Quote:ordnance11 wrote:Nope. Not for ordering it.Quote:Tell me, if the Bin Ladin raid had failed, would you be baying for the President's head for ordering it?
It depends on how it went bad, though.
If they stormed the compound, a few terrorists fight back and die, but Bin Laden simply isn't there? Well at least it'd be an honest attempt. If Bin Laden is there, he gets captured/killed and some of our soldiers die? Still not a problem. They died for a good cause.
If it went HORRIBLY wrong and Bin Laden escapes/wasn't there and lots of our guys die and there's a "Blackhawk Down" type scenario? THEN I'd question the wisdom of ordering the raid cause at that point it's obvious incompetence or jumping the gun with bad intel is the cause.
But this is all hypothetical. I'm not questioning that it was or wasn't a good thing. Just that - based on everything else I've ever seen in regards to Obama and the way he thinks, it's hard to believe he actually had the stones to make that call. It's just not in his nature. I think if it were up to him alone, he'd have dithered until the moment was lost. Either someone presented it to him as a fait accompli, or they threatened to resign right there on the spot and go to the press with what they knew if he didn't act and forced his hand.