Death of Osama bin Laden: Phone call pointed U.S. to compound — and to ‘the pacer’

washingtonpost.com ^ | May 7 2011 | Bob Woodward

[nhwingut]

I love how some Obamaite wants the “movie” to start in 2010. Not that any of these characters and/or info were secured during the Booosh years.

[patriot08]

I’m glad the Seals got Obama...but I’m soooo tired of hearing about it.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

In the White House Situation Room on Sunday night, the president and his national security team watched a soundless video feed of the raid.

When bin Laden’s corpse was laid out, one of the Navy SEALs was asked to stretch out next to it to compare heights. The SEAL was 6 feet tall. The body was several inches taller.

After the information was relayed to Obama, he turned to his advisers and said: “We donated a $60 million helicopter to this operation. Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?”

So now there IS video. What happened to the 20-25 minute blackout?

[PeaRidge]

It is possible that months/weeks of Obama dithering and the resulting fear of discovery of the overall inaction that would reflect negatively on the CIA, the military, and the State Department led the team to push Obama into action.

Woodward's article is filled with half truths that are designed to lead thinking toward Obama bravery rather than his characteristic passivity.

Panetta and Clinton had a lot to lose if Obama was passing on the opportunity.

Wonder if any in the press knew what the CIA knew ten days ago?

[Raebie]

Wait a mintue. I thought there wasn’t a video feed.

From the article:

“In the White House Situation Room on Sunday night, the president and his national security team watched a soundless video feed of the raid.

When bin Laden’s corpse was laid out, one of the Navy SEALs was asked to stretch out next to it to compare heights. The SEAL was 6 feet tall. The body was several inches taller.

After the information was relayed to Obama, he turned to his advisers and said: “We donated a $60 million helicopter to this operation. Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?”

[Tex-Con-Man]

Sheesh...there's so many versions of this story, I'm going to wait for the Warren Commission to issue it's report to find out what really didn't happen.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Watched an ABC 20/20 report on the raid last night. The reporter stated that a “wind vortex” or “air vortex” (can't remember which) caused the helo to lose lift. She also stated that the craft landed OUTSIDE the compound walls. The pilot of the second bird made a last second decision to follow suit and also landed outside. This mean the SEALS had to blast their way through the outer wall.

Other details I had not heard before:

Power and phone service went down in the neighborhood as the raid began.

Inside the compound the SEALS busted a door open and found it a dead end. Animation showed it as being bricked up. They thought it might be booby trapped.

Bin Laden had money sewn into his clothes (read this here today also).

No one thought to bring a tape measure so that's why the SEAL laid down to compare height to Bin Laden.

[lowbuck]

Um . . . excuse me . . . but in the middle of a firefight (well maybe there wasn't one), OK, in the middle of invading another country (with half it's Army just up the street) we need to measure the “recently dead”!

Seems to me that if the shooter shot him it was based on a good ID. So tag and bag. When the doc works out the “cause of death” he is supposed to get all those vital signs anyway! s/off

I never could figure out how anyone, and I mean anyone could believe that the moon landings were all a lie and shot on a Hollywood sound lot. After this past week and Team O’s brilliant explanation of what happen, when and to whom, I am beginning to think twice!!

[HangThemHigh]

"...the air above the compound (because it's hardpacked dirt?) was 15^oF warmer than ambient temps all around the area, and the helicopter abruptly lost lift..."

15^oF translates to 3% less dense air (not to mention the warmer air probably would have caused an updraft).

Are helicopters that sensitive to air density? Wonder how close it was to its weight limit?