The bizarre reporting from the Administration on the bin Laden killing was described by Michelle Malkin:
… the hourly revamping of key details of Sunday’s raid suggests something far beyond the usual realm of situational uncertainty that accompanies any military operation. The Navy SEALs did their job spectacularly. The civilians tasked with letting the world know about the mission, however, have performed like amateur dinner theater actors in a tragi-comic production of “Rashomon-meets-The Blind Men and the Elephant-meets-Keystone Kops.”
In her article, The Fog of Fog, Ms. Malkin recounts the series of incredible statements and 20 contradictions that came forth from the Administration.
For eliminating bin Laden, the Administration should be credited. However it is not a good thing that this Administration appears so incompetent in disclosing the event. Two concerns quickly arise:
- Can they really be so inept?
- What are they trying to hide?
These possibilities are not mutually exclusive. Nor is either comforting.
My opinion, and that is all we have to offer on this issue, is that ineptness is the answer. A community organizer, with no experience in anything other than teleprompter reading and campaigning, surrounded himself with like-minded types. The only appointee within the inner circle with administrative and executive experience is William Daley who, perhaps not coincidentally, had nothing to say about the bin Laden operation. Daley is relatively new to the Administration, but he was shown “watching” in what was now revealed as a staged photo. One must assume he was at least as knowledgeable of the details surrounding the event as those publicly commenting.
For whatever reasons, the Obama Administration feels it must politicize everything. Negative matters are blamed on others while positive matters are taken credit for. This natural political tendency is taken to extreme by this Administration. President Obama’s ego, narcissism and messianic complex is never more apparent after one of the few successes he has been able to claim. So it was with this matter. As explained, Obama was not only in charge but overruled the military to apply his only strategy. Surely a community organizer is skilled in such areas.
In this instance, the desire to politically glow in the accomplishment apparently drove the revelation of the details. Other Administrations have made prior military announcements allowing the military to assume center stage for detailed briefings. In this case, a political group with few successes hogged the spotlight, applying favorable rather than factual spin to events. Then it seems they were tripped up in their embellishments and contradictions.
Hiding matters may also have been in play, although whatever they were hiding was unlikely of major importance. Surely no one believes that bin Laden is not dead. Probably only serious conspiracy kooks don’t believe he was not killed in this raid. Attempts to soothe Muslims, Pakistanis or the Left-Wing base may have been in play.
Final conclusion: incompetence on a scale that exceeds the woeful Carter Administration is the likely answer.
