Bin Laden is Dead: Some Thoughts and Some Praise

The thoughts first:

Osama bin Laden is dead. He was killed by a bullet through the left eye, a bullet fired by an American warrior. The deed was done in the middle of a moonless night, on the top floor of his impregnable fortress, by American warriors who dared to violate the airspace of a sovereign nation, at tremendous personal risk, to hunt down and eliminate the enemy of the United States and of the entire free world.

It was a simple and swift end to the life of the first monster of the twenty-first century. It is altogether fitting to compare bin Laden to Adolf Hitler, the worst monster of the twentieth century. Because of his monstrous deeds, Hitler is famous, but not revered or glorified (except by kooks and hatemongers). The civilized world has put safeguards in place to ensure that nobody like Hitler will ever rise again. Likewise, not too many years from now, the civilized world will adopt measures to protect itself from any future Osama bin Ladens.

The official word is that bin Laden's body was buried at sea, partly because no country would accept it for burial within the prescribed 24 hours, and partly to keep anybody from turning his burial place into a shrine. We have no reason to doubt this story. Personally, I was hoping that they would capture him alive, and that he would accidentally fall out of the back of a C-130 flying a few thousand feet over the Indian Ocean, halfway to Diego Garcia. However it happened, normally a burial at sea is accompanied by a bugle tattoo or a ship's whistle, and salutes from the assembled crew, the last honors to a fallen warrior. Let us hope that the last command given, as the board tilted and the body slid down, was not "Present arms" but "About face".

Now, for the praise:

First, to President Obama, for managing and executing this operation in the right way. One MSNBC article outlined Obama's agendas on the five days he met secretly with the NSC to discuss the operation. You gotta give the guy credit for playing a fantastic game of poker. Even going golfing on Sunday, the day the operation was carried out, was a great ruse -- other presidents would have spent the day holed up in the Situation Room. You also have to give him credit for knowing enough not to meddle in the details. He let the warriors run the war.

Obama did not wring his hands or agonize over the moral or political implications of what he was doing. His objective was clear: to kill bin Laden, not to capture him. His tactics were clear: don't tell anybody about it until it's done. We do this on our own. Get in, do it, and get out, and woe to anybody who gets in the way.

Second, to Leon Panetta, director of the CIA. I blasted Panetta's nomination in an earlier blog entry, lamenting the fact that he had no experience that qualified him to run the CIA. Panetta had oversight over the whole operation, from the day in August 2010 when they got a lead on bin Laden's confidential courier, to the final wrap-up of the operation on Sunday night. This included daily meetings on it for a couple of months, weighing all the options and guiding a herd of analysts, agents, experts, politicians, and military assets -- and talking Congress into giving him the money needed to make it all happen, without letting the secret out. Panetta did all right.

This was also Panetta's final act as DCI. He's now slated to replace Robert M. Gates, who is retiring as Secretary of Defense, while General David Petraeus has been nominated to take Panetta's CIA seat. I look forward to be proven wrong about Panetta a second time.

Third, to President George W. Bush. Let's give credit where it's due. Bush guided the nation through a difficult time, a crisis which may well define the entire century, and laid down the challenge to the world which culminated in bin Laden's demise. He said: "We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." Obama was successful because of the foundation Bush built.

I commented in an earlier blog about President-elect Obama's graciousness extended to Bush. In a twist on protocol, the newly inaugurated President (and Mrs.) Obama had escorted the outgoing President (and Mrs.) Bush from the dais where the inauguration had taken place, through the Capitol Building and down the front steps, where a Marine helicopter, one of the presidential fleet, was waiting to take the Bushes on one last trip to Andrews AFB, thence to take one last flight home on Air Force One. I think that was a presidential first.

Obama showed that same gracious character this time. After the operation wrapped up but before he told anyone else about it, including the nation, the president phoned Mr. Bush and told him about the operation in great detail. They had a deep and substantial conversation. After Obama's press conference, Bush issued his own congratulatory statement to the press.

Fourth, to the small group who planned the whole thing, headed (or at least organized) by Vice Admiral William McRaven. Once again, he kept the whole thing secret but, like Panetta and Obama, made it his top priority for months. He chose a good team and gave them everything they needed to be successful.

Fifth, the brave warriors that comprised the assault force. Most of this is Navy SEAL Team Six, also known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or "DEVGRU". They didn't do it for praise or glory. They are motivated by, um, shall we say, nobler ambitions. Only a true warrior can understand that. Even I don't, although I've been honored to get glimpses into it.

These warriors put their lives on the line in a big way to make this happen. They didn't hide behind women, using them as shields, as bin Laden and his cohorts did.

SEALs aren't brainless, testosterone-fueled, killing machines. They are highly intelligent, educated, trained, motivated, moral, passionate, humble, confident, and a bunch of other adjectives that never made it into the Boy Scout Law. If all men had the heart of a Navy SEAL, ... well, the world would be a much better place.

And finally, there's everybody behind the scenes:
The analysts who sifted through mountains of data, put it all together into a coherent story, and kept everybody informed and updated.
The field agents and other covert personnel, on the ground in Pakistan.
The elected members of Congress, who supported the operation and kept the secret.
The staffers and bureaucrats in the White House and in the military, who did all the grunt work or enabled others to do the grunt work, and kept the secret.
The military and CIA personnel who stood in support teams in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Indian Ocean, Germany and all the other critical locations, whose quiet contributions enabled the SEALs to get from Point A to Point B and back again.

Did Barack Obama sell his soul for the presidency?

After Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election in November, he immediately and prudently set about naming members of his cabinet and his White House staff. I say "prudently," because this nation runs a lot better when there's a smooth transition between one president and the next.

However, his nominations betrayed both his promises for change and the trust the American voters had placed in him by voting for him. We watched in dismay as he repeatedly named former members of Bill Clinton's White House and Hilary Clinton's campaign organization.

Our dismay was especially sharp when news leaked out that Hilary Clinton herself was going to be nominated for Secretary of State, and our dismay turned really sour when it was revealed that the leak had originated not from Obama's organization, but from Clinton's organization. Obama barely had time to verbally acknowledge the truth of the leak before Clinton's own people began issuing more press releases about the upcoming appointment.

Clinton's qualifications for SecState? Wife of a former governor of Arkansas, wife of a former (and disgraced) president of the United States, and junior senator from New York. Zero foreign-policy experience.

The latest in the parade of Clintonist appointments was Leon Panetta as director of the CIA. Panetta has no experience in the intelligence community, and no qualifications to lead the CIA. The best thing Obama or his people could say about Panetta is that Panetta is a good administrator. His qualifications: 16 years as a congressman from California; director of the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy at a university he co-founded; director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff.

Let me say that last one again, with a twist. The biggest thing that qualified Leon Panetta for his CIA role was that he was chief of staff in Bill Clinton's White House. That was enough to elevate him above all of the other potential nominees with years of intelligence agency experience, with heroic service records, or with useful intelligence contacts in other countries.

Wasn't Obama the guy who campaigned against "Washington insiders" and the "Same Old Way" of doing things in Washington? And where's the "change" Obama and his supporters have been crowing about for a year and a half? I see no "change." These people have been waiting in the wings for eight years for a chance to get their old jobs back: they're "insiders," and the promised "change" is just an eight-year deferred "same old way."

When you look back at the campaign, some seemingly innnocuous events from the campaign start to make sense. Remember the long, private discussions that Obama had with Hilary Clinton, just before the convention -- and, if I recall correctly, between the convention and the election? Remember the vicious remarks Bill Clinton was making about Obama, right up until the moment Obama won the nomination at the convention, and the conciliatory and supportive
remarks Bill made after the nomination? Clinton always was good at changing his tune in a hurry, depending on the needs of the moment.

I think that Bill and Hilary promised to give up the fight, and to throw their support behind Obama, in exchange for something. And that "something" was power - power in the executive branch, and power in the White House itself. I think that the Clintons have always been ruthless and power-hungry, and that Democratic voters were afraid of their naked lust for power, which is why they voted overwhelmingly for Obama in the primaries.

I think that the Clintons threatened to fight his nomination, unless Obama promised them power - LOTS of power - in his new administration. When he agreed to their terms, they channeled their power into getting him elected. And now that he's elected, the Clintons have more power in the White House than Obama does.

Summary:
1. Obama sold his soul to the Clintons in order to gain the presidency, just as surely as Dr. Faust sold his soul to Mephistopheles for what he wanted most. And, like Mephistopheles and Faust, the Clintons are going to make sure he pays.
2. Democratic voters thought they were keeping the Clintons out of the White House, and boy, were they fooled.
3. If you don't agree with me, just wait four years. Elected or not, the Clintons will be running the country. You'll see.