counterterrorism objective for U.S. intelligence since well before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. This administration built on work painstakingly pursued for many years before Obama was elected — and without this work, Obama administration officials never would have been in a position to authorize the strike on Abbottabad, Pakistan, that resulted in bin Laden’s overdue death.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Now have to go back and see when they first found out about the complex...think this was about the same time.
My previous post says we got intelligence in May & August of 2010. May was the first time (I believe) that Hillary blurts out that Pakistan knows where Osama is....
I love this guy Rodriquez. He is my new hero. I loved hearing him tell Lesley Stahl that what she said was “b*llsh*t”.
He must be making heads on the left explode, speaking truth to power in his Spanish accent.
Maybe Romney can get him as veep?
OK, I looked him up, he’s born in Puerto Rico and as such is eligible to be president.
So I say: go for it.
And they would feel morally superior as they sympathize with the terrorists over the agony of the innocents.
BTTT
So many questions from this article.
“We later intercepted communications KSM sent to fellow detainees at the black site, in which he instructed them: “Tell them nothing about the courier!”
Does this mean that KSM was able to commuicate with this black site while in detention?
Who is the un-named terrorist?
Yes. The crimson is the splatter pattern.
Some explanation on special operations is needed to sort out the “he said, she said” cacophony going on.
There are many intel pursuits going on all the time on many HVT’s in safe houses all over AfPak. The HVT’s are almost always on the move between safe houses, very difficult to know when to pull the trigger.
After Tora Bora, UBL had three distinct safe havens, localized areas where a number of safe houses existed, fully stocked by some local and available 24/7.
UBL’s entire problem was the wives and kids, very easy to spot their movement. We knew the wives would constantly demand more comfort and stability. His youngest wife refused to live in caves and underground and actually left UBL and went back to Yemen until he agreed to leave Tora Bora at about the same time as our attack.
When UBL left Tora Bora because of the family’s complaints we knew he would be heading for a more urban area as soon as a big enough safe house could be built.
That took years for us to figure out because we needed a network of locals all over Pakistan, that were reliable, like doctors and lawyers, and well paid.
We found UBL not because intel pointed out where he was, but where he wasn’t...... That’s the kicker, it takes years to sort out.
I think UBL would have been safer in Quetta, hiding among the Baloch as they are hard to bribe, but they constantly bicker and quarrel, loose lips.
No brainer that UBL avoided Pakhtun areas as they are very gossipy and easy to bribe.
We knew UBL was somewhere in NE Pakistan as his videos to Al Jazeera came out of N India on virtually the same pathway and couriers.
When a target gets paranoid they cut back on the familiars around them. Familiars find safe pathways and tend to stick with them. If there are only 2-3 handoffs and you find a courier it is fairly easy to track back.
We knew UBL wasn’t going anywhere from Abottabad with all that family to move, so no hurry, let’s see who the visitors are..... We want Z badly, more than UBL.
When we realized there were no visitors to harvest, the raid was on.
On chain of command: McRaven makes the call if the HVT decides to move. If no urgency, Panetta makes the call. Obama is only informed of the decision after assets are in place, but has only a veto regarding the “go”.
If the POTUS says nothing, the raid is on. Obama’s posturing about saying “go” is not true as that is an operational command not available to him, he can only say “no”.
The POTUS has already signed off on the HVT kill or capture list by a secret Presidential Memo.
Very unlikely that any WH staffers like Jarrett had any knowledge of the raid.
Those photos still fill me with rage...
What are the results with libs when you show them these?
Yep, if the Wellstone party didn’t show everyone what a bunch of immature people run the democrat party, they weren’t paying attention. By the way, love your tag line, it is a pet peeve of mine.
*snip*
But his administration never would have had the opportunity to do the right thing had it not been for some extraordinary work during the George W. Bush administration. Much of that work has been denigrated by Obama as unproductive and contrary to American principles.
He is wrong on both counts.
Shortly after bin Laden met his maker last spring, courtesy of U.S. Special Forces and intelligence, the administration proudly announced that when Obama took office, getting bin Laden was made a top priority. Many of us who served in senior counterterrorism positions in the Bush administration were left muttering: “Gee, why didn’t we think of that?”
The truth is that getting bin Laden was the top counterterrorism objective for U.S. intelligence since well before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. This administration built on work painstakingly pursued for many years before Obama was elected — and without this work, Obama administration officials never would have been in a position to authorize the strike on Abbottabad, Pakistan, that resulted in bin Laden’s overdue death.
~~~~~~~~~~~
God bless Pres. Bush! Folks aren’t fooled by the pretender. And God bless and protect Jose Rodriguez .. the pretender doesn’t like critics.
The SEALS are definitely torqued. God protect them.. valiant heroes all, dear O.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=SEALS+CRITICIZING+OBAMA&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35
I know. You have a lot of catching up to do, dearest STAR.
I really do ... ;)
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