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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnyone watching the former navy seal on 60 minutes?
I frankly think that his coming forward is a right wing tactic. The opening said this raid was in the planning for 10 years....
As a former military member, I am sickened by this guy. Keep your damn mouth shut!
Skittles
(153,142 posts)russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Stinky The Clown
(67,786 posts)Just mesmerizing
jsr
(7,712 posts)graywarrior
(59,440 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts).. no.
drm604
(16,230 posts)They knew where he was for 10 years and did nothing about it?
Lex
(34,108 posts)Wow.
former9thward
(31,970 posts)It sounds like you are commenting on something you did not see.
drm604
(16,230 posts)The little roll-eyes character should give it away.
According to the OP, he said that the raid was in planning for 10 years. How do you plan a raid when you don't even know the location?
greyl
(22,990 posts)Her partner says "Sounds like a plan."
Seal teams do raids. It's what they're trained for. I'm sure that they are training for and rehearsing generic raids all the time.
But a specific raid can only be planned for when you know the location and layout of the specific target that you will be raiding. The claim that they'd been planning this raid for 10 years is disingenuous at best and requires a tortured definition of the word "plan".
former9thward
(31,970 posts)was 10 years in the making. He didn't say the specific raid itself. This is not news. Former CIA director and now Defense Secretary Panetta said the same thing right after the raid.
nanabugg
(2,198 posts)zbdent
(35,392 posts)So ... before Osama bin Laden was on Bush's radar, right?
Ten years before May 2011 would be ... May 2001???
Bush didn't even get the PDB at that point. He was just enjoying the "liberally-biased media" hunting down some sex partner and having news conferences about xeroxed pics of butts on the White House copiers ...
ProSense
(116,464 posts)notice that Republicans are always claiming that Obama's accomplishments are no big deal and at the same time trying to take credit for them?
Romney: Can You Think Of Any Promises Obama Has Met? (image heavy)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021295267#post3
Festivito
(13,452 posts)Bush made light of Clinton's 24/7 attempts to hit bin Laden while running against Al Gore.
Then the Bush admin ordered troops not to get bin Laden when they tracked him near Tora Bora.
If Republicans knew where bin Laden was, they were there to protect bin Laden. He was their source of power to rule and power to get more of our tax dollars.
PCIntern
(25,518 posts)It may be meant to minimize the President's role in all this.
Windy
(5,944 posts)try to minimalize the president's involvement.
No matter what they do, it was his responsiblity to give the order based upon intelligence that was relatively recently received.
This is one of the president's biggest accomplishments in his first term and speaks to the issue of national security that the repubs thought they owned, but don't any longer.
This is definitely an effort to take the air out of the administrations sails over the raid.
Sick.
Raine
(30,540 posts)been another decade ... interesting. THANK YOU President Obama for doing what needed to be done since Bush never had the courage to do it. Obama rocks!
spanone
(135,816 posts)Rhiannon12866
(205,161 posts)However, I also found it very disturbing. Isn't this guy going public with classified info? I was quite interested, but didn't feel right that this was being reported on network television.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)I watched it, too. It was really interesting, but I thought it was so reckless to expose some of the details about their training and the mission. And revealing the fact that there was a female CIA intelligence officer on-call also bothered me. It just reminded me of Valerie Plame.
Rhiannon12866
(205,161 posts)The woman who advised them, "Ms. 100%," is now in danger of being exposed. I absolutely agree about the Valerie Plame comparison. While I was riveted by this guy's description of what happened, I was very uncomfortable at the same time. And when he said "crazies on both sides of the aisle," I really wondered. Where is his loyalty to the Commander in Chief?
JI7
(89,244 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Math, like facts, has a liberal bias.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)as he tries to date the raid back to before 9/11 and during the Bush administration.
It also makes no sense as Bush allowed bin Laden to escape Tora Bora. Bush then went on to repeat that he had no idea where bin Laden was and wasn't concerned, closing down the unit that was looking for him.
It's all hogwash.
President Obama got bin Laden. That really irks Republicans.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)But if the point was that they've been after bin Laden, then it does.
I didn't watch this so I'll have to stream it online later when it becomes available.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"But if the point was that they've been after bin Laden, then it does. "
...that wasn't the point.
The point he's trying to make is related to the specific raid that got bin Laden. His point makes no sense.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)It seemed to me that may have been what was meant. Chances are no one bothered clarifying it so it would make sense.
That's just a guess on my part. I need to watch this.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)His intent was clear.
Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)It was probably in the planning for the first year or so of the Afghan war and then when Bush decided to avenge Daddy by invading Iraq that plan took a long vacation until Obama took office. So while its origins started 10+ years ago, it was only active for 1 year (Bush) and 3.5 years (Obama) for a total of 4.5 years.
Wounded Bear
(58,634 posts)sounds like he's the new Ollie North.
Weasel.
ldf
(2,964 posts)so it was a different ops military group that staged the "made for teevee" rescue of jessica lynch, but i wonder if he would be so supportive of one of THOSE guys setting the record straight about THAT little "drama"?
Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)Yeah, because Clinton didn't try to get bin laden during his administration.
Why would he start at ten years ago during W's administration but not during Clinton's when bin laden was not only on our radar but Clinton "at least tried" to get him?
Smells like a right winger to me as well.
demosincebirth
(12,536 posts)"planners" in the ass to get f**king show on the road.
Marie Marie
(9,999 posts)seeking and tracking his whereabouts since 9/11. But, Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld didn't want to capture their boogie man. It didn't fit their hidden agenda. It took commitment and orders from the top to actually act on their intel. And it took Obama to make that commitment and finally take action. Suck on that truth Repukes.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)It saddens me that our military can turn out liars like this one.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)He spilled secrets and the Pentagon is planning on going after him over it. Plus he violated the confidentiality agreement he signed. They haven't accused him of lying from what I've read.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I call shenanigans.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)I'm thinking either it was meant that they'd been trying to kill bin Laden for 10 years or had made plans over that time that didn't work out.
I don't know. Like I said, I didn't watch it. It seems like they did a lousy job of clarifying this claim.
metalbot
(1,058 posts)This is not attributed to the SEAL or the interviewer, but rather to the CBS news team:
"We've never heard the story from someone who was there. The raid, May 1st, 2011, had been years in the making. But, in the moment, the best laid plans failed leaving a small team of Americans to improvise victory from near disaster."
unblock
(52,185 posts)WANTING to nail bin laden for 10 years, sure. even though shrub didn't give a flying f*ck prior to 9/11, and eventually explicitly gave up trying to find him later on.
but tasking a military group to try to find him doesn't amount to the raid that nailed him being in the "planning" for 10 years. that honestly could have even started until they had some inkling as to the location and its layout. this couldn't POSSIBLY have started prior to its construction in 2005, and more likely, not until rather shortly before it took place when they got blueprints.
mzmolly
(50,985 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Bet you wish you had a time machine, eh?
jillan
(39,451 posts)would do this - don't they take an oath? Even after they retire?
I really hope the Pentagon charges him with something. Even if this happened under Dubya, I still would feel the same way.
We shouldn't have to know.
glinda
(14,807 posts)of the mission, which was to take him alive or kill him if need be....and then he described "how many times he shot him as well as the Pointman shot him...wellllll........ was it really necessary to shoot him several times?
librechik
(30,674 posts)isn't it still being contested by the govt?