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In October of 2008 Candidate Barack Obama said “We will kill bin Laden.” . On May 2, 2011 President Obama kept that promise. After almost 10 years of waiting to make Osama bin Laden accountable for the attack of 9-11-01, America celebrated the termination of his influence in the world.
The attack on the bin Laden compound was a reason to cheer for many reasons. The most obvious was the death of bin Laden. However it was also proof that the American military was accomplished and capable of completing an extremely difficult mission that required precision and secrecy. For many Americans we also celebrated the fact that the President we elected two-and-a-half years ago, kept his promise, and did what he said he would do. Regardless of political party, Americans are ravenous for a politician who keeps his/her campaign promises. For example Bush said in his 2000 campaign that (1) he would reverse the trend of 43 million uninsured Americans (the reality was that the number of uninsured Americans increased by nearly four million by 2004, and premiums rose at a rate of 12.5 % per year) (2) Bush promised to establish the “Healthy Communities Innovation Fund” to provide $500 million in grants to target health risks (he never established the fund) and (3) Bush claimed that he would “ensure that the federal government, the country’s largest polluter complies with all environmental laws” (the Department of Defense requested and received exemption from compliance with environmental laws). The list of broken promises is long and impressive. It includes promises regarding higher education, welfare, energy, judicial appointments, and nuclear proliferation. However the most memorable promise Bush made was that he would be a fiscal conservative, and not destroy the surplus that had been created during the 90’s. However he misled the country about who would receive tax cuts, and America witnessed record budget deterioration. The national debt increased to an unsustainable level during the Bush years.. Thus we have become used to politicians failing to live up to their campaign promises.
After the killing of bin Laden, Obama realized an increase in his favorability ratings. Approval ratings for President Obama rose from 47% to 56%. As you might expect his disapproval ratings dropped from 50% to 37%. It seems that the increase in popularity of Obama may now have been compounded by a dramatic change in the potential candidates for the 2012 race. Within two weeks of the announcement of bin Laden’s death, Mike Huckabee has announced that he will NOT run for president in 2012. Huckabee has been a potential presidential contender since the campaign for president in 2008. He even won the Iowa Republican Caucus during the 2008 campaign. While we know that ultimately McCain won the nomination, Huckabee has continued to consider the possibility of running another day. Virtually every poll of potential GOP candidates from the last 6 months has listed Mike Huckabee as one of the most popular Republican candidates.
Invoking God’s name, Huckabee announced:
“For me, to do it apart from an inner confidence that I was undertaking it with God’s full blessing is unthinkable,” the former pastor said, driving the suspense up to the last moment. “I can’t know or predict the future, but I know FOR NOW, my answer is clear and firm: I will not seek the Republican nomination for president THIS YEAR.” http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/huckabee-wont-run-president-2012
Huckabee went even further and declared:
“… but I don’t rule anything out for the long-term future,”
“But I just somehow believed deep within me that it wasn’t the right time, it wasn’t meant to be.“
It seems that God must have spoken to Mike Huckabee and told him he didn’t have a chance to win the election in 2012 against the President who was responsible for killing bin Laden and confiscating more information about potential terrorism around the world than any other world leader. I guess the problem is that Sarah hasn’t been talking to God lately, or he’s tell her lies. Sarah Palin wouldn’t run for President unless it was part of God’s Plan. Maybe God is using Sarah Palin to teach Americans a lesson? Maybe he doesn’t want her to win, but he wants to scare us.
A Gallup poll reported March 15th of Republican candidates showed Mike Huckabee as the candidate with the highest “positive intensity” score. Here are the results of that poll:
Positive Intensity Score
Huckabee 25%
Bachmann 20%
Gingrich 17%
Palin 16%
Santorum 16%
Pawlenty 15%
However Sarah Palin ranked 96% in recognition. With Mike Huckabee withdrawing from consideration the field is wide open, and Palin’s recognition numbers may cause her to be a real contender. If serious GOP presidential hopefuls have decided to wait until the 2016 election based on the perception that Obama will be re-elected, it seems that Bachmann, Gingrich, and Palin are more likely than ever to be seriously considered as the GOP candidate. Thus the rise in popularity of Barack Obama may actually benefit Sarah Palin and we may be plagued with hearing from and about her for much longer than her poll numbers might indicate. It is more important than ever that we join together to educate Americans about the danger of Sarah Palin as the President of the United States.
*** After this article was published, it appears that Conservatives4Palin is confirming that they are elated at the announcement by Huckabee.
It’s been one week since we learned of the death of Osama bin Laden. Reflecting on what we have learned, I am reminded of the Clint Eastwood Movie, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
THE GOOD
President Obama isn’t perfect. No President is. However the location and killing of Osama bin Laden was something I thought impossible. When he said during the 2008 campaign that locating and killing Osama bin Laden should be our #1 national security issue, I agreed, but thought it was political rhetoric. I thought it would never happen. I was wrong. Consider the things that Barack Obama should receive credit for relating to this attack:
He prioritized the location of bin Laden as our #1 national security issue, and devoted the resources necessary to finding the terrorist who was responsible for the largest attack on the United States in my life time.
Having located bin Laden, President Obama was faced with the most difficult of decisions; what was the best way to attack the compound. The President chose the path of greatest risk, but also the greatest reward. He evaluated all plans presented to him and made sure he had the views of all involved. The spectrum of risk was moderate to massive. If he had opted to use a bomber strike it would have carried less risk for the loss of life for the members of the military directly involved in the strike. However the safe house was in a war zone where U.S. forces were already engaged. A bombing could result in a misfire, aircraft problems, the potential for widespread civilian casualties and difficulty identifying the remains of any victims.
Putting troops on the ground in Pakistan was by far the most dangerous option, both militarily and politically. Unless the mission was “clean and victorious” the mission could have had dire consequences on our relationship with Pakistan. By opting for a helicopter assault, Obama put soldiers in combat, putting their lives in great danger. To use soldiers in this way required exhaustive planning and training, which required significant amounts of time and increased the risk of a leak of the information about the mission. However a precision assault would be more likely to enable a definite identification of bin Laden, it would minimize the risk of civilian casualties, and would predictably increase the opportunity to gather a “treasure trove” of documents and intelligence.
The successful mission accomplished all three. Civilian casualties were limited to one woman in the compound caught in the crossfire, and one woman shot in the leg. No members of the military were injured. Osama bin Laden was killed. A treasure trove of information was confiscated.
Material seized has been called the “most valuable intelligence break ever.” It included: (1) One plan to recruit U.S. minorities to use in attacks on the U.S. (2) A strategic playbook of bin Laden’s plans. (3) Proposed attacks on water supplies, rail, air, subways, hotels and shopping centers (4) A plan to obtain international driving permits that would allow sleeper cells to qualify for government IDs so they could travel with ease(5) There was a strategy to attack Americans on major holidays and anniversaries. (6) A plot to attack passenger trains on Oakland Amtrack .
After the assault on the compound decisions were made to confirm through DNA testing that it was in fact bin Laden, to treat his body according to Muslim tradition for burial, and burial at sea so that there could be no shrine to the terrorist who was responsible for the death of so many Americans. In this way President Obama did everything in his power to limit the outrage of Al Queda and thus do our best to limit future terrorists attacks, while making a profound statement of the resolve of the United States to bring justice to the world’s most wanted terrorist.
THE BAD
George Bush’s handling of the attacks of 9-11 serves as a dramatic contrast to that of President Obama. In November of 2009 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee blamed the Bush Administration for failing to capture or kill bin Laden. The al Qaeda leader was cornered in the Tora Bora mountain region of Afghanistan in December of 2001. The CIA operative who led the pursuit of bin Laden at Tora Bora said in 2005 that he had requested up to 800 additional U.S. troop to cut off the al Qaeda leader’s escape route, but the request was denied. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee report indicated that :
“the situation in Afghanistan presented greater problems today because of the failure to nab bin Laden eight years ago.”
Senator Kerry explained at the time that:
“Our inability to finish the job in late 2001 has contributed to a conflict today that endangers not just our troops and those of our allies, but the stability of a volatile and vital region.”
For President Bush to fail to capture or kill bin Laden demonstrated a fundamental error in judgment, That error in judgment could have been viewed as a mistake, but might not have been viewed as a lack of commitment to the task of killing or capturing bin Laden. However the attitude of George Bush was unforgivable when he declared that he didn’t really care if we killed or captured bin Laden. Bush said that “I’m truly not that concerned about him.” Bush was BAD.
UGLY
Sarah Palin has no foreign policy experience, other than waving to Russia. In spite of Palin’s attempts to paint herself as the Commander in Chief of the Alaskan National Guard, the actual commander of the Alaska National Guard, Major General Craig Campbell, said:
“[Palin plays] no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard.”
In another interview Major Campbell said:
“The Alaskan governor is not in the site’s chain of command and has no authority over its operations.”
Whatever her responsibility while Governor, Palin quit, so she is no longer the commander of anything except the millions of dollars she has made from giving speeches disparaging President Obama.
Palin supported the war in Iraq. Obama did not. In fact Obama expressly said that the war in Iraq had become a distraction to catching bin Laden. Thus Palin’s position on catching bin Laden and supporting the war in Iraq was bad,… but was it ugly?
Palin has used the tragedy of 9-11 for political purposes, and to make money! She and Glenn Beck held a “rally” in Anchorage to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks, but because Palin was no longer Governor, she was able to charge people to attend the rally between $73.00 to $225.00 with the higher prices to include a “meet and greet” event. There was no suggestion or indication that the proceeds were going to be donated to the families of the victims of 9-11.
More importantly Palin said at this rally “it starts from the top. Those who kind of set the tone in our country that would lead us towards a complacency that is very, very, very, dangerous. I fear that is why we are seeing the patterns we’re seeing right now, especially over the last 20 months.” Palin’s comments at the rally were off the cuff, and only one sentence in her five minute address referenced the tragedy of nine years earlier on 9/11 – never mentioning the towers, or the Pentagon or Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, or the loss of life, or the political fallout of the event here and around the world. Instead we were treated to a hodge-podge of buzzwords and rambling sentences.
After the successful assault on the bin Laden compound and killing of Osama bin Laden, Palin praised former President George Bush “for having made the right calls to set up this victory” but omitting Obama’s name. She probably didn’t know about Tora Bora. That happened in 2001 when Palin was still mayor of Wasilla, and she was concerned with building the hockey center on property the city didn’t own. . She probably didn’t know about Bush’s comments about not being concerned about bin Laden, as he made those remarks in August of 2006 when Palin was focused on her campaign for Governor.
Given Palin’s criticism of Obama in the past it was not surprising that she was unable to give him credit for his leadership. The really ugly part of Palin’s response to the killing of Osama bin Laden was her total disrespect for President Obama, suggesting he was “pussyfooting around.” She advocated to production of the gruesome photos of bin Laden’s disfigured body which would have only enraged al Qaeda. Days before the attack, Palin had the temerity to suggest that the President had been out fooling around, playing golf and worrying about campaigning.
The wisdom of Obama’s refusal to produce the picture of bin Laden’s body is now apparent. The “soldiers of Islam have confirmed bin Laden’s death, so production of such a picture would have accomplished nothing further towards confirming the death. However it might have resulted in even more antagonism of the terrorists who might be willing to give their lives to kill more Americans. They have vowed retaliation, saying:
“ Soon — with help from Allah — their (American’s) happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears,”
… al Qaeda will “continue on the path of jihad, the path walked upon by our leaders … without hesitation or reluctance.”
“We will not deviate from that or change until Allah judges between us and between our enemy with truth. Indeed, He is the best of all judges. Nothing will harm us after that, until we see either victory and success and conquest and empowerment, or we die trying.”
“The soldiers of Islam, groups and individuals, will continue planning without tiredness or boredom, and without despair or surrender, and without weakness or stagnancy, until they cause the disaster that makes children look like the elderly!”
Palin’s total lack of respect for our Commander in Chief demonstrates that she, like John McCain, is more committed to political ambition than the safety and security of the country. Through her disparaging remarks of President Obama, at a time when other Americans feel a sense of pride for his and our achievement in bringing bin Laden to justice, the reality of Sarah Palin’s true motivations is crystal clear. She is not committed to securing domestic tranquility, she is committed to creating fear and terror. She is not committed to honoring the members of the military, but to using them for her own political gain. She is ugly.
Yesterday’s post illustrated the inappropriate recognition Sarah Palin attempted to give to Bush for his “contributions” to the heroic effort of our President and the Navy Seals in the assault to take out bin Laden. It seems only fitting that we be reminded that on October 7,2008, Barack Obama declared:
“If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, the I think that we have to act and we will take them out. We will kill bin Laden; we will crush Al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”
“I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear: There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf will not act, we will. (Watch the video)
Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain were critical of Obama’s position. Thank God we elected Obama. Thank God he did what he promised to do.
Here are some quotes from Republicans regarding Barack Obama, doing what he promised to do during the campaign:
“ 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.” George Bush
“I also want to congratulate President Obama and the members of his national security team.” Dick Cheney
“I commend the President and his team, as well as our men and women in uniform and our intelligence professionals, for this superb achievement.” John McCain
I want to congratulate America’s armed forces and President Obama for a job well done.
Tim Pawlenty, Republican Gov. Minnesota
“Congratulations to President Obama and his National Security Team for the capture and killing of the world’s most dangerous and evil criminal mastermind, Osama bin Laden.”
Republican Rep., Alan West Florida
“This is a great victory for lovers of freedom and justice everywhere. Congratulations to our intelligence community, our military and the president.”
Mitt Romney Republican Candidate for President, previous Governor of Mass.
“I admire the courage of the president to make a decision like this because if something had gone wrong everyone would be blaming him.”
Rudy Giuliani, Republican Mayor New York, Presidential Candidate 2008
He congratulated President Barack Obama and the men and women of the Armed Forces for the accomplishment. Donald Trump
“I commend President Obama on the announcement of the killing of Osama bin Laden.”
Republican Representative Peter King NY
“Along with the residents of the District of Columbia, I thank President Obama and members of the national security team for the leadership demonstrated in conducting the operation that resulted in the death of one of world’s most sought-after terrorists, Osama Bin Laden.”
Vincent Gray, Mayor DC
However the comment from the person perhaps most knowledgeable about the mission comes from Stanley McChrystal who is a retired four-star general and whose last assignment was the Commander, International Security Assistance Force and Commander U.S. Forces Afghanistan, and the predecessor of David Petraeus.
As head of “the most secretive force in the U.S. military”, McChrystal maintained a very low profile until June 2006, when his forces were responsible for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. McChrystal’s team successfully located Zarqawi and called in the airstrike that killed him.
McChrystal said:
“The raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan took extraordinary courage not only from the service members who carried it out, but from the “decision makers” behind the operation, the former top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Monday.
“Think of what would have happened if the mission had not been successful, and all of the second-guessing that would have happened,”
“This mission sends a message about our will to stand up for what is right.”
Retired General Stanley McChrystal
I’m proud that I voted for Barack Obama. I am proud to be an American. (Please Watch this short video)
Comedy Central celebrates with us.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/05/colbert-stewart-bin-laden/37278/http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/05/colbert-stewart-bin-laden/37278/
Webster’s Dictionary needs to add one illustration to the next edition. Next to the word “liar” they should have this picture:
Palin lies about everything. She lies about hunting. She lies about speaking fees. She lies on national television. Steve Schmidt confirmed that she lies, even about Todd’s membership in the Alaskan Independent Party. She even lies about things that may not be in the best interest of Alaskans, but in her interest politically.
She lied about the findings in the Trooper Gate matter, saying :
“I’m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that.”
–Sarah Palin, , October 11, 2008.
The Branchflower report concluded that Palin “knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired.” It adds that she and her husband Todd attempted “to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons.” Subordinates were placed in the situation where they had to choose whether to “please a superior or run the risk of facing that superior’s displeasure,” a clear conflict of interest.
She distinguished herself by receiving the award for telling the “biggest lie of the year” for 2009 for fabricating the existence of “death panels.”
In spite of the many outrageous lies Palin has told, she has exceeded even my expectations. Sarah Palin, speaking of the killing of Osama bin Laden, thanked George Bush for “having made the right calls to set up this victory.”
At a time when the entire country is celebrating the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist, and for the first time in several years, the country is united in celebration of American’s accomplishment, Palin is unable to simply say “thank you “ to our President. Rush Limbaugh said “thank you” to our Commander in Chief, Barack Obama. Glenn Beck said that Obama…”did create the condition to allow Osama bin Laden to be killed, and he deserves respect for that and our thanks.”
If Palin had simply been unable to thank President Obama, we wouldn’t have been surprised. However to credit George Bush for setting up this victory is offensive. It is unforgivable. Remember George Bush’s statements about bin Laden:
“The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.”
- G.W. Bush, 9/13/01
“I want justice…There’s an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive,’”
- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI
“…Secondly, he is not escaping us. This is a guy, who, three months ago, was in control of a county [sic]. Now he’s maybe in control of a cave. He’s on the run. Listen, a while ago I said to the American people, our objective is more than bin Laden. But one of the things for certain is we’re going to get him running and keep him running, and bring him to justice. And that’s what’s happening. He’s on the run, if he’s running at all. So we don’t know whether he’s in cave with the door shut, or a cave with the door open — we just don’t know….”
- Bush, in remarks in a Press Availablity with the Press Travel Pool,
The Prairie Chapel Ranch, Crawford TX, 12/28/01, as reported on
official White House site
“I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.”
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
“I am truly not that concerned about him.”
- G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden’s whereabouts,
3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)
George Bush is the President who took us to war in Iraq by justifying it as an effort to find WMDs. When WMDs were not found, Bush explained that:
On October 29, 2003, George Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq.
Seven years later we are still involved in Iraq. Consider the “cost” of that war:
Soldiers killed 4,444
Soldiers Seriously Wounded 32,051
U.S. SPENDING IN IRAQ-$900 Billion dollars
Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq – $9 billion of US taxpayers’ money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.
Missing – $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)
Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq – $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported – $1.4 billion
Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items – $20 billion
Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq – $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)
TROOPS IN IRAQ
Troops in Iraq – Total 47,000 U.S. troops. All other nations have withdrawn their troops.
For Sarah Palin to give credit to George Bush for the mission directed by Barack Obama that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden is outrageous! She should never be forgiven by even her most ardent supporters for this lie. She is a plague on this country.
It seems like just yesterday that Sarah Palin was attacking Barack Obama. No, it wasn’t yesterday, it was Tues, April 26. That Facebook post (America Deserves Libya Explanation), came immediately before Palin’s Facebook post of May 2nd entitled “A Grateful Nation,” relating to the death of Osama bin Laden. Palin attacked President Obama once again, suggesting that she and the rest of America, and thus our enemies, should be entitled to an explanation from our Commander in Chief of all national security matters he is planning or considering. In a scathing attack Palin said:
“… and many of our brave men and women in uniform are shaking their heads in disbelief over your befuddled military directions …”
The next day on April 27th, Palin did an interview on Fox with Greta Van Sustern. Less than one week ago Palin was asked to justify her “blistering comments” of the President. Palin disrespected the President when she said:
“when do you ever just ‘roll up your sleeves, unplug the teleprompter’ and do the job of governing and administrating for which voters hired you?
Palin accused the President of failing to explain his “befuddled and befuddling” foreign policy and instead spending the week “on the campaign trail.”
She further shared her insight by explaining:
“I think it’s appalling. We can’t afford our Commander in Chief, our top CEO of our nation to be in that mode, not at this time, not when there are so many woes people are suffering from in our nation.”
Palin went on to criticize the President, suggesting that he was playing golf, watching the NBA playoffs, the NHL, focused on his summer vacation, and campaigning for reelection in 2012.
Thus it was not surprising that today, after the President’s announcement of the attack upon, and death of, Osama bin Laden, Palin only offered praise for the military and “intelligence services” who “laid the groundwork OVER THE YEARS to make this victory possible.” Palin’s failure to offer any recognition for President Obama’s involvement in planning the attack, or directing the effort, speaks volumes about Palin’s motivations.
The truth is that Obama has been strategically monitoring the situation and planning the attack since August of last year. Prior to the operation, Obama convened nine meetings with his national security team to review intelligence. According to a White House aide, “Principals met formally an additional five times themselves and their deputies met seven times.”
On the night of the attack, Obama and top White House officials monitored the operation in “real-time visibility,” watching as the success or failure of the operation hung in the balance.
When Obama gave the green light, he made what some security advisors described as “one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in modern history,“
The only thing “befuddling” about the attack and death of bin Laden is the fact that the President of the United States did not deem it advisable to discuss the plan with Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin clearly advocates, and demands, that the President consult and be accountable to her before doing anything of a dangerous nature. The President is not accountable or responsible to disclose confidential information to Sarah Palin. To the contrary, sharing this information with Sarah Palin would be a guarantee of failure for the mission.
Before reading Palin’s Facebook post we knew that there would be no praise for President Obama. Even though George Bush and Bill Clinton each had eight years to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, they did not. Now with the specific involvement and direction of President Obama, bin Laden has been killed. Palin’s failure to recognize the accomplishment of our Commander in Chief is the most transparent evidence of her bias that the country has seen. If Palin is “befuddled” it must be because national security necessitates that security matters must necessarily remain a matter of national security, and confidential. Our men and women in uniform would only be shaking their heads in disbelief if Obama had announced his plans to attack Osama bin Laden, before doing so. Palin’s failure to recognize the President’s involvement in killing the “most wanted terrorist in the world” is evidence that her assault on the President is motivated by political aspirations, not patriotism.
In case you haven’t heard the President has just announced that US military under his direction has killed Bin Laden. CNN is reporting that the military has his body so there can be no question that the person killed is Bin Laden. As Americans gather outside the White House in celebration, we are reminded that we are more united than politicians might think. While thousands of people chant “U.S.A” in celebration of this historic moment for our country nobody cares about their thoughts about the economy or abortion. We are Americans first, and ensuring the safety and security of our country is of primary importance to all Americans. God Bless America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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