BJC's Blog: The Obama/Osama Chronicles

It's time to post a follow-up to my previous post about the successful raid against Osama bin Laden's hideout a few days ago. On the one hand, it's a tremendous success for our military and a devastating morale blow to our enemies. On the other hand, it's yet another instance where our infantile President has narcissistically sought to take credit for something he actively campaigned and fought against for years when Bush was advocating it; in fact, he only grudgingly signed off on the operation in the first place. Oh, also, the media is fawning over his 'gutsiness' in a shameless display of verbal and emotional emetic. Finally, there has been so much...um...strangeness...around the whole thing that in some ways it's hard to take the victory seriously. Allow me to explain.

Less than 24 hours after OBL was killed, he was given a burial at sea and a nice Muslim funeral ceremony. I personally find the idea of honoring this mass murderer of innocent civilians with a burial in accordance with Sharia law -- which is directly antithetical to the concepts of liberty and freedom -- incredibly offensive, and I find the reasons given for such actions to be incredibly lame, but what's done is done.

Apparently, the U.S. government knew of the hideout since last August...but Obama refused to take action for months. The intelligence was 'solid' by mid-February, but still he wouldn't take action. Why? My bet is that, as time wore on and the case became more and more ironclad, there were simply too many people who knew that we knew where OBL was, and that if Obama didn't take action he would be forever tainted as the man who let the architect of 9/11 slip through his fingers. He was forced to give the order through circumstance.

And here's where it gets muddy. The White House initially stated that the goal of the mission was to kill OBL, not capture him. Then that was reversed, and the White House said they wanted to capture him, but only if he was unarmed (but he wasn't). Initial reports also said that OBL used his wife as a human shield, and that she was killed. Then she wasn't. The story was also reversed on whether or not OBL and the other people at the house were armed. Then the story was reversed on whether or not there was resistance to the raid. There was also confusion on whether or not OBL was killed in an active gun battle or shot in the head as a captive. The point is that the White House looked like a bunch of crazy chickens running around sans heads.

There is apparently a fair amount of suspicion that Pakistan was knowingly protecting OBL from American forces. They're unhappy about the U.S. not including them in the planning of the raid, but it's unclear what (if anything) they're going to do about it. Or what we're going to do about them doing something about it...

As I mentioned before, President Obama and his entire staff made it clear he was the one responsible for making the call to go get him. What great leadership. Speaking of leadership, the mythical SEAL Team 6 (a legend in counter-terrorism circles) was not confirmed to be involved in the raid...until VP Joe Doofus Biden opened his big yap. Congratulations, America, we've got Captain Infant and his loyal sidekick Bozo the Clown running the country.

Then came the debate about whether or not the White House would release photos of OBL's dead body. They needed proof to show the world that we got him, but they're squeamish about showing such vivid details of our enemies for fear of reprisals. I would point out that when your enemies have sworn to see your death simply because you exist, it's hard to imagine them being any more angry at you just for showing a few pictures, but that's just me. Anyway, the White House vacillated back and forth for several days, and eventually decided not to release the photos. Ironically, they have no problem taking naked pictures of law-abiding American citizens with airport scanners, but they feel it's inappropriate to show America's Public Enemy #1 dead. Go figure. Anyway, eventually both OBL's daughter and Al Qaeda officially acknowledged OBL's death, putting the issue to bed. There is some speculation that OBL's final location was given up by his own deputy to help him take over the whole kit and kaboodle, but I suspect we'll only find out more about that as time goes on.

Al Qaeda is, of course, promising retribution of all kinds. Interestingly, OBL left a video encouraging his own children not to join Al Qaeda. Apparently the holy calling of jihad wasn't all it was made out to be. Or maybe it had something to do with living in squalor and fear for the past decade. Eh, whatever; if they feel the need to martyr themselves against American military might, then (in the words of good ol' Rummy) we'll oblige them.

I think the most interesting aspect of all this is how the enhanced interrogations conducted at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, those secret CIA prisons around the world, and operations in Iraq were critical in locating OBL. Even Obama's man admitted as much. Ooooh...you know liberals from Obama on down are having difficulty swallowing that one! Still, facts are facts, and if George W. Bush hadn't authorized and fought for those measures, OBL would still be alive today. My, how history has a way of thrashing liberals for their hypocrisy and stupid politically-correctness-driven policies (that's why they try to ignore history so much)! Regardless, it's a clear vindication of Bush's policies and actions, and an equally clear repudiation of the vehement opposition of those policies and actions by Obama and the Left...even if the liberal elites refuse to admit it.

One of the major long-term victories in this whole thing was the recovery of several computers and a huge cache of information. Treasure troves like this are what intelligence operatives love to see, and will hopefully prove incredibly useful in dismantling huge swaths of Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Taking out OBL is the PR victory; this data could be the real key to tearing apart one of America's deadliest enemies.

All of this begs the question: precisely how much credit should Barack Obama take? Well, let's back up and look at the big picture. Essentially everything that Obama has done on the basis of his own beliefs and world view -- the stimulus, Obamacare, foreign policy in general, deficit spending, etc. -- has demonstrably failed or is at the minimum directly opposed by most of the American people. On the other hand, everything he's done right -- mainly, this OBL thing, and continuing the fight against the War on Terror -- are an extension of policies implemented (at significant political cost) by George W. Bush. I think we can all do the math on that question.

Let's just hope Obama doesn't use this success as justification to wind down the war on terror at large. I suspect he'll do just that, but I really, really hope I'm wrong. There is no lack of danger when it comes to radical Islamic terrorists still alive and kicking, and we would be foolish to think anything otherwise. Time will tell, of course, whether or not Obama will push forward with his dangerous and reckless liberal policies on terrorism or continue many of the policies Bush implemented (and Obama fought against) that have landed America with this major victory. The questions involved are completely legitimate, and need to be answered.

Quite predictably, the Left is already gleefully announcing the results of the 2012 election based on this one event.

Of course, his poll numbers have gotten a temporary bump...but will that last through to the election? Don't count on it, says Rush Limbaugh:

See, I got a question real quickly for those of you who are a little worried (maybe, oh, paranoid) that the Osama Bin Laden kill operation will give Obama a bump in the polls. Ceremony question: Were Obama's poll numbers falling -- were they, in fact, in freefall -- because he had not gotten Osama? No. They were in freefall for purely domestic, primarily economic reasons. Have circumstances changed in that regard? No. ...

Now, get this. This is quite telling. Washington Post Pew poll out now that says Obama has had his approval for the way he handled terrorism boosted to an all-time high of 69%. Washington Post Pew poll, Obama, all-time high in approval of how he handles terrorism, 69%. ... Weirdly, though, on the economy, Obama still sits at 40% approval, a career low. How is that possible? It's because you can't put Osama Bin Laden's blood in your gas tank. It's because you can't take Osama Bin Laden's turban to Walmart and exchange it for a box of crispies. ... the point is we come together on issues we all agree on. But we are not unifying around liberalism here, folks. We are not unifying around Obama.

Every narcissist's dream is to have the world agree with them and adore them but that's not our dream here, that's not what this unity is all about. No, the American dream concerns our families, our life goals, jobs, homes, those that still have them, our disposable income, those that still have that, and the liberty, those that still have that. I mean there's really nothing to leverage here. The celebration over Osama's assassination isn't transferable to a domestic political agenda. But they're trying. You see, the American people know what to celebrate. We did that. We know what not to celebrate, too. And that's liberalism. We don't do that no matter how it's positioned. And asking us to set aside our principles as a means of showing unity is absurd. Transparently absurd, but that's what they're doing.

And in the meantime, while the media and the White House are trumpeting Obama's gutsiness and heroism in single-handedly taking out Osama bin Laden, the economy continues to tank. More on that coming soon...