Pakistan, Friend or Foe?

My opinion, and that's all it is, is that we, the US, gives far too much support for and to nations that detest us and talk about us behind our backs.  There is always, though, certain reason(s) for such support that maybe we don't know or understand.  Still on the surface I don't agree with it but I also support our President and Congressmen who are elected and in doing that will abide with their decisions regarding such support but there are plenty of people in the South right now that need support also.

As for Pakistan, friend or foe, I would say both.  There are some in the government that are friends to the US and there are obviously many that are foes and many of those have cost countless numbers of American lives and prolonged the lives of many of our enemies, all while pretending to be our friends.

Kudo's to President Obama though for sticking with something he said he would do.  Going into Pakistan if he had verifiable info as to where Osama was.  I don't know if President Bush would have done the same without consulting the Pakistan President and tipping our hat as to what was going to happen.  So from this standpoint I do feel that Obama was the man we needed in the White House to get this job done and he deserves congratulations for doing so.  He was also intelligent enough not to follow through on other promises he made and in keeping Gitmo open.  I have not doubt that Obama's eyes were widely opened once he began to get intelligence briefings and be in the real know.

It's entirely possible that the Pakistan government had no idea about where Bin Laden was hiding.  After all, we have high-profile wanted criminals at large in this country (admittedly none as wanted as OBL), and I'd wager that the FBI is much better at what it does than its Pakistani counterpart.  On the other hand, it's also possible that Bin Laden had friends in the ISI who helped to hide him.  We just don't know at this point.

People can argue back and forth about how much credit President Obama deserves, as opposed to our intelligence services and especially SEAL Team VI, but one thing he definitely deserves credit for is his patience.  The New York Times reported that the CIA tracked Bin Laden's suspected courier to the compound back in August and that by September they believed there was a strong possibility that OBL was hiding there.  With the President's party not polling well for the midterm elections, it's not hard to imagine many politicians in that situation wanting to rush an operation or simply launch a missile for a chance at getting Bin Laden and a nice "October surprise" to score political points.  The fact that Obama had the patience to wait and give JSOC the time they needed to really do it right is very much to his credit.

Your assuming that Obama knew that early. Whether he did or not back then, if they were positive

it would have happened then. There's no doubt in my mind. And takeing nothing from the President,

President Bush also deserves the credit he's due for originally going after Osama. Most of all again

the credit most due should go to the Military and Intelligence that located and executed this dangerous operation. Kudos to the Navy Seals especially. Go 6.

Skippy

Yes, it is possible (but not probable) that the Pakistani's did not know Osama was living there in their midst.  After all this was a community of military type people, active and retired and this was a compound that was not only the largest home in the area but was a walled compound that naturally would stir questions. 

Regarding President Bush.  I have no doubts that interrogations that were conducted under his watch along with the JSOC outfit set up under him that Bush deserves some credit as well but I honestly feel that if Bush had been President that Osama would be alive today.  I don't think Bush would have allowed this to go down without advising the Pakistani's and that in turn would have tipped off Osama and he would have fled.  That's just Bush's way and the way he did things.  He always wanted some kind of coalition of countries and I don't see him doing something like this without notifying Pakistan officials.  Obama on the other hand said before the election what he would do and he did it.  That is to his credit.  I don't agree with everything he has done while in office but this is one he definitely got right.  He deserves the credit and recognition.  Bush fans know George Bush and the person and President he was.  I respect Bush for being Presidential and sticking to his convictions but part or those was to inform a country or seek approval before doing something big.  Bush did things right and Obama did to.  Give credit where credit is due.

Both presidents deserve credit. Bush deserves credit for the interrogation techniques that gleaned the early intel on the courier. Obama deserves credit for allowing the intelligence and military to do their jobs. Some pundits are trying to make it appera as this was all Obama's idea and plan and I think we all know better than that. I am one of Obama's largest critics but I will give him his due credit in this case. Now he needs to move on to more critical issues like our nations debt.

Again, even Rumsfield says that Bush's interrogation techniques had nothing to do with it. http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/DonaldRumsfeld-gitmo-waterboarding-osamabinladen/2011/05/02/id/394820?s=al&promo_code=C30F-1

Bush terminiated the CIA ops to find Bin Laden in 2005 just as Bin Laden was building his mansion in Pakistan.  When Obama took office he re-opened it.  And Bush made it public and clear that he wasn't interested in Bin Laden.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PGmnz5Ow-o

I would be more inclined to beleive that Bushs lack of interest in finding Bin Laden emboldened him enough to begin building a mansion just 4000 ft from a military school, in a populated, wealthy, military town just 45 miles from the capital of Pakistan (ironically) 2005. 

I would say Pakistan is a foe, considering Panetta said today that they didn't inform Pakistan because they felt if they did Pakistan would tip off Bin Laden.

Bushs take on Pakistan was quite different.