It is amazing to me that bureaucrats waited so damn long to execute the Bin Laden raid after we identified where he was living. We could have lost him again. I would have been pissed off if I was one of the CIA agents on the case.
Rewatching Zero Dark Thirty
- Thread starter Jimmy McGill
- Start date
I think the biggest issue was how they take out Bin Laden. The popular vote was the bomb the house. It was a very delicate issue considering the potential target and location.
Obama actually called the shot in a debate with John McCain and was roundly ridiculed by the right about his comment about going into Pakistan.
SEN. OBAMA: Well, Katie, it's a terrific question.
And we have a difficult situation in Pakistan. I believe that part of the reason we have a difficult situation is because we made a bad judgment going into Iraq in the first place when we hadn't finished the job of hunting down bin Laden and crushing al-Qaida.
So what happened was we got distracted, we diverted resources, and ultimately bin Laden escaped, set up base camps in the mountains of Pakistan in the northwest provinces there.
They are now raiding our troops in Afghanistan, destabilizing the situation. They're stronger now than at any time since 2001. And that's why I think it's so important for us to reverse course because that's the central front on terrorism. They are plotting to kill Americans right now. As Secretary Gates, the Defense secretary, said, the war against terrorism began in that region, and that's where it will end.
So part of the reason I think it's so important for us to end the war in Iraq is to be able to get more troops into Afghanistan, put more pressure on the Afghan government to do what it needs to do, eliminate some of the drug trafficking that's funding terrorism.
But I do believe that we have to change our policies with Pakistan. We can't coddle, as we did, a dictator, give him billions of dollars, and then he's making peace treaties with the Taliban and militants. What I have said is we're going encourage democracy in Pakistan, expand our non-military aid to Pakistan so that they have more of a stake in working with us, but insisting that they go after these militants.
And if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act, and we will take them out.
We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaida. That has to be our biggest national security priority.
I understand WMD and Iraq scared the $hit out of politicians, but by the time we found UBL, everyone knew that the Iraq thing was a sham. Bin Laden is what got us into everything, he should have always been priority number one despite Iraq.
I'm glad they didn't bomb the place and used the extraction team. We got tons of intelligence and we could actually prove we killed him. We would still be wondering if we used a bomb. I just don't understand why it took so long. He could have caught on that we knew where he was and disappeared again.
I'm glad they didn't bomb the place and used the extraction team. We got tons of intelligence and we could actually prove we killed him. We would still be wondering if we used a bomb. I just don't understand why it took so long. He could have caught on that we knew where he was and disappeared again.
It should not have been a priority. And Trump basically abandoned the Kurds....so I'm sure you'll call him out.
I was there in 2003 - 2004. CIA and FBI was stationed about 500 yards from where I slept at night at BIAP. They found little to nothing in regards to WMD.
They were taking trips out to the desert looking for them buried in the desert. They found evidence, but nothing like what the US people were sold on.
On TV again...not sure why Osama was not armed to defend himself. He armed an army. Glad he didn't
I love this movie. And, interesting the context between this one and something on Hulu now "The Looming Tower". In that one, before 9/11, the agents had to practically beg officials of other governments, to talk to anyone who may have had info on Al-Qaeda. After the towers fell, that problem sure went away.
On again, I am thinking about the pressure each of us have in our daily lives at our jobs. Thinking about the pressure on these agents foreign and domestic that were doing intell to catch Bin Laden is insane. I had less pressure in the cooker of Baghad, and that got to me at times.
The true miracle in the raid was that the house wasn’t wired to explode. A lot of the operators that were on that raid went in expecting to be blown up.
Everything about the story is just mindblowing from beginning to end.
100 days....Dear lord. I'm part of the machine now (not feds), I guarantee that timeliness will not happen around me.
Or the fact that one of the stealth helicopters went down and no one was left behind. Whoever drew up the plans…
Shite, night vision in the house. Kids and women screaming, having to to identify your target. Just insane
My cousin was in the special forces hunting him down in Afghanistan.
I’ve never really heard him talk much about it and I don’t ask questions. But I do remember him making a comment about how frustrating it was when they felt like they had him and never got the green light from the ones above calling the shots.
I’ve never really heard him talk much about it and I don’t ask questions. But I do remember him making a comment about how frustrating it was when they felt like they had him and never got the green light from the ones above calling the shots.
Remember Biden wanted to bomb the compound and not send in the Seals. No way to confirm his death.
He didn’t want to deal with the SEALs with their dip, and velcro, and all their gear bullshit.
Last edited:
Hey, in the end we nailed it. Our military executed a very difficult mission. Mission Accomplished.
I’d be Abbottabad to Jessica chastsian if you know what I mean. You can you that passion go find my wallet
Bush administration started focus on iraq for whatever the **** reason and did not provide the troops to afghan. We easily could have taken him out before 2004 if we were not sidetracked. Likely before that
Was an expense report filed for the Lamvbo paid for the Saudi?
Apparently Clinton had the opportunity to take him out too as but he chose not to do it due to collateral damage in doing so.
