Obama Deserves Praise for a “Hard Decision”

     Barack Obama has not shown any leadership qualities, not even the flashings of the beginnings of any leadership skills, but the actions of our elite Navy Seals Team 6 under the direction of Leon Panetta and the CIA show that despite is liberalism, he followed through (for the first time) on a campaign promise reagrding Osama bin Laden.

      The eight point rise in the poll numbers will fade (look at George HW Bush and the Gulf War), and despite the Left drinking more KoolAid, the Obama re-election is not “all but certain”

       But Barack Obama deserves the praise of his orders, his resolve to bring bin Laden to justice. Regardless of who was sitting in the Oval Office, this mission would have been undertaken. But Obama met the decision apparently with a slow decision making process.

       That said, I have two concerns about the situation with regard to Obama and the process.

        The first goes to the Situation Room, where the National Security Council monitored the Osama bin Laden mission in real time. Perhaps I have watched too much TV and movies with Presidential themes, or perhaps I think the POTUS deserves the respect of his team (even if I disagree with the man’s policies), but the photos from the Situation Room show that the President does not appear at “the Helm”. Let me be clear, I am not saying he was not in command. But when the POTUS arrived in the SR, he should not have taken the first available chair, especially when they all knew pool photos were being taken. WHOEVER was in the head chair should have immediately moved, even if Obama said differently. Sometimes it is not the words, but the visual, and though PR was the last thing on anyone’s mind, his PR people should have been making sure the “visual” showed Obama in the full leadership position.

           The second thing pertains to the “conflict” within the Obama White House now, since the mission was completed. The stories from the various sides of the team, like the CIA and The State Department, reflect the conflicts within. For instance, Leon Panetta stated yesterday that the OBL photos would be released, and Obama said today differently. This seems to reflect the internal conflict that Obama has within…………… he was a firm advocate of publicizing the Abu Grabe photos. He is conflicted about the wars while at the same time being the Commander in Chief.

          This one action does not make Obama a Leader. It does show that he could lead, but in a slow manner that in other scenarios could be problem.

Twitterer “Scoops” Mainstream Media on Bin Laden Story, Twittering in Real Time

Pakistani IT consultant Sohaib Athar has effectively obliterated my little corner of Twitter history by live-tweeting the assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound – which resulted in the terrorist leader’s death – without even knowing it. Under the Twitter handle @ReallyVirtual, Athar’s historic tweets began innocuously enough with this observation: “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event),” and jokingly threatening to take out his “giant swatter.” (h/t Shoq)

The 33 year-old Athar certainly knows about it now, but at the time, the acerbic geek-squadder just wanted some peace and quiet. His Twitter bio says, simply, “An IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops,” and his first several tweets bear that sentiment out, as he just seems relieved when the noise stops.

As if any further evidence was needed that Twitter has more than come of age, Athar’s feed offers a compelling, at times funny (he even creates a running gag about his copter-swatter), window that didn’t exist when bin Laden first took flight, and one which history may record as the first of its kind. Imagine a tweet from a cranky theatergoer in 1865 that read, “Trying to enjoy play, some knucklehead making racket in balcony. #usherfail.”

Update: Here’s a link to a compilation of tweets from the region.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/pakistani-twitterer-sohaib-athar-unknowingly-live-tweets-assault-on-osama-bin-laden-compound/

Pres. Bush’s Statement After Obama’s “bin Laden” Announcement

George W. Bush released this statement earlier tonight:

Earlier this evening, President Obama called to inform me that American forces killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda network that attacked America on September 11, 2001. I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude. This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.

http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/05/george-bush-releases-statement-on-bin-ladens-death/

US Naval Academy Commandant Addresses the Students

Osama bin laden is dead

The President will announce in a late night address that 9/11 mastermind Osama bin laden was killed in a bombing last week. DNA testing confirms this. FOX News confirmed from several sources, then CNN followed their lead.

Vice President Joe Biden began notifying Congressional leadership around 10pm.

Ten years of massive intelligence and military action have culminated in this result, just four months before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The al Quaida terrorists are already threatening a nuclear hell storm on the West if “their leader” is in fact dead.

A September 11th Tribute

Judicial Watch: Kagan’s Possible Ties to Saudis, binLaden, and Goldman Sachs

from Judicial Watch:

In a disturbing revelation for a Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan took millions of dollars from the Saudis as dean of Harvard Law School and a chunk of it reportedly came from 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The bin Laden family has donated millions of dollars to the Ivy League university over the years, including generous endowments for the school’s Islamic law program and others to finance scholarships for students from Muslim countries. The family has a fondness for Harvard because Osama bin Laden’s brother, Abdullah, received a master’s degree from the school in the 1990s and a doctorate in 2000.

When Kagan took over as dean of the law school in 2003, she launched an aggressive and unprecedented fundraising campaign that raked in a whopping $476.5 million, the most lucrative in the law school’s history. Renowned as a prolific fundraiser, Kagan was tapped to head the law school after spending a few years as a professor there when her job in the Clinton White House ended. In addition to the $476.5 million generated by the targeted campaign—dubbed “Setting the Standard”—Kagan helped raise an extra $60 million for the Harvard Law School Fund.

A chunk of the cash came from the Saudis—and probably the bin Ladens—who have bankrolled many key programs at the Cambridge Massachusetts school over the years. In fact, Harvard has accepted so much cash from the bin Ladens that the Cambridge City Council passed a resolution calling upon the university to donate compensation money for victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Harvard officials refused.

Kagan’s Saudi/bin Laden money connection probably served as an inspiration in protecting the Saudi kingdom against a lawsuit for financing the 2001 terror attacks. Thousands of family members of 9/11 victims sued Saudi Arabia and several members of its royal family for actively aiding in financing the attacks through front groups posing as charities. As Solicitor General, Kagan blocked the lawsuit, citing the “potentially significant foreign-relations consequences of subjecting another sovereign state to suit.”

Another skeleton in Kagan’s closet is her financial ties to Goldman Sachs, the global investment firm embroiled in a major fraud scandal. For four years Kagan worked as an “advisor” at the Wall Street titan that donates generously to Democrats. She received a $10,000 annual “stipend” for her advice even though she was quite busy at the time raising money at Harvard and serving as dean of its law school.

For the full article: http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2010/may/kagan-has-saudi-bin-laden-money-ties

GITMO > Yemen > Flight 253 Christmas Day

Men believed behind airplane plot were freed from Gitmo

December 28, 2009 2:11 PM | No Comments

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, ABC News is reporting, quoting American officials and citing Department of Defense documents.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an “art therapy rehabilitation program” and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials, ABC News reported.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad al-Awfi.

Read more at abcnews.go.com.

Passengers and Crew on Delta Flight are Heroes as Terrorist Suspect Attempts to Detonate Bomb on Approach to Detroit

 A 23-year-old Nigerian man who claimed to have ties to al-Qaida was charged Saturday with trying to destroy a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, as authorities learned his father had warned U.S. officials of concerns about his son.

Some airline passengers traveling Saturday felt the consequences of the frightening attack. They were told that new U.S. regulations prevented them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing.

The Justice Department charged that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO-mahr fah-ROOK ahb-DOOL-moo-TAH-lahb) willfully attempted to destroy or wreck an aircraft; and that he placed a destructive device in the plane.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman read Abdulmutallab the charges in a conference room at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. where he is being treated for burns.

An affidavit said he had a device containing a high explosive attached to his body. The affidavit said that as Northwest Flight 253 descended toward Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Abdulmutallab set off the device — sparking a fire instead of an explosion.

For full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091226/ap_on_re_us/us_airliner_attack;_ylt=AhS5NmnB8yydLnLmfRzJLR.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNpYzFicWFmBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMjI2L3VzX2FpcmxpbmVyX2F0dGFjawRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzIEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA25pZ2VyaWFubWFuYw–

UPDATE: Father of suspect notified US Embassy of his concerns about his son 4 weeks ago.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091226/ap_on_go_ot/us_airliner_attack_intelligence

Picture of the Day: Cadet Does Research While Waiting for Obama’s Speech

West Point cadet does research for the mission that the President would lay out in his December 1st address to the Nation regarding the war in Afghanistan. It appears the cadet has more conviction for the mission than the Commander-in-Chief.

A U.S. Army cadet reads a book entitled “Kill Bin Laden” as he waits with other cadets for U.S. President Barack Obama to deliver an address on U.S. policy and the war in Afghanistan at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York December 1, 2009. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2009/12/pic-of-the-day-1.html