By Jessica Hopper, Subrata De and Tim Uehlinger
Rock Center
President Barack Obama describes the killing of Osama bin Laden as the “most important single day” of his presidency and said that the decision to carry out the raid was one that he had to ultimately make alone.
“I did choose the risk,” the president said in an exclusive interview with Rock Center Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams. “The reason I was willing to make that decision of sending in our SEALs to try to capture or kill bin Laden rather than to take some other options was ultimately because I had 100 percent faith in the Navy SEALs themselves.”
A year after the May 1, 2011, raid on bin Laden’s compound, Obama and several of the advisers who helped plan the operation, known as “Operation Neptune’s Spear,” spoke exclusively to NBC News, reflecting on the tense months spent planning and debating the feasibility of this daring raid. The interviews occurred before the president made an unannounced visit to Kabul on Tuesday, where he and President Hamid Karzai signed an agreement on the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.
“This had to be such a close-held operation,” the president said. “There were only a handful of staff in the White House who knew about this.”
The president did not share news of the mission’s launch with his staff, or with the first lady.
“Even a breath of this in the press could have chased bin Laden away,” Obama said. “We didn't know at that point whether there might be underground tunnels coming out of that compound that would allow him to escape.”
The killing of the 9/11 mastermind had been years in the making, a mission that Obama’s two predecessors had been unable accomplish. President Bill Clinton fired 75 cruise missiles trying to kill bin Laden while President George W. Bush was frustrated by the al-Qaeda leader’s ability to evade capture.
The lead
After years of hunting bin Laden, the Central Intelligence Agency got its biggest break in late 2010.
Helmed by then CIA Director Leon Panetta, the agency identified the home of bin Laden’s courier in the upscale town of Abbottabad, not far from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. Satellites revealed someone else living at the same compound: a tall man walking in the courtyard that analysts dubbed “The Pacer.”
“Ultimately it was a 50/50 proposition as to whether this was actually bin Laden,” Obama said.
He and his advisers, including Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, hammered out the possibilities.
Clinton said that she was brought into the process in January 2011 when a series of intensive meetings began in the White House Situation Room, or “Sit Room.”
In March of 2011, the president ordered Admiral William McRaven, then commander of Joint Special Operations, to outline a possible raid on the suspected bin Laden compound.
“I remember the moment in the Sit Room with General McRaven,” Clinton said, “and, you know, someone said, ‘Well, this sounds really dangerous and we’re going to expose our guys and what do we know is going to happen?’ And he said, ‘Well, with all due respect, we’ve done this hundreds of times.’”
In fact, the night bin Laden was killed, Special Forces carried out several other missions in the region.
“What may not be known is in addition to this operation that night, this specific one, there were multiple operations just like this going on in Afghanistan,” said retired Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Some of them actually more difficult than the one that got bin Laden. And when I say more difficult, I don't think higher strategic risk, certainly not more important, but physically more difficult, more dangerous than the one that our great Special Forces executed.”
The dress rehearsal
The plan to raid the compound in Abbottabad developed rapidly and by April 21, 2011, Admiral Mullen attended a dress rehearsal in the Nevada desert.
“When I actually went to the rehearsal and watched it at night at a place where they built a compound just like Abbottabad and watched it in execution, that just gave me great confidence that they could execute this,” Mullen said.
He met every member of the SEAL Team Six that would ultimately carry out the mission.
“I got to look each of them in the eye. They showed me in their execution of rehearsal and also in that steely-eyed glare that they give you that they were ready to go,” Mullen said.
Some of the men weren’t yet aware who they were preparing to attack, but Mullen’s presence signaled that they were going after a high-value target.
“They knew certainly how critical this was. They knew who they were and who they were working with,” he said. “They may not even have known it was bin Laden at that point, but I'm sure they suspected it.”
One week later, it looked like weather conditions in Pakistan would be perfect for the raid — a moonless night with clear skies. If the raid didn’t happen that night, it could be months before weather conditions would be appropriate again for this high-risk operation.
Making the decision
Armed with the confidence that the Special Forces could carry out the mission, it was decision time. So on Thursday, April 28, 2011, the president gathered his advisers in the Situation Room, located below ground level in the White House.
“There was no consensus,” Biden said. “The president on the last day got us all down in the Situation Room and he said, ‘Okay, it’s basically a roll call.’”
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recommended an air strike with no forces on the ground. CIA Director Panetta supported a raid by Special Forces and so did Secretary of State Clinton. Vice President Biden wanted to wait on further proof that bin Laden was indeed in the compound.
“It was never contentious because I think everybody understood both the pros and cons of the action,” Obama said. “People who were advocating action understood that if this did not work, if we proved to be wrong, there would be severe geopolitical consequences and obviously most importantly, we might be putting our brave Navy SEALs in danger.”
During the meeting, the president never indicated which way he was leaning. After the discussion, he dismissed his team and said he’d have a decision in the morning. He had dinner with his family and then went to his study after his wife and daughters went to bed.
“Well, there is no doubt that you don't sleep as much that evening as you do on a normal night,” the president said. “I stayed up late and I woke up early.”
The next morning, in the Diplomatic Room of the White House, he told his national security advisers that the mission was a go.
“You have some serenity in knowing that you've made the best possible decision that you can and, you know, in that situation you just, you do some praying,” Obama said.
A trio of national security advisers – John Brennan, Tom Donilon and Denis McDonough – had prepared briefing points for the president, but it was clear his mind was made up.
“My recollection is that he said, ‘It’s a go, we’re going to do the assault. We’re going to do the raid. Complete the orders, let’s go,’” said Donilon.
Keeping the Secret
In order to not raise suspicions, the president and his advisers had to keep up their weekend plans.
Secretary Clinton said she faced an awkward question at a wedding for one of her daughter’s friends.
“It was so ironic,” she said. “All these smart young people who work in all kinds of enterprises, one of them came up and said, ‘Do you think we’ll ever get bin Laden?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I have no way of knowing, but I can tell you this, we’ll keep trying.’”
She also hid the raid from her husband.
“This was such an important secret to keep,” she said. “No one in the State Department knew. “I just felt a personal responsibility to keep it close, but that meant that I was basically, you know, having to consult with myself, to be honest.”
Moments after giving the go-ahead for the raid, the president and the first lady boarded Marine One on a trip to inspect tornado damage in Tuscaloosa, Ala. And on Saturday night – the evening before the raid – he attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and chuckled when a joke about bin Laden was made by comedian Seth Meyers.
“That was a little bit of acting going on there because my mind was elsewhere,” he said.
National Security Advisor Donilon said that when he left the White House Correspondents’ Dinner early, a reporter asked why he was leaving before the event concluded.
“I got this thing tomorrow,” Donilon said as offhandedly as he could.
The raid
On Sunday, May 1, 2011, the president’s advisers gathered in the Situation Room at around 11 a.m. Half a world away, the SEAL team waited for nightfall.
So as not to arouse suspicion that a major gathering was under way in the West Wing, the team ordered pizza from several different places and also sent someone to Costco to get food.
The president played nine holes of golf at Andrews Air Force Base before heading to the Situation Room at around 2 p.m.
“It is one of those rare moments when you know that the man you’re watching is putting everything on the line,” Biden said. “Everything on the line. Not only risking the lives of these incredible, incredible warriors, but also knowing that if he’s wrong about this man, he’s going to pay a very, very high price for it.”
At around 2:30 p.m., word arrived that the first wave of helicopters had left Jalalabad, Afghanistan, for Abbottabad with Navy SEALs, a Pakistani-American translator and a service dog named Cairo. At the president’s request, two Chinook helicopters stayed close by with additional SEALs as backup.
“They were accustomed to operating in the dark,” Obama said. “They were accustomed to landing in the compounds where they weren’t sure what was behind closed doors. These guys were all trained to do that.”
“A lot of them had as much gray hair as you and me and, you know, if you had passed them on the street, you might have – and if they were in civilian clothes – you might have thought they were accountants or doctors or, you know, worked at Home Depot.”
After the mission started, the CIA provided audio and video of the raid in real time in a smaller room next to the Situation Room. The atmosphere, said Admiral Mullen, was tense.
Soon, the president and his advisers began crowding into the room where the video was being played, which was never meant to hold as many people as it did that day. Brigadier General Marshall “Brad” Webb was receiving and interpreting information from the mission. Never expecting Obama to come in the room, he was sitting in the chair intended for the president.
“He started to get up and people were starting to go through the protocol and figuring out how to rearrange things,” the president said. “I said, ‘You don’t worry about it. You just focus on what you’re doing. I’m sure we can find a chair and I’ll sit right next to him.’ And that’s how I ended up (on a) folding chair.”
The group watched the hazy, but intelligible images and gasped when the first helicopter’s rotor stopped turning and it suddenly dropped, crashing over a stone wall.
“That helicopter didn’t make it to the right spot and everyone went, like, ‘Whoa,’” Biden said.
Obama remembers seeing the Secretary of State cover her mouth with her hand.
“It was just the shock of the moment,” Clinton said. “It was, I mean, all of us sitting there, and I would even predict probably our military and defense colleagues, you know, for a minute were kind of holding that breath again.”
The mishap was blamed on a bad downdraft and unusually warm temperatures, which can affect lift and maneuverability. The president called it a “touch and go moment.”
“The only thing that I was thinking about throughout this entire enterprise was, ‘I really want to get those guys back home safe,’” he added. “I want to make sure that the decision I’ve made has not resulted in them putting their lives at risk in vain, and if I got that part of it right, if I could look myself in the mirror and say as commander in chief I made a good call.”
Back inside the Situation Room, the loss of a helicopter didn’t make any difference in Admiral McRaven's monotone play-by-play voice, beamed in from Afghanistan.
“Did not miss a beat. He is a cool customer,” said Obama.
Clinton recalled watching the SEALs leave the helicopters.
“We could see our guys moving,” she said. “It was an intense experience for all of us because it was real time, visually, until we lost the visual connection inside the building.”
The SEALs had moved inside the compound with their body armor, weapons and night vision.
“At this point, I think all of us understand that we’re a long way to go before the night is done,” Obama said. “And, you know, I’ve said this was the longest 40 minutes of my life.”
As the SEALs moved inside, the national security team listened for “Geronimo,” the code name for bin Laden.
“We knew that was the call sign and when we heard that, they felt they had identified Geronimo, that was the first moment, and then Geronimo KIA,” the president said.
Several members of the president’s national security team told NBC News that there were provisions in place to take bin Laden alive.
“But we also understood that it was not likely that he was going to be giving himself up in that way,” Obama said, “and that there was a strong possibility that he would end up being killed if in fact he was in the compound.”
Along with precision and planning, prayer played a role for some of the president’s closest advisers. Vice President Biden and Admiral Mullen both nervously spun rosary rings on their fingers as they received word that the body of the man they believed was bin Laden had been put on a helicopter with U.S. forces.
“We knew the mission had been successful in that bin Laden was on board, but then it was an hour flight back,” Biden said.
Biden had begun to put his rosary away when he felt a tap on his shoulder from Mullen.
“I leaned down," Mullen explained. "I said, ‘Mr. Vice President, not yet. Keep it going because as important as killing, capturing or killing bin Laden was, it was more important to get him out.’ And so we were a long way, even as we got bin Laden, his body in that helicopter, we were a long way from completing that mission at that point.”
The death photo
When the SEAL team made it safely back to Afghanistan, photos were transmitted to the president and his team to offer photographic proof that bin Laden was dead.
When asked about seeing the picture of bin Laden, who had been shot in the head, the president took a long pause.
“I think it’s wrong to say that I did a high five,” he said, “because you have a picture of a dead body and, you know, there’s I think regardless of who it is, you always have to be sober about death. But understanding the satisfaction for the American people, what it would mean for 9/11 families, what it would mean for the children of folks who died in the Twin Towers who never got to know their parents, I think there was a deep-seated satisfaction for the country at that moment.”
Secretary Clinton believes strongly that the president was right not to release the photos.
“I looked at them,” she said. “Obviously, (it's) never easy to see any dead body, but it was part of the job. I think we made the right decision not to sensationalize this, not to desecrate it, so to speak. His body was flown to a Navy ship. It was given a proper Islamic burial at sea and I think that we handled it exactly right.”
After the president and his team felt confident that bin Laden was indeed dead, they began calling Cabinet members, Congressional leaders and foreign heads of state.
The president called Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
“I think it was an important symbol of who we are as a people,” he said of the calls. “We get into these partisan fights, administrations come and go, but there’s a certain continuity about who we are and what we care about and what our values are.”
For Mullen, one of the most important calls placed was to his Pakistani military counterpart about the crashed helicopter.
When the first pictures of the wreckage emerged hours later, aviation websites went wild. The crashed chopper appeared to be proof of a stealth version of the Blackhawk that the United States had been rumored to be developing for years. Its noise-reducing technology and unique fin had been designed for near silent, invisible operation. In coming days, neighborhood children picked through pieces of what had been among the military's best kept secrets.
“I called General [Ashfaq Parvez] Kayani in Pakistan,” Mullen said. “I felt obligated to let him know what had happened … and then part of that conversation was about the helicopter and I said, ‘We need that back.’”
As more calls were made, the news began to leak, spread at lightning speed by the Internet. The president and his advisers, however, were unaware that throngs of young people were pouring into Lafayette Park to cheer outside the White House.
“The thing that surprised me that night and I don’t think we had planned for was the public reaction,” Donilon said. “We walked out and we could hear the noise and I remember very clearly turning to whoever was walking next to me saying, ‘What is that?’”
Secretary Clinton described it as an “astonishing moment.”
“We could hear this roar. We had no idea what it was,” she said. “Then all of a sudden we were able to decipher, 'U.S.A., U.S.A.'”
Telling his family
Before the president heard the cheering crowds and addressed the nation, he checked in with the first lady.
“She’s at dinner," he said. "I let her know, you know, that I’m probably going to miss dinner because I’ve got a few other things going on tonight. It turns out we had a fairly important thing to announce.”
He recalled telling his daughters that bin Laden was dead.
“Malia and Sasha, I think, were too young to fully absorb 9/11. On the other hand, they’ve grown like all our children have grown up in the shadow of 9/11 and terrorism and understood who Osama bin Laden was.”
The president said that the full impact of the mission hit him a few days later when he met the SEALs who had carried out the operation. He said that he gave the pilot of the helicopter that crashed a “pretty good hug.”
“They presented me with the flag that had gone on that mission, signed by all of them on the back and I think it’s fair to say that will probably be the most important possession that I leave with from this presidency,” he said.
Leave a Comment:
well a few dummys here the President sent our men over to kill ole Bin they didnt go on their own..An I'm sure the tower ppl are happy to have some justice!! I know I would.You complainers should be happy u didnt lose anyone in the towers or our firemen,,Get your head out of ur a$$Thank you Mr President,justice was served !!!
Next thing you know,Obama will strut around in a phony flight suit trumpeting "Mission Accomplished" No Republican would do such a thing--Right??
It would not surprise me if Obama's standing in from of the military vehicle in Afghanistan, was photo shopped. Anytime one lies, it reminds me of Obama's promise of an open administration. He was actually in Bahrain playing golf with Tiger. This man is a liar in chief.
I assume that NBC wanted to George W. Bush the same one-hour look back a year after they caught Saddam, but that just never happened, did it?
I can't believe how our American mainstream media can't ask some difficult questions about the Bin Laden killing, such as:
1. Why did Obama take nearly a year to make the decision to go after Bin Laden, when they were nearly certain early on that this was the target we were after? Any indecision there, Mr. President?
2. Why the rush to announce to the world about this killing? We had a top-secret helicopter that had crashed that we might have been able to recover if Obama had waited just a little while. And what about all our human assets on the ground that were in danger because we have a president who rushes to tell the world what we'd done?
3. Why were there so many versions of the story about what happened during the raid? Did it take that long for the Administration to settle on a version they could live with?
4. Saddam was capture alive. Why couldn't Bin Laden been taken alive too? I have my doubts that he engaged in any kind of gunfire with our Seals.
5. Did aides really have to pull Obama off the golf course for the purpose of having him in the Situation Room just in time for "the photo"? We have a president that is that engaged that this is the typical way he spends his days?
Finally, what is the reason that NBC and the rest of the liberal media can't spend only a few minutes addressing any of these issues/questions when they can spend more than an hour (when counting all the promo time on Nightly News) on this victory lap? And how many more of these pro-Obama info-mercials are we going to have to endure during the next six months, Brian???
Do you need your food to be chewed for you too?
1. They did not trace Bin Laden they only traced a man tho was THOUGHT to be one of his couriers. Have you seen the house? There was never a clear view inside and you should have some idea what kind of consequences will follow if you raid the wrong house. There was fake vaccination to get a DNA, there was a lot of watching, training and rehearsing. They even built a copy of that compound! Do you think it takes one day to plan something like this?? Don't be ridiculous... Then the weather conditions, Pakistani air traffic (yes they had to watch patterns of their air traffic) then moonless night doesn't happen every day. Still not getting it?
2. For Obama's presidency there would be NO difference had he announced it one, 2 or even 5 days later. Secret helicopter images were in the press just hours later because if you can remember it was still in Pakistan. What are you supposed to do, deny the raid to feed guys like you who will then scream that it never happened? If you heard somewhere that the SEALs were upset that Obama announced the raid then you should ask one single question: Who and how got this information from SEALs if their names are kept secret?
3. There are few versions of the raid, however there are no significant variations. When several people do that kind of intense operation some misunderstanding is possible, as people never transmit information clear enough for other people to understand the way it was meant. You do realize that it was very intense action, perhaps happening faster than you can explain what is being done. And number two: we will never know how exactly it was done as I can imagine the tactics are kept secret so that no enemy will ever know how they did it. Simply to prevent any potential enemy from being prepared/trained to escape or resist similar raid. Still not getting??
4. Saddam was captured alive because he GAVE HIMSELF UP. He shouted "don't shoot" and his name and then came out his hole. Plus the troops that were hunting Saddam didn't cross any borders, it happened in Iraq and they had time to scoop him up. With Bin Laden there was no time to dance around him. They had to get out of Pakistan ASAP, every second counts. In addition how much intelligence did you gather from SADDAM?? Dead Bin Laden is surely better than alive one! No hostages taken to trade them for Bin Laden, they just had to accept the fact and he is completely erased from this Earth.
5. Who told you that aides had to pull Obama from the golf course? This story is completely made up. Have you heard it from Obama's aides or just read it somewhere without checking the source? Learn to separate flies and steaks. Eat the steaks, but not the flies. In other words trust only credible sources.
And finally why does MSNBC need to waste time to chew it up for you if it should be easy to understand for any average person? Call it what you want, victor lap or not it doesn't matter. To me it was significant enough to be interested to know how it went, and to mark this day in history!
I wish I could contribute to the partisan bickering, but I can't. I am very proud of the deliberate and thoughtful manner in which the President and his advisors approached this challenge.
This moment was for all Americans , not just democrats of the new '' lincoln party '' !!!!!!!
Chamberlain was deliberate and thoughtful, also.
WE ARE BETTER OFF !!!!! ; no more crawling around in the desert for BUSH'S WMD lies. we are better off then we were doing the BANKRUPT AMERICA '' BUSH '' YEARS. we are better off , and more happy as a people with hope for equality, in a selfesh republican conservative tea party cry baby country. we are better off , because we don't believe in stealing from struggling americans , to give to the lavish living 1%ers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA , & OUR '' USAMA BIN LADEN '' CAPTURER AND CHIEF !!!!!!!!!
OBAMA GOT USAMA , OBAMA GOT USAMA , SING IT NOW , OBAMA GOT USAMA !!!! ; come on republicans , you don't have to be soooooo jealous !!!!!!!!
I,I,I,I, they, I, I, got Osama. Give me, me, me a medal for heroism, after I rushed off the golf course.
hahahahahah way to go Dasvet. I bet he stop singing hahahahah.
ISN'T IT GREAT TO SING THE NEWS ????? ; now go home and spread the good news !!!!!!!
HEY RUSH , HANNIDY , REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE CRY BABIES !!!!!!!!! ; '' bad news here kiddos '', now you've got to go back to digging for republican '' good news '' , L O L !!!!!!!!!! and don't even try putting bishop moroni , '' the closet polygamist '' , on a pedestal , cause the world ain't bittin.
WHY SOOOOOOOO JEALOUS REPUBLICANS ?????? ; i mean , even ya'll should appreciate the fact that we are not wondering in those WMD DESERTS ANYMORE !!!!!!!
Mr. Romney's comment about President Carter was mindless. A person who wants to be President should be above that sort of thing. Mr. Romney is empty. '' SO ARE HIS PROMISES OF A BETTER TRICKLED DOWN ECONOMIC SOCIETY '' !!!!!!!!!!
Willard is an ass - to attack Carter - I remember working in New York when the peace accord was between Egypt and Israel was struck - the Empire State Building had their lights one side Israeli - Blue and White - and the other side Egypt - I believe Black and Yellow
I could go on - but Willard lives in a bubble and thinks he can attack a weakling - not Carter - he got screwd by Bush SR - CIA -Casey - who mysteriously didn't live to tell the tale and the Republicans - to hold the hostages until after the elections
Hey little boys and girls I believe you forgot about Iran-Contra - and Ollie North lieing his ass off - and all of a sudden got pardoned and bought a multimillion property in Virginia on a Colonel's pay - PS - I lived down the road from him it was the original Summer Russian Embassy and my friend whose husband was an oil lobbyist with a helicopter pad on the front lawn owned this magnificent structure - pool room had carvings from the Glack Forest and a ballroom you could drive your car around in - get my point? On a Colonel's pay?
I was in Vienna - running back to my hotel to view these hearings - and Saint Ronnie was in the middle of his Alzhiemers throes and the Republicans covered his butt
So you don't think Carter got screwed?
I'm glad to see every right wing Republican speak his mind. In many instances it shows how little mind he has. The zealots are so off-the-wall on today's topic that no one -- not even centrist or moderate Republicans -- can believe them.
But the centrist Republicans won't speak up. Why? Is it because they're gutless? Why do they allow such propaganda from their own party to go unanswered when they know that it damages their cause? Is it because they are poltroons, as Rush Limbaugh once called them, afraid to rock any boat, especially if it's theirs? Don't mistake me, there are plenty of gutless Democrats as well; a lot of them are in congress; none, though, in the White house; The White House guys are tough, and they don't whine!
Hatefull views from either side are sick and counterproductive: counterproductive because most reasonable people see the hatred for what it is and are repulsed by it; sick because it consumes the soul and blinds the perpertrator to the truth.
There are self-righteous zealots on both sides of the liberal-conservative axis, but by far, most of them are on the right these days, and the most extreme of them, some of whose posts I've read on on this site, are laying the groundwork for violence. The more we hear from them, the better we are prepared to keep them far, far away from power.
"Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause."
Actually the most important day in this fraud's life in the Oval Office will be when the chopper hauls his ass and that of his wide beamed pal out of DC.
That is the most important day ever !
Dream on.
Obama will crush Mit Rawmoney in 2012!!!
Do NOT bet your house on it, crushy. I take that back, PLEASE bet your house on Obama's re-election.
Actually "Liitle" Josh Brogan - something that was not revealed in Brian Williams report was that "OUR PRESIDENT" demanded that extra Chinooks be deployed as back-up
Peter Bergen's new book just out (Look up Peter Bergen)
And you don't think and I know you will hate this but - "OUR PRESIDENT HAD ALL BASES COVERED"
And Josh never refer to our President in your disrepectful terms in print - think them if you want but STFU! Comprendo?
Ever wonder what the military really thinks of the Pretender in Chief - unfortunately they can't speak out until they are out from under his control.
The only hard part of the decision for Obama was would it benefit him politically?
That's what it sounds like that it was a political decision.
I heard Obama speak on this at lunch and he stated that he knew if the mission failed he was dead politically and he put aside politics and made the call.
Bush wore a flight suit!!!!!!!!!!
Redumbicans can't make money with them can't bury them in the backyard.
I can not believe Obama would ever "put aside politics" and I would expect him to be the last person to ever do that.
If I had been a CIA person or navy seal involved in this and could see Obama trying to take credit for this, I would be appalled right now.
Obama, also, said if after three years of his administration, he would be dead, politically, if he did not half the national debt.
"crushedu"
His Stupid ad ALSO said, if the Seals had been captured or KILLED....it would be bad for HIM!
What a selfish ba@tard!
BBBBBBBWWAAAAAHHHHHHH Obama go Osama BWWWWWWAAAAAHHHHH.
Bush did not want to get OBL as his profits would go down. Romney will only think about his and his cronies bank accounts! Wake up and take the tin foil hat off already maynard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
crushedu - You got that right - Bush/Cheney wanted a boogey man with Osama dead how could they scare the public after all there was another election
Do you remember how all of a sudden we would get another message from Osama
Be afraid - be very afraid!
The Republicans modus operandi - Willie Horton - Mushroom Clouds - only the Republicans can protect you!
Well they didn't - 911 - Where were the Republicans protecting us?
Give me a break! He acts like this event SAVED the WORLD.......he has NO idea what our LEADERS went through at the end of World War 2 when the Normandy attack was being planned!!!!!
Just give the Navy Seals credit and shut the h@ll up!
*The worst 40 min. of his Life*.......WRONG...the worst 3 yrs or OUR Life!
Party, Travel, Basketball, Golf, the KING & his Queen are having a Blast on OUR Dollar!!!!
What a Hollywood Jerk!
And your commander in thief did differently? Bush was a MORON!. He was a standin controlled by Halliburton. Wake up and if you are stupid enough to think that OBL is still alive. Take the pointy hat off, then the tin foil hat and the tires of the house Maynard!!!!!!!
Thank you, Patty. My sentiments exactly. I counted the I's in his speech in front of the pictures of military equipment.
Dennis Miller cracked me up......he said that the "usual staged" speech with the Military vehicles in Afghanistan looked like The Price is Right......want a Humvee or a Tank or whatever?
FAKE doctors behind him in White coats when he signed obamacare...FAKE Union Firemen & Policemen behind him in the Rose Garden......PIPES behind him in Oklahoma when he took credit for the Pipeline to Texas (which he had NOTHING to do with)......Solar Panels behind him when he BRAGGED about the bullsh@t Solar companies that WE lost millions......it is Never ending!!!!
He needs to be in Hollywood and will probably get an "unearned" Grammy for his Al Green song.....just like he got an "Unearned" Nobel Peace Award!!!!
We are in BIG trouble if this Stud remains President!
Fake flight suit on the deck of an aircraft carrier! LMAO
HEY RUSH , HANNIDY , REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE CRY BABIES !!!!!!!!! ; '' bad news here kiddos '', now you've got to go back to digging for republican '' good news '' , L O L !!!!!!!!!! and don't even try putting bishop moroni , '' the closet polygamist '' , on a pedestal , cause the world ain't bittin.
Pay attention: The President is not gloating. He put all his chips on the table; his presidency, his career, his legacy. Someone had to make the decision. He made it. If he wants to take a bow, he damned well has the right.
Thank you, Mr. President. You, sir, are a bad-ass.
Karl A. Krogmann, a proud Democrat
One of the very best news stories I have been privileged to watch. Expertly done.
Those of you who criticize President Obama for talking about taking out some Al Qaeda leaders would be peeing in your pants if your boy Bush had done the same thing. I am sure you guys got a real vicarious thrill when he landed on the aircraft carrier in a jet wearing a flight suit and looking like he had a football stuffed down his pants. "Mission Accomplished" my butt. If the mission to take out Bin Laden had failed, you guys would still be gloating because you do not want him to succeed - in anything. Some patriots you are.
NewsBusters: NBC's Williams In Awe of Obama's 'Even Keel' During Bin Laden Killing
RJ -- Sorry to say the only joke is you
Maybe you should read Draper's book when your beloved party gave you up for the wolves just to get back in power
You mean nothing to them - they could really care less about you - it's all about their puppet masters - and you are a zero as long as they get theirs \
Keep thinking one day you will rule the world - ain't going to happem
Kudos to;
President Obama
For taking time away from his golf game to throw on his robe an crown in the situation room long enough to say "yes we can" kill OBL that was a year ago.
and were just getting around to dancing in the end zone this year "let's get elected" linebacker pat on the rump from his team YEA! let us move past this score and put the lives of americans ahead of partisan bovine excrement.
Get ready American’s
If you can UN-embed yourself from your ostrich syndrome long enough to position yourselves for the coming inevitable economic boom. Be it more specific interrelated education & or skill-set training relating to the domestic energy industry jobs that Will be available. Specifically Oil & natural gas production, transportation, distribution. Secondly electric energy i.e. wind, hydroelectric, nuclear & coal. This is the will of many millions of Americans and it Will Come to fruition. Christmas time 2012 will be good, 2013 will be excellent ! Resistance is Futile,----> 4ward
Thirty million directly related &100 million indirect support jobs over the next 10 to 15 years in this country alone. This being a conservative estimate...
YEA! WE CAN ALL GO TO WORK TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY.
If You are Happy or not, I'm with Happy!
vote nov
Tired of all these Right -Wing robots criticizing Obama for this Bin Laden thing. Why shouldn't he take some credit.He made a ballsy call, and no Romney would not even stand up to Rush, much less terrorist. Coward. Fired the gay dude ,Coward.Where were these empty suits when Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and said MISSION ACCOMPLISHED and then over 3,000 more soldiers die. At least the US had killed the bastard, Bush said this and we had not won a damn thing, Cowards can't even stand up to the Tea Party, and they don't shoot nothing but their mouths, what are the going to do with terrorist.
Enought of bin laden ive heard that name enought in last few days to make you sick,I'll be glad when election time is over and we have someone that knows leadership and not borrowing to pay out of debt.