bases_loaded;1341431 wrote:It's easier to be a silent warrior when you're not being exploited for political gain.
Eh.
I am no Obama fan at all, dont get me wrong.
But I dont think the publicity he took from it was over and beyond what was warranted.
If the roles were reversed, and a Repub was in power when this happened I think that President woulda have done the same thing during a re election campaign. Yeah, I think he is a poor president and some of the stuff he does is complete BS, but I am not gonna place the UBL situation in that category.
Gotta give him credit though for actually going through with it. Took some balls to OK going into Pakistan without telling them and getting this done. If we all remember right, they believe that he was at Tora Bora when we were bombing the crap out of it, but when it was time do seal the deal we stepped back for whatever reason and he slipped away.
I think for anyone who reads the book, or watched the NatGeo movie, they will come out with the understanding that the woman who pursued this for years, and with absolute certainty guarenteed 100% that UBL was there was very important, and probably the most important person, to get this OP green lit. The others were saying, what, only like 40-50% chance this was the place? Her 100% belief, whether it was genuine or not, was the ultimate decision in actually doing this. The Prez gets props for actually OKing the whole op because if it goes bad then he ultimately pays the price and probably costs him re election and maybe starts another war, but it is HER who is the most important person who should be praised, and of course those operatative who carried out the mission. I hope this movie highlights that as well. Also, if it went terribly wrong she probably loses her job as well, but it would not be as devastating to her as it would be for the president
I liked how the story gives insight about how long and how far back some of this important information was obtained. Some have whispered that waterboarding was used in getting some of the info (the books/movie dont mention it tho) but it goes way, way back and it really was a very large puzzle and as much of a bad rap that intel people get they gotta get the props for this one.
The SEALs are the ones who carried out the raid and killed UBL and they are amazing heroes, no doubt, but they would not have been put in that situation if it werent for years and tens of thousands of hours of backwork.