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(UPDATE V) A Reminder Of Bush The Weakling As The Right Mission Is Finally Accomplished
to open more widely to the tolerance, modernism, and pragmatism that is so badly
needed and so long awaited in a part of the world where despair, corruption, brutality,
and fanaticism have laid waste to so many generations. ~ LAWRENCE WRIGHT
As defining moments go, it was huge. Barack Obama, the president that his foes still insist is weak on defense and foreign policy, has accomplished in one bold stroke what George Bush could not succeed in doing during eight years of bumbling.
Recall the weeks after the 9/11 attacks when U.S. special operations forces were closing in on Osama bin Laden in the desolate reaches of Tora Bora on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border only to have the White House lose focus, if not nerve. Long story short, instead of continuing to pursue the Al Qaeda leader and Taliban helpmates with the full brunt of combined Army, Marine Corps and Air Force ops, the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld troika started a second war — a wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time — in effect giving Bin Laden and the Taliban a pass.
There certainly is a chance of retaliation for Bin Laden’s death, while luck must be factored into the success of the surgical strike at the palatial hilltop compound in a Abbottabad suburb with a large garrison that is favored by retired military officers where he was living in plain sight. (Thanks a heap, Pakistan.) But Al Qaeda is considerably diminished at a time when a revolution that renounces the violence preached by the terrorist group is sweeping the Middle East, while the outpouring of emotion in New York City, Washington and across the U.S. was nothing short of extraordinary and a reminder that the 9/11 attacks remain seared in the national consciousness.
The mission itself was a routine one for the Navy SEALS except for the fact their target was, in military parlance, high value and the most loathed man in America. They had trained with a full-scale model of the compound built at Dam Neck, Virginia, their home base, and so they more than knew what they were doing when one of the SEALS put two rounds into Bin Laden’s kisser.
Recall that in 2005, the CIA closed its Bin Laden Unit, an admission of the underlying weakness of the War on Terror strategy, while Bush himself allowed that Bin Laden was just now “a symbol,” an extraordinary if unintentional acknowledgment of the impotence of an administration built on the sands of hubris and obfuscation.
Despite some earlier successes, Obama’s critics have said that he does not understand what must be done to combat terrorism. “They are very much giving up that center of attention and focus that’s required,” remarked Vice President Cheney in March 2009, unaware that the new president was already focused on killing Bin Laden and was deeply involved in the process that led to his death. (In contrast, Cheney’s statement today was gracious, while Bush praised Obama after he called hism to tell him the news.)
Bin Laden’s body wasn’t even cold when the critics weighed in. Was Bin Laden really dead? (Where’s the long-form death certificate?) In what is obviously a cover-up, he was buried at sea. (Never mind that this was in accordance with Islamic custom and a smart move to keep his grave from becoming a symbol.)
Some critics also have been quick to less praise Obama than to paper over the day’s events by claiming that the intelligence that led to Bin Laden’s death was developed on Bush’s watch. Some critics also have been quick to less praise Obama than to paper over the day’s events by claiming that the intelligence that led to Bin Laden’s death was developed on Bush’s watch. That is correct, but only to a point because that intelligence was never acted on until good-old detective work last August confirmed the identity of a trusted Biden Laden courier who was said to live in the compound and an Al Qaeda operative was snatched off the streets of Abbottabad in February.
“Mission Accomplished” is the most enduring of the triumphalist symbols of an era where stage-crafted symbolism trumped leadership. Speaking of Trump, while Obama spoke he was hosting a cat fight between NeNe and Starr Jones on Celebrity Apprentice and making an “historic” decision to bring back LaToya Jackson. Then the show was knocked off the air by the man whom he claims he could beat in 2012.
But the death of Osama bin Laden eight years to the day that Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier and declared that the Iraq war was all but won is anything but a symbol. It is a mission accomplished, but not the mission accomplished. And it is a real thing in a new era where America has been gifted a real president who was an obscure Illinois state legislator on 9/11 but has now both answered and risen above his critics.
28 Responses to “(UPDATE V) A Reminder Of Bush The Weakling As The Right Mission Is Finally Accomplished”
Nah nah nah nah
nah nah nah
hey hey
good bye
The importance of this symbolic victory can’t be understated imo. Just as it should be a significant morale booster for the west, it must also be a morale depressant for al qaeda. I would suggest this is a time when we should be especially vigilant though, as al qaeda will no doubt be anxious to regain thier status. That said, and this should not be misconstrued as politicizing, the elimination of Bin Laden is also a significant victory for Obama, and you can be sure this will be brought up often in 2012.
Commenters, read the rules and hold to them. We have a new system and intend to keep the snide and sarcastic remarks, the attacks sideways or frontal on other commenters and writers, to zero. Stick to the topic. Thanks
This comment has been deleted as will all others from Indefatigably on this thread.
gcotharn:
Who, pray tell, is dividing you from whom?
A headline of “Bush the Weakling” is going to elicit some strong responses, and was meant to.
Dear Shaun,
Please imagine what I would say to you about this post if I could.
dduck:
Have at it as long as what you would say is on the merits or demerits of the post and not a personal attack. Pretty simple, really.
Nah. I can’t do that, the field is tilted.
The New York Times features an article which leaves quite a different impression than what is in this OP as to whether this had nothing to do with Bush administration efforts, including the Guatanamo interrogations that identified the courier and how that courier was traced for four years before finally leading to the compound where bin Laden was residing. The article by these presently employed journalists leaves the reader with the impression that Obama was simply in the WH when the investigative work finally pinpointed the location.
casualobserver:
As I note, the Bush administration gets props, but only to a point. Bin Laden’s death is not a vindication of Bush, let alone what he allowed to go on at Gitmo.
There is enough credit to go around to everyone; enough happiness to be shared by everyone. Let graciousness rule the day.
Yup.
As far as Bush being (or not being) a weakling…
It was Bush who once wanted bin Laden (who attacked our country and killed thousands of innocent people) “dead or alive”. And it was the same Bush who a couple years later called bin Laden irrelevant and abdicated the hunt for bin Laden to start a war in Iraq. To me that is a weakling… someone who has given up finding this nation’s worst (and sworn) enemy who has attacked us and continued to plot against us.
I find the attempt to paint this as a success for Obama and a failure for Bush to be inherently partisan, especially since, by nature of the operation, what has been done and what has been possible over the ten years is unknown rendering such judgement impossible without spin. This is the first article I’ve read on the subject that tried to bring partisan spin into it. I’m glad Obama himself rose above such things.
Not quite, he made it seem that he awakened the CIA by telling them that OBL was a top priority.
Like C and B had him at a lower priority.
IMHO, still too many Is in his speeches.
Two brief comments: 1.) I believe that portion of the headline, “Bush the Weakling” was rather provocative, and 2.) I believe Bin Laden could have been taken out much sooner had the neocon focus not been on Iraq. The enormity of that mistake is incalculable imo.
Right on Shaun, Amen to this correct post I have always thought you use good assessment and you never dissapoint me.
Ras
Is it one bold stroke? Quite a stirring phrase but has little real meaning. There is no indication that Obama has done anything but continue Bush’s policies and no reason at all to think there was any sigular attempt in exclusion to the regular and repeated efforts by the military and inteligance comunities.
Recall? Like there was ever evidence of what you are claiming? The “full force” was never in or involved in trying to track or pursue Osama and their was never any indication that there was any drawdown of the forces that were tasked to do so. You state it as a fact when it has not been shown at all to be so.
If this is true I would like to know about it. How do you know this and why should I believe it coming from such an obvious partisan source?
Don’t be to hard on people. This wasn’t the first time Osama was thought to be dead and the info was really trickeling out so people were filling in the gaps with their own crap. Anyone that says that now should be called an idiot but I give people a little time before starting the condemnations.
And some do almost anything to run down Bush. Partisans rarely let facts or fairness bother them do they?
Nice little partisan jab having virtually nothing to do with anything while enabling you to get a shot in.
Oh come on! I’ll give props where due. Congradulations on a job well done and all that, but the idea that this one successes is all Obama needs to “answer and rise above his critics” is absurd. This has nothing to do with his economic and social policies which I have problems with. It doesn’t explaine continuing the QE policies which are jacking up comodity prices like food and oil. There are tons of posible criticism and this event silences none of them
All I’ll say about all this at this time is:
Congratulations President Obama and America for a Mission truly Accomplished.
And to those who have problems with this:
Honi soit qui mal y pense.
commenters, this is a new forum with new tools to keep conversations within the rules of TMV. Stay to the topic and all will be well. Attack the writer or other commenters, comments will be removed as they violate the commenters’ rules. Persist after being warned, and you will be banned.
Thanks.
Archangel/ dr.e
Needless to say, there will be those who are simply unwilling or unable to give President Obama the credit he deserves. They are in the minority – and for good reason.
This is a perfect example of what is wrong with the far left. We have significant event…healing the hearts of many that lost family on 911.. and what is the liberal reaction on TMV? Either “so what, nothing has changed”, “GWB is a loser”, or “gee, why didn’t that sit down and just talk with him?”
It is no wonder Obama has such a hard time trying to make you happy.
I wish it healed the hearts of those who lost family on 9-11. It’s not that exactly shannonLeee. It is more like a sad period at the end of one of the sentences. Finally. There are many other things that will never be healed, only learned to live with. Many right now are having flashbacks because of the news; it is a hard time. the cheering we see on tv, is not the souls who lost so much. I’d listen to the sons and daughters who have become firefighters and police officers who have the somberness and quiet gratitude about this matter.
I’d ask you too shannonLeee to keep your remarks to the topic instead of to TMV, writers or commenters. The topic is none of those. Thanks
I’m with you shannon. I find it harder and harder to speak.