Quote du jour

"There's no question in my mind that it (Benghazi) was a terrorist attack."

- Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, 2011-2013

Hillary Watch: On the bin Laden Take Down

There's been a lot of speculation this last week about how the take down of bin Laden might affect Obama's re-election chances in 2012, with the usual emphasis on how it helps him with the right and hurts him with his base. But, what if there were a joker in the deck? There is a story out there, that it was, in fact, Leon Panetta, Obama's CIA head, who had to give the order to kill bin Laden while Obama dithered. Now if it could be credibly proven that this was true, without compromising national security, who might benefit from the damage it would do to Obama, especially if it were coupled with Panetta's endorsement of say...Hillary? After all, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff for three years. But, to paraphrase the Bard, Hillary says she is not running, and Hillary is an honourable woman. Update: Scenario Number Two: Panetta establishes his bona fides as the decision maker on the bin Laden kill, and then, in 2012, joins Mrs. Clinton in a "resignation of conscience" prior to the election. If Hillary has to bail to run, Panetta bails, too. (If this is all too Machiavellian, remember, I'm just trying to think like a Clinton!) Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything. More "Hillary Watch" here.

White House Insider: Obama Hesitated – Panetta Issued Order to Kill Osama Bin Laden

White House Insider: Obama Hesitated – Panetta Issued Order to Kill Osama Bin Laden

Well, that certainly puts a new spin on Obama's sixteen hours of dithering, doesn't it?

This update comes some 24 hours after our longtime Washington D.C. Insider first outlined shocking details of an Obama administration having been “overruled” by senior military and intelligence officials leading up to the successful attack against terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

So, could it be that Obama is taking credit for something he was in the process of opposing?

Q: You stated that President Obama was “overruled” by military/intelligence officials regarding the decision to send in military specialists into the Osama Bin Laden compound. Was that accurate?

A: I was told – in these exact terms, “we overruled him.” (Obama) I have since followed up and received further details on exactly what that meant, as well as the specifics of how Leon Panetta worked around the president’s “persistent hesitation to act.” There appears NOT to have been an outright overruling of any specific position by President Obama, simply because there was no specific position from the president to do so. President Obama was, in this case, as in all others, working as an absentee president.

"Absentee president"? Ooh! That's going to leave a mark! It appears from this account, that instead of the initial reports of a sixteen hour period of indecision, the dithering had been going on for weeks, perhaps months:

I was correct in stating there had been a push to invade the compound for several weeks if not months, primarily led by Leon Panetta, Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, David Petraeus, and Jim Clapper. The primary opposition to this plan originated from Valerie Jarrett, and it was her opposition that was enough to create uncertainty within President Obama. Obama would meet with various components of the pro-invasion faction, almost always with Jarrett present, and then often fail to indicate his position. This situation continued for some time, though the division between Jarrett/Obama and the rest intensified more recently, most notably from Hillary Clinton. She was livid over the president’s failure to act, and her office began a campaign of anonymous leaks to the media indicating such.

This exchange is particularly telling:

Q: What changed the president’s position and enabled the attack against Osama Bin Laden to proceed?

A: Nothing changed with the president’s opinion – he continued to avoid having one.

And then perhaps the most damning quote of all:

(on the operation against the Osama Bin Laden compound)

I have been told by more than one source that Leon Panetta was directing the operation with both his own CIA operatives, as well as direct contacts with military – both entities were reporting to Panetta only at this point, and not the President of the United States. There was not going to be another delay as had happened 24 hour earlier. The operation was at this time effectively unknown to President Barack Obama or Valerie Jarrett and it remained that way until AFTER it had already been initiated. President Obama was literally pulled from a golf outing and escorted back to the White House to be informed of the mission

Obama sneaking in another round of golf before getting back to the business of the nation, where lives are in harm's way. Shocking, but not surprising, is it?

It just occurred to me: Gosh. I hope this doesn't put a damper on his planned adulationfest at Ground Zero this week!




Read more here.

H/T Memeorandum

Cross posted at LCR,