The White House Public Relations Disaster

This morning, I received an essay via email from an author named Wes Pruden. He has written an awesome article entitled The insult to the American soldier.

When I reached his blog Pruden & Politics, I found out that you need to register in order to read the articles there.

Anyway, since I received this particular article via email and the email gave permission to share it with others, I decided to post the article in it's entirety here at Talk Wisdom.

~ Christine
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The insult to the American soldier


By Wesley Pruden




“Can’t anybody here play this game?”


The president, revealing himself to be Barack Obungle, has done what nobody else could have done, not even the spectacularly hapless original New York Mets, who drove Casey Stengel to his famous cry of terminal frustration.


The White House converted a picture-perfect military operation into a public-relations disaster that will be cited as what not to do and how not to do it in flackery textbooks for a hundred years. Days after the raid on Osama bin Laden’s “mansion” they still can’t get the “fact pattern,” in the language of the White House, even close to straight.


Even that ubiquitous photograph of the president, the secretary of state and assorted minions bravely watching the operation in “real time” looks now to have been a “photo-op” taken after the fact. This is the scene that the goofy John Brennan, the president’s anti-terrorism chief, described as one of unbearable tension endured heroically by the magnificent minions. Hillary seemed to be clutching her throat, choking back terror as she watched the raid unfold, but now Leon Panetta, the chief of the CIA, reveals that 24 minutes of the 40-minute video were “blacked out” by some kind of electronic malfunction. Maybe she was only wishing she had ordered pepperoni with extra cheese when the president sent out for pizza.


Can anyone imagine FDR and his generals canceling D-Day because an invasion might infuriate the Germans?


What a roller coaster ride: Osama bin Laden engaged the Seals in a firefight. Well, no, actually, it turns out he didn’t. But he did seize a woman, probably one of his wives, to use as a human shield. Uh, well, actually he didn’t do that, either. But he was armed, we know that for sure. Ummm, no, not really. OK, but we’re positive that woman was killed. Uh, not exactly. But we definitely, positively, absolutely know that Osama is dead. We have the photographs to prove it and the public can see them. Er, no, not quite. The president has them but you can’t see them. Everybody will just have to take his word for it.

That won’t happen, either. There was a time when everybody took a president’s word for everything. But nobody trusts the government on anything any more. Lies have withered public patience. Too bad, Mr. President, but you’ll have to show us the death certificate. No reasonable man can doubt that Osama is dead, dead, dead, but we’re talking now about the Middle East.

You might think the president would have rehearsed his minions in a story, even if concocted, so everybody would tell it like it is. The White House finally shut up with the explanation that “the fact pattern” is still being evaluated. It’s only now dawning on the president that he has done everything possible to guarantee an enduring worldwide harangue over whether Osama is in fact dead, how he was killed, whether dumping the body in the sea was wise, whether how he died violated the decencies of international custom, and whether burial traditions of Shariah law were followed before Osama became the ultimate fish dinner.

Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor and one of the most distinguished criminal lawyers in the land, says “burying his body at sea constituted the willful destruction of evidence.” The doubts that will be contrived by Muslim red-hots would have been prevented if Osama’s body had been subjected to the usual forensic testing, extensive examination of entrance and exit wounds, and paraffin testing for gunpowder residue. “Dead bodies,” he writes in an essay in the Wall Street Journal, “often talk more loudly, clearly and unambiguously than live witnesses.” He notes that when a Muslim or a Jew is murdered in the United States “religious considerations do not trump civil circumstances.”

But the real offense of the Washington wimpery is pushing a weakling’s canard against the military, asserting that the photograph can’t be shown because it would make Muslim terrorists cross at us. But surely the Army and the Navy can take care of themselves; soldiers, sailors and Marines aren’t Campfire Girls. Can anyone imagine FDR and his generals canceling D-Day because an invasion might infuriate the Germans? Or that a Muslim terrorist will now salute an American soldier in Afghanistan and put down his rifle and grenade launcher, telling him “we really appreciate your president’s keeping that ugly photograph to himself.”

Americans come from Mars, so the witticism goes, and Europeans are from Venus. But that doesn’t include this president and his bungling minions. They’re weepy refugees from Pluto.

Hat Tip:

Prudent Politics.com via email.

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I ask once again.  Is it any wonder why the American public is very busy searching for the truth on the Internet about what actually happened that day?  Three cheers for the Navy SEALS who did a magnificent job! Can't say the same about how the White House handled the aftermath.

Obama Wasn’t Told Until the Mission Was Under Way?

As the story about what really led up to the raid on UBL's compound in Pakistan (and who was ultimately in charge of the final decision to attack when the SEALS did) keeps changing and the previous decisions (e.g. to release the photos of bin Laden, then not to release them) made are changed, is it any wonder that the American people have doubts about this important event?

There are the naysayers who poo-poo the White House Insider story that I included in my post yesterday. However, many blogs are posting it and very interesting comments have helped to show that the scenario described by the Insider sounds more plausible than what the White House and media of mass deception are putting out.

I found a very reputable blog, the PJ Tattler at Pajamas Media, that posted the same story that I did yesterday. Here is a link:

PJ Tattler - Pajamas Media: Leon Panetta, not Obama, issued order to kill bin Laden?

As you can see, the author of the blog posed the Insider article in the form of a question within the title of the post. That was probably wise since we cannot know for sure whether or not what was written is the absolute truth.

I am pointing readers here to that blog so that you can see the back and forth banter between the commentators in the comment section. It's quite interesting, to say the least. You will also get more logical deductions from the readers there - especially when they are discussing the fact that Obama went golfing on such a momentous day when this extremely important event was about to happen. It does point to the question as to whether or not Obama knew exactly when the raid was going to happen. It helps explain why Leon Panetta could make the final decision - because Obama gave him the authority to do so when he saw it as feasible.

I just could not imagine former President George W. Bush going golfing on the day that the decision was made to get bin Laden. It would NEVER HAPPEN! He would not do something so trivial just before the final order was given to raid a compound in Pakistan in order to get bin Laden, dead or alive. Can you imagine Bush doing such a thing? I can't.

I really wish that there weren't any questions swirling around the bin Laden raid and killing. It makes us look bad to the rest of the world. But when there is a suspected cover-up of true events taking place, we cannot turn a blind eye. At least that is the way that I see it.

I celebrate the fact that Osama bin Laden is dead. I commend all who were involved in carrying out this dangerous mission - especially the brave Navy SEALS who put their own lives in jeopardy to get bin Laden. Justice was finally done for the thousands of people who lost loved ones on 9/11/01. It won't bring their loved ones back or even change their grief over their loss, but perhaps it will help them have some semblance of peace knowing that this mass murderer, once and for all, can never give an order to murder ever again.

There are dozens of comments that you need to read at the link above.

One that makes me tend to believe the Insider story was this one:

48. Roger
“Wrong at the White House…” The old adage goes that “if you lie, you have to lie 1000 times to cover it up” and that would certainly fit the song and dance(s) coming from the WH and Press Sec.

After reading the article I would have to say that “everything lines up” and fits to a tee the persona of a ‘weak’ and ‘manipulated’ puppet. Certainly the batting average of the reporter is pretty good and the specifics, right down to the ‘papers’ to read (from) not being present going in BUT being present coming out (small details but seemingly very telling)…
And yes, the ‘body language’, the guy sitting in the corner in the pic with his gold shirt on and a rather confused look, Oh, yeah, he is the President. He looks more like someone who should be serving coffee – meek, no real fact based opinions… flows with the wind (or Soros)…
I ‘think’ I believe the article… and we may never know for sure but when “outside” facts (times and people) line up with the suggested report then it certainly adds credibility.

We have been lied to so many times by this gangster government administration, it is hard for me to believe that they can actually tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth anymore.

I could post and comment about many more comments at that link, but you can go over and read them for yourself.

Here are the last three (as of 5/5/11 at 7:41 a.m. PT):

60. Count de Money
Here’s another piece of the official narrative that doesn’t pass the smell test but fits in nicely with the Insider’s account.

It is 233 miles straight line distance from Bagram AFB to the Abbottabad compound. We know that one of the helicopters used was a Chinook, probably a MH-47. The cruise speed of a Chinook is about 150 MPH and the service ceiling is about 10,000 ft. However, helicopters probably couldn’t fly in a straight line because of mountains higher than the service ceiling. Let’s assume it took about 2 hours to get to the target.

The raid was said to occur at 3:30 PM EDT. That means the copters had to leave Bagram at about 1:30 PM. At that time however, Obama was on the golf course at Andrews AFB and didn’t get back to the White House until 2:04 PM. So at the time the most important military mission of Obama’s tenure is taking off, he’s putting on the ninth hole? WTF?

This does fit into Insiders account that Obama wasn’t told until the mission was under way.

May 4, 2011 - 9:17 pm Link to this Comment | Reply Count de Money
Source for the golf timeline:
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2011/05/01/obama-golfs-weekend-row/

“The president left the White House to play golf at 9:42 am, arriving at the Andrews Air Force Base course about 25 minutes later, according to the press pool report. He then ended his game after nine holes at 1:39 pm and made it back to the White House at 2:04 pm, about two hours before the attack on Bin Laden appears to have occurred.”

May 4, 2011 - 9:33 pm Link to this Comment | Reply Geronimo
Yup…

Seriously, is there not even one DC reporter interested in the fact that O might have been on a golf course when the birds were in the air and minutes from the actual assault?

No clarification on the May 1st timeline whatsoever?

God help us.

White House Insider: Obama Hesitated – Panetta Issued Order to Kill Osama Bin Laden [Update]

Pamela Geller has the inside scoop about what REALLY transpired during the decision process of whether or not to kill bin Laden!

Skulking Towards bin Laden: Obama Overridden by Military and Intel Officials in Takeout of OBL?

Excerpt:

As Obama continues to politicize and mine the takedown of Osama Bin Laden and the outrageous "Islamic burial" that followed, new details emerge of his reluctance and refusal to sign off on the mission. It is the height of hypocrisy and crass opportunism to draw out the release of the death photos so as to prolong the news cycle on the story, and to neglect the tornado-ravaged parts of the country -- instead, Obama campaigns at Ground Zero on Thursday for an "O-victory lap," while it appears that in fact Obama had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the OBL operation.
The story that follows is deeply disturbing, but hardly surprising. When news broke that Obama rejected bombing the complex last month, one had to wonder why. It was reported that Obama feared collateral damage, despite being assured that the walls of the complex were high enough so that no civilians would be killed. Instead, he risked losing Americans in a mano-a-mano raid.

A reluctant American president who was ultimately overridden by senior military and intelligence officials to finally take out terrorist Osama Bin Laden… Ulstermann (hat tip CO)
Note:  This communication came from our long time D.C. Insider and details previous and ongoing conflicts surrounding the decision to assassinate terrorist Osama Bin Laden.  This has been reproduced here as originally communicated to us.
__________
Please get this out ASAP.  Want specific people to know we know.
 RE Osama Bin Laden.  Significant push to take him out months ago.  Senior WH staff resisted.  This was cause of much strain between HC and Obama/Jarrett.  HC and LP were in constant communication over matter – both attempted to convince administration to act.  Administration feared failure and resulting negative impact on president.  Intel disgusted over politics over national security.  Staff resigned/left.  Check timeline to corroborate.
Now Intel already leaking to media facts surrounding how info obtained. Namely from enhanced interrogation efforts via GITMO prisoners.  Obama administration placed in corner on this.  Some media aware of danger to president RE this and attempting protection.  Others looking for further investigation.  We are pushing for them to follow through and already meeting with some access.  Point of determination made FOR Obama not BY Obama.  Will clarify as details become more clear.  Very clear divide between Military and WH.  Jarrett marginalized 100% on decision to take out OBL.  She played no part.  BD worked with LP and HC to form coalition to force CoC to engage.
IMPORTANT SPECIFIC:  When 48 hour go order issued, CoC was told, not requested.  Administration scrambled to abort.  That order was overruled.  This order did not originate from CoC.  Repeat – this order did not originate from CoC.  He complied, but did not originate.
Independent military contacts have confirmed.  Stories corroborate one another.  This is legit.
The killing of Osama Bin Laden was in fact a Coup within Obama WH.
Speaking with additional contacts RE info.
Stay safe.
________________
HC = Hillary Clinton
BD = Bill Daley
LP = Leon Panetta
CoC = Chain of Command/Commander in Chief

Read the entire thing!

Now when I look at the photo of everyone watching the mission, I see that Obama DOES look angry! He is also wearing his typical Sunday best - a golf shirt. Seems plausible that he WAS pulled off the golf course to be briefed rather than being "in the know" about the entire operation. No wonder it took him several hours to come out and make that created-for-him teleprompter speech!

Also see:

Socy Berty: White House Insider: Obama Hesitated - Panetta Issued Order to Kill Osama bin Laden

This is a link to page four of above report:


White House Insider: Obama Hesitated – Panetta Issued Order to Kill Osama Bin Laden

Copy of page 4:

White House Insider: Obama Hesitated – Panetta Issued Order to Kill Osama Bin Laden
by Ulsterman in Issues, May 3, 2011

"What Valerie Jarrett, and the president, did not know is that Leon Panetta had already initiated a program that reported to him –and only him, involving a covert on the ground attack against the compound."

At the conclusion of the mission, after it had been repeatedly confirmed a success, President Obama was once again briefed behind closed doors. The only ones who went in that room besides the president were Bill Daley. John Brennan, and a third individual whose identity remains unknown to me. When leaving this briefing, the president came out of it “…much more confident. Much more certain of himself.” He was also carrying papers in his hand that quite possibly was the address to the nation given later that evening on the Bin Laden mission. The president did not have those papers with him prior to that briefing. The president then returned to the war room, where by this time, Leon Panetta had personally arrived and was receiving congratulations from all who were present.

In my initial communication to you of these events I described what unfolded as a temporary Coup initiated by high ranking intelligence and military officials. I stand by that term. These figures worked around the uncertainty of President Obama and the repeated resistance of Valerie Jarrett. If they had not been willing to do so, I am certain Osama Bin Laden would still be alive today. There will be no punishment to those who acted outside the authority of the president’s office. The president cannot afford to admit such a fact. What will be most interesting from here is to now see what becomes of Valerie Jarrett. One source indicated she is threatening resignation. I find that unlikely given my strong belief she needs the protection afforded her by the Oval Office and its immense powers to delay and eventually terminate investigations back in Chicago, but we shall see



Read more: http://socyberty.com/issues/white-house-insider-obama-hesitated-panetta-issued-order-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/#ixzz1LOZrA9iD

Hat Tips to all links.

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Update from Atlas Shrugs 5/4/11:

Atlas Shrugs: 9 Months, 16 hours ...... Obama's Reluctance, Osama Poised to Flee

Excerpt:

More details from the Daily Mail on Obama's reluctance to pull the trigger on OBL. My first posting on this subject had heads exploding across the blogosphere. It definitely hit a chord. What is it that they say? If you are getting a lot of flak, you know you have hit the target.

Obama took SIXTEEN HOURS to make up his mind about Bin Laden mission Daily Mail
Barack Obama kept military commanders hanging by declaring he would 'sleep on it' before taking 16 hours to give the go-ahead to raid Bin Laden's compound.
Hit squads of specialist Navy Seals - who were not even told who they were preparing to capture - had practised the mission at two reconstructions of the terror chiefs sprawling compound.
The mission looked set to be given the all clear last Thursday when analysts confirmed beyond doubt that Bin Laden was in busy town of Abbottabad in northern Pakistan. Read more: here

It is disturbing that the safe-house was discovered last August and that we risked losing OBL over the course of the past nine months. The courier's name who led to Bin Laden through Bush's CIA interrogations was leaked in the latest WIKILEAKS dump. So it was only a matter of time.
"Osama bin Laden had 500 Euros in cash and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed, CBS News has confirmed." It was a miracle we got there in time.
But OBL appeared not to be worried. OBL was at the compound without armed guards or any sort of organized unit of protection. OBL was so confident, so safe, so assured. He lived there for some time (as opposed to moving from cave to cave under Bush). Clearly he was not worried under an Obama administration, and it's a miracle he was still there.
The media won't vet this story. So once again the blogs will go about getting to the bottom of things. The following update makes sense of what we know about Obama's reluctance to fight jihad. He seemed more concerned with getting Osama's Islamic burial right and the "Muslims sensitivities" that might be inflamed by the release of the OBL's death photos. Striking when Obama has insisted OBL was "not a Muslim leader."

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Not only that, but now Gateway Pundit reports:

White House: We Won't Release bin Laden Photo.

This White House doesn't know WHAT IT'S DOING!!!! The incompetence is AMAZING!!!

Big News! Osama bin Laden is Dead! [Update 5]

I was driving home from a quick run to the grocery store when I first heard on Geraldo's show that Bin Laden is dead! The first blog on my blogroll to announce this was Atlas Shrugs.

Praise be to God that our brave military continued to pursue the illusive Al Qaeda murderer and mastermind and was finally successful!!!

HT: Atlas Shrugs

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P.S. During Obama's comments tonight, he stated that the events that killed Osama bin Laden happened "today" but the reports say it happened a week ago!! Hmmmm....a teleprompter error? Or was Obama trying to take credit for an event that happened without his influence?

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Update 1

I found a link via WorldNetDaily of photos of the compound after the killings. Warning! Many are bloody and gruesome.

ABC: Photos inside Osama bin Laden kill zone

Update 2

There is also a video

The people are speaking Arabic so I don't know what they were saying.

Also see Osama Bin Laden Killed Near Islamabad.

Hat tip ABC News.

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Update 3


I thought that it was only fair to include some links to what skeptics have written about this news:

Veterans Today: Obama Announces bin Laden Still Dead

[Take special note of what the late Benazir Bhutto said about bin Laden being murdered years ago in a video at above link.]

Stevex09: Osama Bin Laden dead … but the body is conveniently disposed of … in the sea!

Drkatesview: Chess Moves by the CIA

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Update #4 - 5/3/11

I think that the photos of Osama bin Laden's body need to be released. Many Americans need to see if the terrorist is really dead.

News Yahoo: Not everyone believes bin Laden really is dead

Even some Pakistani youths are mocking the U.S. over it!

'Osama is alive!' mock Pakistanis outside compound

Some Pakistanis think "it was faked."

News Yahoo: Bin Laden's luxury hideout raises questions.

And please note that this is NOT coming from a right-wing blog! Quote from end of article:

Many Pakistanis doubted the U.S. account of the raid, with some refusing to believe that bin Laden was dead.

"It is not possible. Like other incidents, I think this is faked," said Mohammad Bashir, a 45-year-old cab driver in Abbottabad. "It seems that in the coming days, suddenly Osama will come out with a statement."

___

Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Abbottabad, Munir Ahmed and Chris Brummitt in Islamabad and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar contributed to this report.

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Update # 5

Just as I published my last update, I found out via Gateway Pundit:

White House to release bin Laden death photo.

Ex-Taliban Militant's Story Sounds Fishy to Me

There is nothing like old news to get people speculating again. I, for one, must confess that I am guilty as charged.

I read this article entitled Afghanistan: Bin Laden hiding in border mountains, claims ex-Taliban militant.

How many times have we either heard or read about this on the news? Dozens if not hundreds!!

Could this so-called ex?-Taliban militant just be a "plant" to get the speculation of Bin Laden's death off of the minds of Americans? I would think that the only ex-Taliban militants that exist are ten feet under...dead and buried.

What I find especially curious in the article is this portion:

"I saw him for the last time on 17 September 2003 not far from Dir, my village, " he said. "His caravan was moving slowly. They told me he was not well. They didn't seem worried about being detected by the Americans."

Wouldn't that one comment make the entire article old news?

This ex-militant obviously wouldn't even know what had happened to Bin Laden since that date!

I smell something very fishy about this "militant's" story.

I still think that Bin Hidin' has Bin Dead since August or September of 2006. Wouldn't it have been poetic justice if he died on September 11th? I know. More speculation. Since the classified French report was leaked sometime about Sept. 23rd, it is more likely that the monstermind would have died closer to that date.

It's just too much of a coincidence that the Taliban held such a huge funeral in Sept. 2006 if Bin Hidin' was still alive.

See the following former posts:

Is Bin Laden Dead?

Is Zawahiri the "Big Kahuna" Now?

Osama Bin Dead Still Propagandizing

Additional links:

Michele Malkin's "What the...?!!!!

Stop the ACLU's Osama Bin Laden Dead? (tons of additional links)

TownHall's - AP France Unconfirmed Report: Osama bin Laden Dead? (Update: Saudi Sources Say He's Very Ill) (more links there, too)