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  • 2012-05-08 (xsd:date)
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  • Former Navy SEAL Rebukes Obama (no)
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  • A text attributed to a former Navy SEAL named Benjamin Smith was long on invective about the author's dislike for President Barack Obama but short on presenting a factual basis justifying that opinion: The only bit in this piece that could be considered an objectively verifiable statement is the following: This information is not accurate. First of all, it is not true that President Obama attempt[ed] to stop or delay Bin Laden's demise. In fact, what reliable sources report is that the President went against the advice of several of his top officials in decisively choosing to go ahead with the SEAL helicopter assault that took out Osama bin Laden in May 2011: Second, it also not true that President Obama did not even leave the golf course for the situation room until 20 minutes before SEAL Team 6 took out Osama Bin Laden. The President did keep an appointment to play golf earlier on the day of the raid, but that activity took place because everyone in Washington who was involved with the operation was trying to stick to a normal routine and avoid acting in a way that might hint that something unusual or important was in the offing: As noted above, the President arrived in the White House Situation Room around 2:00 PM; it was not until around 2:30 PM that the first wave of helicopters with Navy SEALS left Jalalabad, Afghanistan, for the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding. The flight from Jalalabad to Abbottabad took about 90 minutes, so the President had been present in the Situation Room for around two hours before the SEAL team had even arrived at the target where their assault was to take place. The assault itself then took an additional 38 minutes to complete. (The iconic photograph taken in a room adjoining the White House Situation Room that day was snapped at 4:06 PM, about the time that one of the two Black Hawk helicopters crashed while hovering above the compound prior to the assault, so clearly President Obama had been in the Situation Room for well over two hours before SEAL Team 6 took out Osama Bin Laden and could not have remained at a golf course until just 20 minutes prior to that event.) As for the claim that President Obama refers to the event as if it were YOU and you alone which accomplished the worthy task of slaying one of America's greatest enemies, a review of the transcript from the President's announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden on 2 May 2011 shows that although he stated clearly that the decision to go ahead with the operation was his, he also offered his praise of those involved in planning and carrying it out: During a 6 May 2011 speech to troops at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the President again offered credit and praise those involved in planning and carrying out the mission: President Obama also privately thanked the members of the SEAL team who carried out the mission and recognized their efforts with a Presidential Unit Citation: Admiral Bill McRaven, who was deeply involved in the planning and execution of the May 2011 raid, said of the experience that President Obama was bold and decisive in opting to go forth with the operation and that the President's national security team was magnificent [in] how they handled it: (en)
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