The Fog Of War

The discussion that has arisen surrounding the events of Osama Bin Laden’s death are rather interesting.

The White House released statements to cover the events without anticipating that the initial reports would NOT be accurate or that certain segments of their core political base would NOT be happy with an assassination mission; even against Osama Bin Laden.

I am surprised that a lot of professional commentators don’t understand this.

Had the White House kept details minimal until a complete after action report was prepared, there would not be the rampant speculation now about the contradictions on the details and chain of events.

For example, the Pakistanis are loudly proclaiming that no weapons were found in the Bin Laden compound.

Well, I suspect the Navy Seals took all weapons they found with them, in addition to the other obvious intelligence items (papers, computers, thumb drives, etc.)

The reason for taking weapons is because they are serialized and it is possible to trace them back to origin, providing information on who paid for and provided them to Bin Laden.

If Bin Laden was in possession of weapons purchased or manufactured by the Pakistani government, this would be even more proof of their involvement with him.

To illustrate, when Ronald Reagan first authorized an airstrike on Libya after terror attacks against Americans in Europe, it was the serial numbers on un-exploded grenades that provided a clear link back to the Libyan government.

Whether Bin Laden was taken alive and then shot or shot while attempting to resist is not relevant in my mind.

As far as I am concerned, they got him,  it was a job well done and I can wait for the book to get all the other details.