The Real "Kill Osama Bin Laden" Meeting Minutes

[TruthSeeker]

Here is how the "kill Osama Bin Laden" planning meeting really transpired:

The Setting

Seated at a rectangular table in the White House "situation room" are:

President Barack Obama
CIA Director Leon Panetta
Attorney General Eric Holder
Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton
Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates
Vice President Joe Biden
General David Petraeus
U.S. Navy Seal Team 6 Commander “Sherman Halftrack” (an alias)

Obama: "This better……. be important. I've got…..a basketball…..shoot- around…..and a round…..of golf…..scheduled for…..today."

Panetta: "Mr. President, it has come to my attention, as CIA Director, that my CIA operatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan have discovered the exact location of Osama Bin Laden’s hideout. It is located deep inside Pakistan."

Holder: "Wait a minute, Leon. How was this information acquired by your agency?"

Panetta: "Well, the CIA used enhanced interrogation techniques on some of the prisoners at Gitmo, and cell phone conversations were intercepted."

Biden: "You mean Gitmo is still open?"

(Everybody ignores Biden's question)

Hillary: "Well, if we know where Bin Laden is, do we have the jurisdiction to arrest him and bring him back to the United States for trial?"

Petraeus: “The military is not concerned with arresting Bin Laden. We are interested in capturing him, dead or alive.”

Gates: “I concur with General Petraeus, but I also agree with Secretary Clinton’s point of view.”

Obama: “Well……if we know…… where Bin Laden is…..it would help……my poll numbers…….if I can take…….full credit……for capturing……or killing…..Osama Bin Laden.”

Biden: “So when is lunch? I’m starved!”

(Everybody ignores Biden)

Holder: “This whole situation will simply not work. I’m in the midst of pursuing federal criminal charges against several members of the CIA, for their complicity in the rendition/torture of captured Muslim freedom fighters imprisoned at Gitmo. Then there is the question of the legality of the eavesdropping on these cell phone conversations.”

Halftrack: “I’ll lead Seal Team 6 into that SOB’s compound, and we’ll rip his head off and piss down his throat. We’ll be in and out of there before Bin Laden has a chance to take his monthly bath. Just say the word!”

(Everybody in the room is aghast at Halftrack’s comments, except for Petraeus, who snickers)

Clinton: “Has our government filed criminal charges against Osama Bin Laden? If not, I don‘t believe that we can legally arrest him and bring him to trial, unless a grand jury has indicted him. My husband explained this to me back in the 90s.”

Obama: “Well…..this can be……a great political…… opportunity……or a disaster. I don’t know……what to do……about this.”

Panetta: “Mr. President, this is a win-win situation, no matter what happens. If you kill Bin Laden, you know our lapdogs in the news media will put you on a pedestal and play this like you are the most courageous and decisive Commander-In-Chief since FDR. If the mission fails, we can just blame it on George W. Bush.”

Holder: “I am beginning to like this whole idea of the U.S. going into a sovereign country and killing people. This would definitely set a precedent that I can use as a solid argument against the state of Arizona and other border states who are trying to enforce U.S. immigration laws. I can play the “hypocrite” angle in my lawsuit against the state of Arizona.”

Gates: “General Petraeus, you need to put together a plan of attack ASAP, and submit it to President Obama. If the President likes your plan, I will obviously concur.”

Clinton: “Well, if the end game is to kill Osama Bin Laden, we will need to recover the body, and fully comply with the Muslim burial rites and traditions, whatever those are. We don’t want to make the followers of Osama Bin Laden mad at us.”

Biden: “Let’s do this thing on Cinco De Mayo. Then we can celebrate Bin Laden’s death by hanging up some candy-filled piñatas and wacking at them with a baseball bat!”

(Once again, everybody ignores Biden)

Obama: “I agree…..with you…… Secretary Clinton. We must not …..offend……anybody in…..the Arab……world.”

Halftrack: “We’ll kill the S.O.B., fly his carcass out of his compound and give him a burial by rolling him out of the helicopter over the Arabian Sea. How’s that?”

(Once again, everybody in the room is aghast at Halftrack’s comments)

Panetta: “Mr. President, in order to maximize the political benefit of killing Bin Laden, a precision bombing strike won’t suffice. We need proof of death, so we’ll need to do a black ops mission into Bin Laden’s compound, kill him, recover his body, and bury him ASAP. That’s why I asked the commander of Navy Seal Team 6 to attend this meeting.”

Clinton: “Well, I don’t like this plan at all. Murdering a suspected criminal is against everything this country stands for. That’s what my husband told me many years ago.”

Obama: “OK, General Petraeus…..and…….Commander Halftrack…..you two….. put this plan…..together….. and I’ll sign off…..on it. I’ve got…..several rounds…..of golf…….scheduled over…..the next…..several days……so…….try to......keep me…….posted.

Panetta: "Mr. President, I would recommend that your staff put together a "Bin Laden is dead" barnstorming tour, to fully maximize the emotional impact Bin Laden's death will have on the families of the victims of 9/11 and the nation as a whole."

Obama: "Absolutely, Mr. Panetta. I need......to play this.....up.....and get people.......to stop worrying........about the economy.......and inflation......and the national debt........and losing their homes......and all that.....stuff."

Biden: “Can we eat lunch now?”

 

[Gipper]

That is probably closer to reality than the story the administration is claiming.

 

[Hobo1]

No question, Panetta is the sharpest knife in the set - regardless of the scenario you want to joke about. I am looking for great things from him at DOD. Like a reasonable budget cut and getting out of Afghanistan faster than slower.

BTW, does H. Clinton have one accomplishment to her name except she passed the bar exam? Does she still live with Bill? What a dud she is.

 

[Gipper]

No question, Panetta is the sharpest knife in the set - regardless of the scenario you want to joke about. I am looking for great things from him at DOD. Like a reasonable budget cut and getting out of Afghanistan faster than slower.

BTW, does H. Clinton have one accomplishment to her name except she passed the bar exam? Does she still live with Bill? What a dud she is.

I would like to see Panetta do that too...but I do not consider him very sharp.

And, Hillary is an empty suit.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

still bitter OBL is dead and killed by a dem adminstration then a republican one are you?

if Obama himself cured cancer, you would cry about how if will effect the economy becuse of all the money lost to the health care industry.

 

[Gipper]

CHRIS WALLACE: WHY IS IT LEGAL TO SHOOT UNARMED BIN LADEN IN THE FACE, YET WE CANNOT WATERBOARD?

Good question!

Is there a liberal anywhere that can answer that question intelligently?

 

[Hobo1]

I am not a liberal, but I will tell you the answer to both questions: Neither is legal. From the information released to date it appears the Navy Seals had full control of the situation, no one was threatening them, and bin Ladin made no attempt to resist arrest. I think if this case went to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, someone could be found guilty of murder (perhaps Obabma depending on the facts of the case). It should be noted that the US never formally agreed to be subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC. However, under both US and Pakistani law, murder is illegal. The President does not have judicial Constitutional authority and certainly no blanket authority to execute.

Waterboarding is also illegal under a variety of UN treaties and conventions which Bush believed did not apply to actions authorized by him. However, Americans who subscribe to a higher set of principles like John McCain who was tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam Conflict, said in a statement:

"We are Americans, and we hold ourselves to humane standards of treatment of people no matter how evil or terrible they may be. To do otherwise undermines our security, but it also undermines our greatness as a nation."

It should be noted that no actionable intelligence information ever came out because of waterboarding interrogation. The most notable case being that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Despite being waterboarded 183 times in March 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed did not divulge actionable intelligence until three years later in 2006 when he gave helpful information in a standard interrogation session. He withheld all information under torture.

Some will argue that waterboarding helped to "soften him up", so he cooperated 3 years later. That is a matter of subjective judgment.

 

[Gipper]

I am not a liberal, but I will tell you the answer to both questions: Neither is legal. From the information released to date it appears the Navy Seals had full control of the situation, no one was threatening them, and bin Ladin made no attempt to resist arrest. I think if this case went to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, someone could be found guilty of murder (perhaps Obabma depending on the facts of the case). It should be noted that the US never formally agreed to be subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC. However, under both US and Pakistani law, murder is illegal. The President does not have judicial Constitutional authority and certainly no blanket authority to execute.

Waterboarding is also illegal under a variety of UN treaties and conventions which Bush believed did not apply to actions authorized by him. However, Americans who subscribe to a higher set of principles like John McCain who was tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam Conflict, said in a statement:

"We are Americans, and we hold ourselves to humane standards of treatment of people no matter how evil or terrible they may be. To do otherwise undermines our security, but it also undermines our greatness as a nation."

It should be noted that no actionable intelligence information ever came out because of waterboarding interrogation. The most notable case being that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Despite being waterboarded 183 times in March 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed did not divulge actionable intelligence until three years later in 2006 when he gave helpful information in a standard interrogation session. He withheld all information under torture.

Some will argue that waterboarding helped to "soften him up", so he cooperated 3 years later. That is a matter of subjective judgment.

You make a valid case.

It would appear that Obama sent the SEALS on a mission to execute OBL. While I have no problem with executing the enemy, BO's orders fly in the face of everything he claimed to be for when he was Senator and now President. And, while he claimed to be against waterboarding and said it was torture, how can he now justify that when he just executed OBL? And, the American press seems to be glossing over this issue, as they usually do when the president is like them, a socialist.

IMHO had Bush done the exact same thing BO just did, the Left in this country and around the world would be screaming foul and just might be citing your Hague Court demanding Bush be charged for murder. But, since BO is a socialist all is okay.

 

[Hobo1]

Not so fast. Even the liberal New York Times ran an opinion piece today Whose Foreign Policy Is It?

And I don't know if Obama is going to get a pass on executing Osama bin Laden. The court of public opinion is slow to grow on a liberal president of the US. But a lot of wise and influential people people around the world are asking how Obama can hold the holy high ground after a mafia-style execution?

It looks like the White House and Intelligence community had the details of the operation all worked out - except for one: what do we tell people afterward? For God sake, if you are going to execute a guy, you should be prepared with a good excuse about what happened inside his "million-dollar mansion". At least someone could say "he went for his gun and we shot him". Nope. Just "hasta la vista baby".

 

[TruthSeeker]

We, as a country, are at WAR with an enemy of religious fanatics who lop off the heads of innocent civilians, strap bombs to their own women and children and send them off on suicide missions, fly commercial jets into American buildings, bomb railroads in Spain and England, blow up nightclubs and embassies, etc.,etc.,etc.

I don't care what John McCain thinks. War is hell, and he of all people should know that. This country has NEVER been above committing acts that may not be in line with what "civil society" should do, but the day that this country brings a pea-shooter to a gunfight is the day that this country will fold.

Osama Bin Laden was not "murdered". Innocent people are "murdered". Enemy combatants and their leaders, like Bin Laden, die as "casualties of war". How they are killed is irrelevent. How they are buried is irrelevent. What the Arab world thinks about how Bin Laden was killed is irrelevent.

Obama did the right thing. I completely agree with his decision to send out a "posse" to kill that S.O.B., and Osama's last moments were spent proving what a COWARD he really was.

It was a gutsy, and completely necessary, decision by a President who I vociferously disagree with about 99% of the time. Anybody who thinks otherwise is playing partisan politics.

PFOS can whine and cry all he wants. What I posted was satire, and probably a lot closer to the TRUTH than any leftist will ever admit. Obama did the "right" thing for his own selfish reasons, as my "satire" showed, but at least he gave the order to kill the S.O.B!

 

[Gipper]

We, as a country, are at WAR with an enemy of religious fanatics who lop off the heads of innocent civilians, strap bombs to their own women and children and send them off on suicide missions, fly commercial jets into American buildings, bomb railroads in Spain and England, blow up nightclubs and embassies, etc.,etc.,etc.

I don't care what John McCain thinks. War is hell, and he of all people should know that. This country has NEVER been above committing acts that may not be in line with what "civil society" should do, but the day that this country brings a pea-shooter to a gunfight is the day that this country will fold.

Osama Bin Laden was not "murdered". Innocent people are "murdered". Enemy combatants and their leaders, like Bin Laden, die as "casualties of war". How they are killed is irrelevent. How they are buried is irrelevent. What the Arab world thinks about how Bin Laden was killed is irrelevent.

Obama did the right thing. I completely agree with his decision to send out a "posse" to kill that S.O.B., and Osama's last moments were spent proving what a COWARD he really was.

It was a gutsy, and completely necessary, decision by a President who I vociferously disagree with about 99% of the time. Anybody who thinks otherwise is playing partisan politics.

PFOS can whine and cry all he wants. What I posted was satire, and probably a lot closer to the TRUTH than any leftist will ever admit. Obama did the "right" thing for his own selfish reasons, as my "satire" showed, but at least he gave the order to kill the S.O.B!

I agree with you, but this mission is completely at odds with what BO claims he is for. And, the media has always agreed with what BO claimed he was for.

His actions defy is words.

He has executed an enemy leader in cold blood, but at the same time refuses to implement any tough interrogations, claims water boarding is torture, has limited interrogations to the Army Field Manual which anyone can access for details, and continues to prosecute Bush interrogators.

I believe our Skinny Socialist president has stepped into a pile of sh*t of his own making. And, here we were told he is the smartest man alive...

 

[TruthSeeker]

I agree with you, but this mission is completely at odds with what BO claims he is for. And, the media has always agreed with what BO claimed he was for.

His actions defy is words.

He has executed an enemy leader in cold blood, but at the same time refuses to implement any tough interrogations, claims water boarding is torture, has limited interrogations to the Army Field Manual which anyone can access for details, and continues to prosecute Bush interrogators.

I believe our Skinny Socialist president has stepped into a pile of sh*t of his own making. And, here we were told he is the smartest man alive...

Is it a shock that Obama is a HYPOCRITE? Of course not. The "candidate" Obama is not the same as "President" Obama on some issues, which is a good thing in this case.

As I pointed out in my "satire", while Obama is using intelligence obtained, in part, by using "enhanced interrogation techniques" to kill Bin Laden, his Attorney General, Eric Holder, is pursuing criminal investigations against CIA and military personnnel who were involved in "enhanced interrogation techniques" during the Bush administration.

If that isn't the ultimate in hypocrisy, I don't know what is.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Not so fast. Even the liberal New York Times ran an opinion piece today Whose Foreign Policy Is It?

And I don't know if Obama is going to get a pass on executing Osama bin Laden. The court of public opinion is slow to grow on a liberal president of the US. But a lot of wise and influential people people around the world are asking how Obama can hold the holy high ground after a mafia-style execution?

It looks like the White House and Intelligence community had the details of the operation all worked out - except for one: what do we tell people afterward? For God sake, if you are going to execute a guy, you should be prepared with a good excuse about what happened inside his "million-dollar mansion". At least someone could say "he went for his gun and we shot him". Nope. Just "hasta la vista baby".

funny how even though you where not there, and you have nothing to back up your so called..exicution...you act like its true...OBL did not have to have a gun in his hand to be a threat...he could have had a bomb attached ( as has happened before with people they have tried to get) or he could have reached for his gun....do you suggest SEALS wait for a terrorist to get the gun and aim it and maybe get off a round before its ok? Getting OBL alive would have gave us a large boost in intel possibly..we had a team waiting for him to be taken alive set up.

and if he was exicuted...so be it, I would have done it myself. But the only one who most likey realy knows if he was going for a gun..was the Seal/s in the room at the time...and I am going to take there word on it...unless you prove something.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Is it a shock that Obama is a HYPOCRITE? Of course not. The "candidate" Obama is not the same as "President" Obama on some issues, which is a good thing in this case.

As I pointed out in my "satire", while Obama is using intelligence obtained, in part, by using "enhanced interrogation techniques" to kill Bin Laden, his Attorney General, Eric Holder, is pursuing criminal investigations against CIA and military personnnel who were involved in "enhanced interrogation techniques" during the Bush administration.

If that isn't the ultimate in hypocrisy, I don't know what is.

unless you take that issue of the evidence that lead to getting Bin Laden..was not recived while being waterboarded or anything...but rather as stated by normal techniques. The ones claiming there torture was the reason he gave up the intel...months later of course...are only trying to cover there ass....

 

[Hobo1]

We, as a country, are at WAR with an enemy of religious fanatics who lop off the heads of innocent civilians, strap bombs to their own women and children and send them off on suicide missions, fly commercial jets into American buildings, bomb railroads in Spain and England, blow up nightclubs and embassies, etc.,etc.,etc.

I don't care what John McCain thinks. War is hell, and he of all people should know that. This country has NEVER been above committing acts that may not be in line with what "civil society" should do, but the day that this country brings a pea-shooter to a gunfight is the day that this country will fold.

Osama Bin Laden was not "murdered". Innocent people are "murdered". Enemy combatants and their leaders, like Bin Laden, die as "casualties of war". How they are killed is irrelevant. How they are buried is irrelevant. What the Arab world thinks about how Bin Laden was killed is irrelevent.

Obama did the right thing. I completely agree with his decision to send out a "posse" to kill that S.O.B., and Osama's last moments were spent proving what a COWARD he really was.

It was a gutsy, and completely necessary, decision by a President who I vociferously disagree with about 99% of the time. Anybody who thinks otherwise is playing partisan politics.

PFOS can whine and cry all he wants. What I posted was satire, and probably a lot closer to the TRUTH than any leftist will ever admit. Obama did the "right" thing for his own selfish reasons, as my "satire" showed, but at least he gave the order to kill the S.O.B!

This is a time of trial for the American people. Are we going to succumb to our base human instincts which characterize earlier civilizations, or are we a nation who holds ourselves to a set of higher principles? Killing Obama was an act of revenge killing pure and simple. As good as it makes us feel inside to finally get the bastard, the whole operation flies in the face of both US and international law.

In war you can't shoot an unarmed, defenseless enemy. By extending your idea that we are at war against all fundamentalists Muslims then we can shoot anyone who arbitrarily fits into that category. Where does that leave our fundamental belief in a rule of law? What separates our highly civilized nation from Iran, or al Qaeda, that murders with impunity?

Assuming bin Laden did not resist arrest, the proper action for a civilized nation would have been to capture him and given him his rights as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. By simply executing him the way we did makes the United States no better than the the terrorists that we abhor.