“At the urging of [Presidential advisor] Valerie Jarrett [above], President Barack Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden on three separate occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011 Navy SEAL mission.” That’s according to The Daily Caller, who’ve read an advance copy of Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him. According to author Richard Miniter, Obama canceled the Osama mission in January 2011, February, and March. And then again the day before the raid. “Obama administration officials . . . blamed the delay on unfavorable weather conditions near bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.” Guess what? . . .
Miniter obtained that day’s weather reports from the U.S. Air Force Combat Meteorological Center, he said, they showed ideal conditions for the SEALs to carry out their orders.
Hindsight is 20/20. Do we know all the circumstances surrounding the President’s “delay”? We do not. May all the President’s men have spun the fourth no-go to avoid revealing operational considerations? Quite possibly.
To back up its interpretation of President Obama as a wishy-washy leader, the DC says Miniter’s tome paints a portrait of a generally indecisive Commander-in-Chief. Partisan politics or a look behind the mask? We report you deride.