SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON OBAMA AND bin LADEN

Trust me, after a solid week of wall-to-wall coverage of the Royal wedding, I am beyond thrilled to have wall-to-wall coverage of the death of radical Islamic murderer Osama bin Laden.  Just like much of the country, and the world, I’m trying to piece together the details of how we got here and how the operation went down.  One thing is for sure … our intelligence community should be praised for its diligent work in tracking him down, our intelligence and military must be praised for crafting this targeted mission and the Navy Seals who carried out the mission should be awarded the highest possible honor for their skill and heroism. 
And that brings us to Barack Obama ……
Have you heard?  I’m not exactly a fan of our current president.  I feel that he’s dangerous to the cause of liberty, and I earnestly hope that every single day I’ll manage to say something – to put across one small point somewhere – that will cause someone out there who supports Obama to pause for a minute and to say to themselves  “maybe, just maybe, there are some things about this man I haven’t considered.”  In order for that to happen, listeners – whether friendly or unfriendly – have to believe that I’m trying to be honest with them.  And just how will listeners believe I’m trying to be objective and honest if I am completely unable to give credit where credit is due, or if I have to grudgingly give credit laced with sarcasm.  So you’re now going to see hear me (or see me) use a phrase I generally try to avoid.  That phrase?  President Barack Obama.  When considering the operation that turned bin Laden into fish food Obama showed himself to be presidential.  Maybe it’s early in this particular game, but I can’t think of one single area in this entire scenario where Obama comes in for any legitimate criticism.  That may change tomorrow or next week as we learn more ... but for now it’s “job well done, Mr. President.” 
So yesterday we had Baba Wawa saying on The View that she “would hate to be a Republican running against Obama.”  There you go, my friends.  That’s going to be spin from the left.  We’re going to be told time and time again over that Obama has been made electorally bulletproof by virtue of two bullets in Osama’s head.  This is more the progressive dream than it is the American reality.  The progs think that those who believe in personal responsibility, freedom and economic liberty are the dark underside of America.  They also know in their hearts that Obama has been a miserable (and utterly predictable) failure as president – bin Laden’s death notwithstanding – and they are grasping at anything that will give them hope for 2012. 
So .. will this bump in Obama’s popularity vanquish that pesky little pro- liberty cabal next year?  Sorry … I don’t think so; and I certainly pray that it doesn’t turn out that way.  Remember, if you will, that Bush 43’s approval rating after the liberation of Kuwait was in the 90s.  Barbara Walters wasn’t grinning like someone had stuffed a coat hanger in her mouth then.  Not many presidents ever see approval ratings in the 90s, and Bush 43 found himself a one-term president in short order.  Sure, Obama is going to get a boost in his approval ratings, but they won’t carry him through next year’s election.  And why not?  Consider, if you will ………….

• The death of Osama bin Laden isn’t going to pay off a dollar of our national debt, nor is it going to result in any significant lowering of our deficit.

• Two bullets in Osama’s head aren’t going to create jobs in America or help Americans save their homes from foreclosure.

• Osama’s burial at sea isn’t magically going to lead to a discovery vast new undersea oil reserves that will ease the pain of record-high gas prices. 

Obama’s failure to find and deal with Osama (has)bin Laden wasn’t what brought him these negative approval numbers, and sending bin Laden to his eternal celestial waterbed is not going to permanently raise those numbers.  The economy still sucks, the dollar continues to fall, business start-ups continue to be slow (or non-existent) due to the tax and regulatory burdens they face in this country.  Obama continues in his belief that America’s greatness comes from government and that it is his role as our Dear Ruler to seize wealth from those who have produced it and give it to those who have not because that’s “fair”.  Obama’s proposed budgets still call for increased spending in a nation that has spent itself to the brink of insolvency.  In other words … the things that made Obama dangerous to the cause of liberty and our economic future haven’t changed one iota with the death of bin Laden.
Yes … Barack Obama should be praised for making the final call to carry out the mission.  He filled the role of Commander in Chief admirably doing what a good CIC does … telling his team to “go get ‘em.”   
But there are still some looming questions and new debates that have stemmed from the news of Osama’s death.  Let’s see if we can tackle a few of these … shall we?

The Gitmo/torture debate

As the story unfolds, we are learning that our intelligence community found Osama bin Laden’s compound by tracking his most trusted courier.  This was the guy whom Osama trusted to carry his messages out to the world.  But the controversy is how our intelligence found this guy to begin with … apparently through “harsh interrogation tactics” of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed  and others in secret CIA prisons in Poland and Romania.  It was in these secret prisons where KSM and his successor gave up the nom de guerre of the courier who eventually led the CIA to Osama’s compound.  I’m also led to believe that these names were given up by KSM, perhaps during a nice cozy little waterboarding session, during the presidency of George W. Bush.  Now once the CIA had the nickname for this guy, actually finding him proved to be tough but eventually did happen because of one phone call he took last year.  I highly suggest reading the details of that story, as they are very interesting and commendable.  But the point of all this is that it brings into question the gathering of intelligence material in secret prisons or places like Guantanamo Bay.  Do the ends (killing bin Laden) justify the means (“torture”)?  Up until Sunday night, the Left would tell you absolutely not.  That was until their guy – Barack Obama – used information from these tactics to end the decade-long manhunt for bin Laden. 
A quick word about what the left just loves to rant about --- torture.  A question:  Would you torture someone in order to obtain information that you knew would be absolutely necessary to save the lives of your family?  My answer?  Not only yes, but hell yes.  If your answer is any different then might I suggest that you have a little family meeting and tell them how you feel on this issue?  Then sit back and accept their love and understanding for your great stand on human rights. 

Should we really have shot the SOB?

At first I was disappointed with the news that Osama bin Laden was shot and killed.  But this is another “not only yes, but hell yes” question.  I was hoping that the SOB would have a little bit of suffering to do before visiting his 72 virgins.  But the more I thought about it, I was OK with the idea that the last thing this goon saw was a muzzle flash.  But some people are questioning the “Obama Doctrine: Better dead than Gitmo.”  Should we have captured the SOB for the purposes of gathering more valuable intelligence on this war with radical Islam?
Osama dead and feeding Arabian Sea lobsters is the best possible end to this.  If Obama had been captured he would be the focal point of protests and demands from the Islamic world.  It doesn’t take a brilliant intelligence and political operation to understand that if Osama were taken alive the very least we could expect would be that by now some Islamic goons would have kidnapped an American family touring some part of the world, and would be demanding the release of bin Laden in return for the lives of those Americans.  What president would like to see a video of some American tourist’s head being cut off while he refuses to release a murdering Islamic monster? 

What to do about Pakistan

Perhaps the biggest red flag in the wake of all of this has been Pakistan.  The fact that Osama was able to reside just outside of its nation’s capital and just meters from its main military training facility should make anybody’s spidey senses go on alert.  Something ain’t right.  Are you telling me that NOBODY in Pakistan or in Abbottabad noticed this compound, eight times larger than other structures in the area with high walls, security doors and barbed wire?
Come on, folks.  Of course Pakistan knew Osama was there.  They knew he was there and they wanted him gone BAD.  So here’s your probable scenario:  Pakistani officials make it clear to American intelligence operatives that they want bin Laden dealt with.  “Look .. you send your helicopters in here and take this guy out.  We will not interfere.  We will scramble some of our jet fighters at the last minute and chase your helicopters back to the Afghan border .. but they won’t shoot at your men.  Then when this is over we’re going to issue a few little mild complaints about you violating our sovereignty and how we had no idea that Osama bin Laden was hiding 100 yards from our principle military academy … and everybody is happy.” 

Osama’s wife used as a shield

What a coward.  When it came down to it, Osama bin Laden hid behind one of his wives in order to shield himself from the Navy SEAL team.  She died in the attack.  This is pretty much what you would expect from a brave warrior of Islam.  Muslim radicals are not exactly warm and fuzzy (beards notwithstanding) when it comes to respecting and honoring women. 

Should Bush get credit?

I’ve said this from the beginning … I have nothing negative to say about Obama’s handling of the bin Laden situation.  At the end of the day, it was Obama who gave the OK for the operation to take place.  He deserves all the praise for making the final call.  But how much of the credit should George W. Bush get in this situation?  Remember .. much of the intelligence information that was used to locate bin Laden was gathered either during or using techniques developed under Bush.  Would Obama have engaged in those “enhanced interrogation techniques?”  Hard to say, but you would have to guess that the answer is no.