Obama had no balls after all.

[JohnnyReb]

Thank God Leon had some balls. They kept the mushroom in the dark until it was to late.

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2011/05/did-leon-panett.html#comments 



May 5, 2011
Did Leon Panetta Send Order to Take Out Osama Rather Than Obama?
Posted by Van Helsing at May 5, 2011 10:11 AM

Gutsy? Please. A White House insider offers a peek behind the scenes regarding the no-brainer decision to take out bin Laden:

President Obama was, in this case, as in all others, working as an absentee president. … [T]here 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. … Every time military and intelligence officials appeared to make progress in [getting Obama to take] a position, Jarrett would intervene and the stalling would begin again.[/color]Once again Chairman Zero was voting "present" — present in a Chauncey Gardiner sense, that is.

CIA Chief Leon Panetta took initiative to make something happen before bin Laden could escape.

Panetta indicated to Obama that leaks regarding knowledge of Osama Bin Laden's location were certain to get out sooner rather than later, and action must be taken by the administration or the public backlash to the president's inaction would be "…significant to the point of political debilitation." It was at that time that Obama stated an on-ground campaign would be far more acceptable to him than a bombing raid. This was intended as a stalling tactic, and it had originated from Jarrett. Such a campaign would take both time, and present a far greater risk of failure. The president had been instructed by Jarrett to inform Mr. Panetta that he would have sole discretion to act against the Osama Bin Laden compound. Jarrett believed this would further delay Panetta from acting, as the responsibility for failure would then fall almost entirely on him. What Valerie Jarrett, and the president, did not know is that Leon Panetta had already initiated a program that reported to him — and only him, involving a covert on the ground attack against the compound. Basically, the whole damn operation was already ready to go — including the specific team support Intel necessary to engage the enemy within hours of being given notice. Panetta then made plans to proceed with an on-ground assault. This information reached either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates first (likely via military contacts directly associated with the impending mission) who then informed the other. Those two then met with Panetta, who informed each of them he had been given the authority by the president to proceed with a mission if the opportunity presented itself. Both Gates and Clinton warned Panetta of the implications of that authority — namely he was possibly being made into a scapegoat. Panetta admitted that possibility, but felt the opportunity to get Bin Laden outweighed that risk.

[Eupher]

Read a similar article on SocyBerty. It goes into quite a bit of depth:

SobyBerty

[Thor]

I'm wondering that Leon Panetta made the decision in case of what has been alleged follows through?? It's been said that 0bama violated the Constitution by taking out Bin Laden instead of capturing him. With this in mind, Leon Panetta would become the fall guy and leave 0bama with a clean slate.

[DefiantSix]

Panetta then made plans to proceed with an on-ground assault. This information reached either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates first (likely via military contacts directly associated with the impending mission) who then informed the other. Those two then met with Panetta, who informed each of them he had been given the authority by the president to proceed with a mission if the opportunity presented itself. Both Gates and Clinton warned Panetta of the implications of that authority — namely he was possibly being made into a scapegoat. Panetta admitted that possibility, but felt the opportunity to get Bin Laden outweighed that risk.

It's possible that I may retract this at a later date, but it may be that my harsh critique of Leon Panetta and whatever abilities he may or may not have brought with him when he stepped into the DCIA's office could have been overly pessimistic and premature.

[Eupher]

It's possible that I may retract this at a later date, but it may be that my harsh critique of Leon Panetta and whatever abilities he may or may not have brought with him when he stepped into the DCIA's office could have been overly pessimistic and premature.

I was thinking the same thing.

According to the SobyBerty article, Panetta and Hillary both were pushing Barry into making a ****ing decision, which he'd almost make.

Then Valerie Jarrett would step in and poo-poo everything, then Barry would go back into his empty suit again.

Now, Hillary is - according to her own statements - pretty much done in her career. She has not much to lose, politically, if a call she makes goes south. Panetta - maybe about the same. Neither is a spring chicken any more, and Panetta has gained a fair amount of weight lately from his Clintonista days.

So I'm thinking they both said, "**** this Obama shit -- I'll make the call, set up the Spec Ops operation, and prime the pump. If Barry stonewalls any more, we'll rock and roll and let's see what happens."

Then when you look at the Situation Room photo with Hillary looking truly frightened (the eyes give it away, Hillary -- don't hand us that bullshit that it's your freakin' allergies, for God's sake), you can see what was at stake.

Hillary's got a pair of balls. That much is clear.

But now Panetta looks as though he's got a pair too.

Barry? Not so much.  

[IassaFTots]

I was thinking the same thing.

According to the SobyBerty article, Panetta and Hillary both were pushing Barry into making a ****ing decision, which he'd almost make.

Then Valerie Jarrett would step in and poo-poo everything, then Barry would go back into his empty suit again.

Now, Hillary is - according to her own statements - pretty much done in her career. She has not much to lose, politically, if a call she makes goes south. Panetta - maybe about the same. Neither is a spring chicken any more, and Panetta has gained a fair amount of weight lately from his Clintonista days.

So I'm thinking they both said, "**** this Obama shit -- I'll make the call, set up the Spec Ops operation, and prime the pump. If Barry stonewalls any more, we'll rock and roll and let's see what happens."

Then when you look at the Situation Room photo with Hillary looking truly frightened (the eyes give it away, Hillary -- don't hand us that bullshit that it's your freakin' allergies, for God's sake), you can see what was at stake.

Hillary's got a pair of balls. That much is clear.

But now Panetta looks as though he's got a pair too.

Barry? Not so much.  

Truly, that makes more sense than anything I have heard about this whole deal.  If it is really true, then good on them.  Someone has to have some balls, I always thought Hillary had a bigger set than Obama. 

[DumbAss Tanker]

Actually despite him being a Democrat wheelhorse, I've always kinda liked Panetta.  Means nothing to the veracity of the story of course.

[Randy]

I found this interesting and from what I heard from Panetta the day after it fit with his odd version of how the command structure went during the operation. (Seals reporting to him, him relaying to Barry.)

http://socyberty.com/issues/white-house-insider-obama-hesitated-panetta-issued-order-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/

[Gratiot]

Actually despite him being a Democrat wheelhorse, I've always kinda liked Panetta.

+1

Means nothing to the veracity of the story of course.

Which pretty important to keep in mind.  Thank you to whomever the moderator was who removed this from Political Ammunition, it'd have been horrendous for someone to have used this story in an argument.

[Eupher]

I found this interesting and from what I heard from Panetta the day after it fit with his odd version of how the command structure went during the operation. (Seals reporting to him, him relaying to Barry.)

http://socyberty.com/issues/white-house-insider-obama-hesitated-panetta-issued-order-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/

Media Matters debunks the author, who calls himself "Ulsterman". But that shouldn't be surprising at all since it comes from Media Matters.

Link

[Randy]

Media Matters debunks the author, who calls himself "Ulsterman". But that shouldn't be surprising at all since it comes from Media Matters.

Link

I don't doubt there's an air of bullshit in the air at all. But I do find it interesting that Panetta, on several occasions the day after stated that all the reports were coming directly to him and he was then letting Obama know. Now supposedly for the man who did the impossible in record time it sort of struck me as odd that he was sitting stuffed in the corner with an underling telling him what was going on, when they felt he should know it.

[zeitgeist]

But it appears Campaign O'bumbler does:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110508/ap_on_re_us/us_bin_laden

Obama: 'Getting our man' outweighed risks of raid

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama ordered the commando raid that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after deciding the risks were outweighed by the possibility "of us finally getting our man" following a decade of frustration, he said in a Sunday broadcast interview.


{snip}

Jim Messina, the president's campaign manager, emailed supporters encouraging them to watch the program. The note included a link to a listing of all of the network's local affiliates around the country — and another one requesting donations to Obama's re-election effort
{snip fair use }

For the record the OP sounds more reasonable than most of the other stories coming out of Regime O'bumbler.

pResident Present O'Bumble dittered while Penetta turned em an burned em.  Works for me.