Bin Laden was caught off guard by the Seals. He was unarmed. They shot him. They could have captured him. The government could have de-briefed him. He could have told how Al Qaeda works. He could have told how he eluded American forces in Afghanistan in late 2001, and how he evaded the searchers for almost a decade.
Dead men tell no tales.
Living men are not supposed to, either. But a Seal told the tale, and now he may be in big trouble. He made the Defense Department look bad.
Of course, Secretary Panetta did not say this: “It is crucial that nobody involved in any action tell the truth about it. That would ruin the official story.” Instead, he said this: “”Well, I think when somebody talks about the particulars of how those operations are conducted, it tells our enemies, essentially, how we operate and what we do to go after them.” Right.
Here is what is on bis mind: chatterboxes who will tell the truth in the future. This threatens the budget of the Defense Department. Congress might not be as compliant.
“I think when someone who signs an obligation that he will not reveal the secrets of this kind of operation, and then does that and doesn’t abide by the rules, that when he reveals that kind of information, it does indeed jeopardize operations and the lives of others that are involved in those operations.”
There was no jeopardizing of lies. There was jeopardizing of the story that Osama was shooting at the Seals, while hiding behind his wife. This was the account published in The Guardian on May 3, 2011.
The account of what happened in Osama bin Laden‘s final hideaway was succinct and clear when Barack Obama delivered it on Sunday, but it has become more confused in the days since, with conflicting and inaccurate accounts from the White House.
Bin Laden, according to a briefing on Monday, used his wife as a human shield and she was killed. By Tuesday, the White House reversed that: she had not been used as a human shield and she was not dead. The other point of discrepancy was the initial briefings that stated Bin Laden resisted and was killed in a “firefight”, which suggests he had been armed. The White House insisted he had resisted, without saying how, but said he had no gun.
Did the Obama administration deliberately suggest he had hidden behind his wife as part of an attempt to portray him as a cowardly figure? Did it want to suggest he was armed to avoid criticism that US forces shot dead an unarmed man? Was it just part of the fog of war, with a clear account only available when those engaged in the mission are fully debriefed?
The problem for the White House is that damage has already been done, with these discrepancies opening the way for, at the very least, future conspiracy theorists.
Obama, in his late-night statement to the White House, kept it short and simple, telling how a small team launched the operation at the compound. “After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”
Later on Sunday evening, senior US officials offered more details: “In addition to Osama bin Laden, three adult males were killed in the raid. We believe two were the couriers and the third was Bin Laden’s adult son. There were several women and children at the compound. One woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant. Two other women were injured.” No inconsistencies there.
The Pentagon briefed on Monday and one of the officials, who had been speaking on an anonymous basis, suggested for the first time that Bin Laden had used a woman as a human shield. “He and some other male combatants on the target appeared to use – certainly did use – women as shields,” the official said.
If the book is right, this was one lie after another.
All over the Web, the story was headlined: Bin Laden was unarmed, not armed, as the official story had it. The military brass was caught in a whopper. So, the Secretary of Defense is hopping mad.
When the Pentagon spins a story, it is supposed to stay spun. To unspin it, this supposedly reveals state secrets and strengthens our enemies.
“Our enemies = American voters.
Thieves, liars, traitors, saboteurs and murderers all reside in Washington D.C.
They're better known as politicians.
If I understand this correctly, the Defense Secretary who still hasn't caused the arrest or prosecution of any of the WH Staff who have apparently been leaking highly classified information to the press and our enemies (hard to distinguish between the two sometimes), is now all exited and threatening to prosecute an ex-Navy SEAL, now a civilian. I suspect the perceived crime here is that he caught the WH and the military brass with their collective panties down. Since, in military parlance,"sh*t rolls downhill"; I expect that the brass will try to prosecute the now civilian ex-SEAL and hold him up as an example of how tough the administration is being on security leaks. This is nothing more than a big stinking pile of administration hypocrisy. Its more of the same, "Do as I say, not as I do.", BS that I've come to expect from the fraud in the WH who refuses to produce the same type of valid birth and SSID documentation that is demanded of every military recruit at the lowest level. Leadership, not so much!
I will take the word of a member of the Seal Team 6 which carried out the operation over the words of a lying administration…..this ex-navy seal is a Patriot and proudly served his Country, the same can't be said of Obama and his fellow Liberal liars. I understand the bulk of the money from this ex-seal's book sales will go toward wounded warriors and their families, now instead of trying to somehow punish this guy, why don't the Administration members match his contribution to those heroes and their families?
Didn’t it seem obvious there was something fishy about the original account? Especially the part about hiding behind his wives. I laugh at the naivete of people who outright believe ANY government accounting. Everything is a lie.
Great book, I can’t put it down! We all know we are lied too all the time. What’s great is,” we the people” military or civilian is just not putting up with it. We can handle the truth. This book is fantastic and if anyone goes down, it’s the integrity of Washington ..
You said it all.
Mr Panetta, Why not go after the people in the Intellegence Committee who actually have leaked more damning Secrets about Top Secret Activities than what this young Trooper is supposed to have releasedin his Book?? Mr Biden has gave out more confidential information than this man has and you haven't said a damned thing about him being irresponsible.Just a thought Mr. Panetta, do your job and leave this fellow alone. Thank you for your time. TSgt., USAF Retired.
A little reality check in order here: Pakistani troops actually killed the old man in a raid. The neighbors told troops "We think that was bin Laden." This tidbit went up the tentacle arms of the intelligence community until it reached Obama, who needed a brownie point to show he has actually done something in the last 4 years.
In the hastily assembled photo-op where Obama and his cabinet are sitting in the situation room monitoring the raid (which was already over) like it was still "in-progress", you can see that all the laptops are turned off. The Navy then grabs the dead guy, buries him AT SEA, doesn't take any blood or DNA samples to prove this is the real bin Laden, gives itself credit for "taking down Terrorist No. 1" while flooding the internet with almost-instantly exposed photoshopped fake pictures, before announcing "We're not releasing any more pictures to the media".
Oh, and last but not least, bin Laden died in hospital in Dec. 2001 of kidney failure, but what good is a dead CIA asset when there's a perpetual "War On Terror" to sell to the American people?
Prosecute Obummer at the same time. He gave away the secrets before the Seal did. Therefor the information no longer was a secret, the only thing his book did was show Obummer to be a liar.
He had to be killed and the body immediately disposed of because the patsy wasn't OBL. The SEAL team would not have known this.
THEY DON'T DARE DO MORE THAN HINT………….
Could they be embarrassed that Obama is caught lying about the operation? Nah, Obama lies about everything; that can't be it. Could they be upset that Osama was wasted when he could have been taken alive? Nah, we'd have spend millions confining. entertaining, and trying him; and He'd have loved every minute in the spotlight. Could the administration be piqued that someone other than the Chicago Thuggery is leaking information. Hmm, that's more than likely.
The seals did the right thing when they took him out, as for getting info from him they have the number 2 man how much have they got from him on the workings of el quada? I think they had to water board him just to get his correct name. So how do you debrief someone that will tell lie after lie?
Let's see now It is perfectly okay for Obama to use the doctored information and release it to Hollywood with hopes that the Movie would come out in time fro the elections to make him look strong. When a member of the team writes the truth all hell breaks lose and to make sure that no one el else releases information suddenly the Helicopter that Seal Team six members are flying on is identified out of all the others that flew out of that same location and shot down thus eliminating all other Seals that might contradict the White Houses lies
osama was the boogey man and has been dead for years.
Penetta is doing what he is told … They are all professional liars and it make me wonder how can anyone in that administration can define what is truth or what is a lie? Even their press uses the two interchangeably to suit their objectives.
I'd trust the seal and would help fund his defense [Can we remember poor Col Clarence Larkin who insisted that he must pray in the Name of Jesus?] Satan and Ali would be OK!