TPMDC Navy Seals: May 2011
Pakistan
White House to Pakistan: 'No Apologies' for OBL Raid
White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Obama stands by his decision to order a covert assault-team raid to cross into a Pakistani city and kill Osama bin Laden without telling Pakistani officials.
"We obviously take statements and concerns of the Pakistani government very seriously," Carney told reporters at a briefing. "We also do not apologize for the actions that we took. [The President] said back in the [2008] campaign...if this is the only way we can do it, to do it unilaterally, he would take that chance and we did it. It is beyond a doubt in his mind, that he had the right and the imperative to do it."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Jay Carney, Military, Navy Seals, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, White House
Barack Obama
White House: We Won't Release Any More Operational Details About OBL Killing
After two days of administration officials offering up conflicting details and accounts of the intense U.S. assault-team raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and his subsequent killing, the White House has completely shut down press attempts to get a full accounting of what transpired.
White House spokesman Jay Carney Wednesday referred all questions about operational aspects of the mission to the Defense Department, even refusing to say who, if anyone, was shooting back at the Navy Seals during the "firefight" that Carney and other administration officials earlier in the week has said took place during the 40-minute raid Sunday night.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Barack Obama, Jay Carney, John Brennan, Navy Seals, Osama Bin Laden
Navy Seals
Sen. Ayotte: I've Seen A Photo Of Slain Bin Laden
US Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
Update at 3:47 p.m.: Sen. Saxby Chambliss' office says he didn't show Ayotte the photo and he has not seen it himself.
Amid reports that the White House will not release a photo of a slain Osama bin Laden, a photo of bin Laden is circulating among some senators.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) tells TPM another senator showed her a photo of a deceased bin Laden with the understanding that it was an authentic photo the Navy Seals took of him after he was killed.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, House Intelligence Committee, Kelly Ayotte, Mike Rogers, Navy Seals, Osama Bin Laden, Saxby Chambliss, Senate, Senate intelligence committee
'Obama's Wars'
White House Further Revises Narrative On OBL Killing
The White House has further corrected details of the intense, Sunday-night raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and subsequent killing in an attempt to clear up several misstatements from administration officials about what transpired inside the compound walls during the 40-minute covert mission.
President Obama's press secretary Jay Carney Tuesday afternoon read a Pentagon-prepared statement to reporters describing the events that took place inside the compound Sunday night.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', 9/11, Barack Obama, John Brennan, Navy Seals, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism, White House
Osama Bin Laden
'Minutes Passed Like Days' As WH Watched Osama Bin Laden Operation Unfold
[Late Update: The White House has backed off some of the details of John Brennan's account. More here.]
The President and his national security team spent Sunday afternoon and evening huddling in the West Wing of the White House filled with anxiety while they followed in real time the covert operations of an elite team of Navy Seals penetrating Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan and killing him with shots to the head.
"It was probably the most anxiety-filled periods of times," John Brennan, a chief counterterrorism adviser to President Obama, told reporters Monday in a White House briefing. "The minutes passed like days, and the President was very concerned about the security of our personnel."
TPM SLIDESHOW: Behind The Scenes As Operation Against Bin Laden Unfolded
"It was clearly very tense with a lot of people holding their breath," Brennan recalled, obviously still soaking in the full weight of the raid and the impact of bin Laden's death on the global war on terror. "There was a great degree of silence as we would get the updates. We were finally informed, and there was a tremendous sigh of relief -- that what we believed about the compound and who we believed was in the compound" were in fact true.
Topics: Barack Obama, CIA, John Brennan, Military, Navy Seals, Osama Bin Laden
TPM Top News
© 2011 TPM Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
