Leon Panetta: We assumed bin Laden would die in raid

CIA director Leon Panetta told CBS News anchor Katie Couric on Tuesday that U.S. officials had assumed "from the beginning" that Osama bin Laden would be killed in the raid on his compound, though there were at least initial plans on how to proceed if he was captured.

"We always assume from the beginning that the likelihood was that he was gonna be killed," said Panetta. "But if perchance he were to be captured, I think the approach was to take him quickly to Bagram [Airfield, in Afghanistan], transfer him to a ship offshore, and then have the principals at the White House decide what next steps would be taken."

White House Counterterrorism Adviser John Brennan said at a briefing Monday that "if we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were able and prepared to do that."

"We had discussed that extensively in a number of meetings in the White House and with the president," he continued. "The concern was that bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation. Indeed, he did. It was a firefight. He, therefore, was killed in that firefight and that's when the remains were removed."

"But we certainly were planning for the possibility, which we thought was going to be remote, given that he would likely resist arrest, but that we would be able to capture him," added Brennan.

You can see more from Couric's interview with Panetta on Tuesday's CBS Evening News.

[mick7744]

Weigh the cost of two rounds fired by the SEALs against the cost in American lives if bin Laden had been captured alive. There would already be kidnapped American citizens all around the world if that had occurred...and their prospects for survival would be grim since we wouldn't release him regardless of who and how many were kidnapped.

Add to that the huge cost to imprison and prosecute this mass murderer, then factor in the lunacy of providing this fanatical POS with a platform before he was martyred...probably years from now.

SEALs don't arrest criminals...they destroy America's enemies and/or their will to fight

Osama bin Laden is through fighting!

As the former Deserter-in-Chief Bush once said..."MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"

[nanc12]

by DJisBack May 3, 2011 5:31 PM EDT
If this would have happened with Bush or McCain would you be saying the same thing?
-----------------
Yes, but not as cheerfully! It's definitely sweeter that Obama got the job done, but we have all wanted this for 10 years.
And, I don't think there was any way he was coming out of there alive. He could have had a suicide vest on, or the room could have been booby-trapped, so they were going to take him out fast. Had they taken him alive, just think of all the hostage situations that would have arisen to get him released.

This was win/win!

[nanc12]

The President isn't hiding. He's doing. And just because you think everyone involved is lying, doesn't mean he has to release photos. I hope they're never released, because that would put our servicemen and women at greater risk of reprisals. It's not all about you conspiracy nuts.

[pasha128]

The president is spending so much time NOT HIDING that conservatives generally complain about him going too much. The really need to make up their minds -- Bush hid in his bubble of Washington syncophants. Obama, I believe has always made honest attempts to keep in contact with the people of this country.

[BBFmail]

Sunday May 1st, 2011

Osama Bin Laden Has Been Dead For Years

Now that Osama's dead body is being trotted out to boost Obama's approval ratings, er, because he was just killed in an air strike or some nonsense, it's worth taking a look back at the researchers who concluded Osama bin Laden died years ago. David Ray Griffin wrote an entire book about it. Mike Rivero also wrote the article "Osama bin Laden: A dead nemesis perpetuated by the US government," where he cited numerous heads of state, CIA agents, intelligence officials, etc. who all concluded Osama has been dead for years.

The evidence Osama has been dead for years is overwhelming, people have been predicting for years his dead body was going to be trotted out as part of some PR stunt. Absent the presentation of some overwhelmingly compelling evidence to the contrary, it looks like that's what we're witnessing right now.

informationliberation.com

[catmomtx]

If he had been dead for years, why didn't Bush trot his body out to make himself a hero before he left office?

[abbe91]

And why would Obama not have kept this for October 2012 ?

[Faith_In_Jesus]

Idiots!

Oh they will win the war against terrorism, but at what price?

[documemts]

No one has yet noted that Bin Laden received his free souvenir: "US Navy Seal bullets" at No Charge! That Right!, Free, Gratis! Along with a live fire demonstration also without charge and at his home! Now that's the sort of thing you just can't buy!

[infantryman1968]

Leon Panetta: We assumed bin Laden would die in raid


LOL!

"So we just killed him anyway"


LOL!

[bobnjersey]

[ "The concern was that bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation. Indeed, he did. It was a firefight.]
-------------------------------------------------------
but ... the reports now are that he didn't have a gun. what kind of firefight is that? sounds like the plan was to carry out a body.

[Unsilent_Majority]

none of us know the situation on the ground. maybe the compound was still not secure when they got to bin laden. maybe there was still a firefight with his guards and as such it would have been difficult to extract a squirming prisoner. Or maybe it was an assasination from the begining. The only mistake the government made is allowing contradictory information to come out the way it did. If they told us from the begining that this was they had no intentions to take him alive, most people would be OK with that.

[bobnjersey]

[none of us know the situation on the ground]
-------------------------
lets see the video.

surely they videotaped the whole thing ... from multiple angles.

then we'll all know what the situation was.

[Molly-Pchr]

Oh, lord, don't tell me we're going to start apologizing again. From the headlines here today, I'm thinking, here we go again. Please, no apologies, no. I relive the image of those poor souls falling and jumping from the WTC. What OBL got was too humane for him. NO apologies.

[catmomtx]

No, but Republicans, trying to do everything they can NOT to give credit to President Obama and to turn this into something negative will begin to indoctrinate their gullible constituents that somehow President Obama did something wrong. Try listening to Rush. He has been angrily whining about it since Monday.

[Birdman04]

Yeah right. There was no way on God's green earth bin Laden was going to leave that compound alive. One shot, one kill.