Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Leaky administration vs Navy SEAL team 6










The Obama administration apparently feels it hasn't leaked out enough information about the highly classified squadron, known as Navy SEAL team 6 and its assault on Osama Bin Laden's compound. And so, on Tuesday it decided to leak out even more information about the highly covert squadron and the aforementioned operation.
Sigh....

Details, from the AP, are here.

Incidentally, it is also worthy to note the following tidbit from the AP article:

The decision to launch on that particular moonless night in May came largely because too many American officials had been briefed on the plan. US officials feared if it leaked to the press, bin Laden would disappear for another decade.
Contrast that statement with a recent statement made by President Obama to 60 Minutes:
"You know, one of the great successes of this operation was that we were able to keep this thing secret. And it's a testimony to how seriously everybody took this operation and the understanding that any leak could end up not only compromising the mission, but killing some of the guys that we were sending in there.

"And so very few people in the White House knew. The vast majority of my most senior aides did not know that we were doing this."
And, one more time, from the AP:
The decision to launch on that particular moonless night in May came largely because too many American officials had been briefed on the plan. US officials feared if it leaked to the press, bin Laden would disappear for another decade.
My guess is that the "Ditherer in Chief" could not make up his mind about whether to go through with the mission. So, he conferred with just about anyone he could find, and the people he conferred with confided with others. By the time the game of "telephone" had ended, too many people knew about the mission, and there was no choice but to launch the operation before the mainstream media could learn the information and leak it to Al Qaeda. But admittedly, this is mere speculation on my part.

Additionally, as I noted previously, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently expressed frustration about the leaks that emanated from the White House immediately after the assault on Bin Laden's compound. The Defense Secretary was addressing concerns from U.S. service members who said the leaks could jeopardize the lives of the Navy SEALS involved in the Bin Laden operation:

"I would tell you that when I met with the team last Thursday, they expressed a concern about that, and particularly with respect to their families," said Gates. "Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden. That all fell apart on Monday, the next day."...

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