People completely refusing to give our President any credit at all for OBL's killing.

[Gravekeeper]

None, CIA would have been blamed.

Bullshit, it would be hung gleefully around Obama's neck like a noose from now until the moment he retired from politics. It'd take up the 24/7 US media cycle for weeks if not months. Fox news pundits would visible orgasm on air every time they got to bring it up. Which would be every other sentence.

By that logic, why did you go after Bin Laden then? He's the leader. Obviously he's not to blame, its all the hijackers fault. They actually conducted the operation. His part in the operation was pretty neglibable. =p

[Andara Bledin]

By that logic, why did you go after Bin Laden then? He's the leader. Obviously he's not to blame, its all the hijackers fault. They actually conducted the operation. His part in the operation was pretty neglibable. =p

Aw, come on... You're going to let a little thing like logic dictate your political ideology? Pshaw!

^-.-^

[Mytical]

Lets go another case in point here. The economy. Is Obama to blame for anything that happens in the Economy? Good or bad? Heck no, yet people are complaining he hasn't 'fixed' the economy. It is the curse of leadership. A leader gets credit, or blame, for things they have very little to do with.

Let me ask a question to those of you who think Obama deserve little or no credit. When a military operation is successful, is it just because of the people directly involved in the fighting? Or.. is it the intelligence operatives. the communications workers, etc? Lets get more specific, however.

Seal team 6 (If I am not mistaken) is the group that the credit is to go to. How about their direct superior? Do they deserve any credit? Most likely they did not engage in the fight, but if they had not 'give the green light' it wouldn't have happened. How about the intelligence community that found out where Osama was? Do they not deserve any credit because they 'didn't put their lives on the line'?

The military is a team effort. While the lions share of credit (or blame when things go south) should go to the people directly in harms way..but the ones who support them, their chain of command, and in fact (imo) every last man and woman who wears the uniform or issues the orders deserve credit as well. Does Obama deserve any credit. Yes, but only because he definitely gets his share of blame for things that is out of his control.

[XCashier]

I don't even for a minute want to discount the actions of the SEAL team who took him out. They took care of the most dangerous person alive, but they, like any element of our military, act under orders. Our President deserves credit just as much as the previous one would have, had he been the one to receive the intelligence and send the order to catch/kill OBL.

President Truman didn't pilot the planes and drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but he still gets credit for forcing Japanese surrender and ending WW2.

There's a reason he kept a sign on his desk that read, "The buck stops here". For better or worse, the President has to make the big decisions and accept responsibility for them, whether praise or blame. So yes, I do believe Obama deserves credit for getting rid of Bin Ladin (and no, that does not discount the actions of the CIA, the SEALS or anyone else involved).

I love how now they are saying he was unarmed.

Honestly, I don't care if Bin Liner was unarmed. He is responsible for the murders of thousands of innocent people. His life has been forfeit for years. I wouldn't have cared if he'd been sitting on the loo when he got shot, he got what he had coming.

[Rapscallion]

A thought - if Obama doesn't deserve the credit for the actions of the SEAL team who killed Bin Laden, then Bin Laden doesn't deserve the blame for the actions of those he directed to blow themselves up in areas of many civilians.

Rapscallion

[Greenday]

A thought - if Obama doesn't deserve the credit for the actions of the SEAL team who killed Bin Laden, then Bin Laden doesn't deserve the blame for the actions of those he directed to blow themselves up in areas of many civilians.

Rapscallion

bin Laden planned it.

I have yet to hear anything about Obama planning the attack. Pretty sure that was the military who planned it.

I look at like this, had it failed, Obama might be blamed now, but in 5-10 years it would have been the military/CIA who got blamed. Look at Iraq. People blamed Bush for WMDs for not being in Iraq at first, but in later years people blamed the CIA for that and rightfully so.

[dendawg]

By that logic, why did you go after Bin Laden then? He's the leader. Obviously he's not to blame, its all the hijackers fault. They actually conducted the operation. His part in the operation was pretty neglibable. =p

To take this logic a step further, should Charles Manson have ever been arrested for the murder of Sharon Tate? After all, he never actually stabbed her or her guests. Just like Bin Laden he only "gave the orders."

Just a little food for thought.

[Rapscallion]

By that logic, why did you go after Bin Laden then? He's the leader. Obviously he's not to blame, its all the hijackers fault. They actually conducted the operation. His part in the operation was pretty neglibable. =p

Bugger - had my thought on this early this morning and hadn't realised you'd already said the same.

Ho hum.

Rapscallion

[Mytical]

We only assume that he planned it, in reality he could have just said "Lets take out x" and somebody else figured out how. Even if he did plan all of it, however he 'never put his life on the line' as some are using as an excuse why Obama doesn't deserve any credit.

However, I am still curious as to if you think that the 'intelligence' people (who figured out where to strike, though not how), etc deserve no credit either.

1) Without equipment, chances are the operation would have failed. Yet the people who feed the troops, make sure they have equipment, and make sure that equipment is upkept don't deserve ANY credit?

2) Transportation..if they can't get there..the operation would have never happened. Yet the transport people don't deserve any credit?

3) If they did not know where he is, the operation would have never happened...

etc..

[Greenday]

1) Without equipment, chances are the operation would have failed. Yet the people who feed the troops, make sure they have equipment, and make sure that equipment is upkept don't deserve ANY credit?

2) Transportation..if they can't get there..the operation would have never happened. Yet the transport people don't deserve any credit?

3) If they did not know where he is, the operation would have never happened...

1) Nope, I'm not giving them credit for the operation. Odds are, not one of them knew anything about the operation. Unless they had something to do with intelligence gathering, training for the mission, or executing the mission, I'm not giving them any undeserved credit for it.

2) The transportation people, a.k.a. Air Force pilots, deserve credit as they are part of the military who executed the mission.

3) Pretty sure no one isn't giving credit to the CIA or other unknown intelligence agencies who gathered intel.

[CaptainJaneway]

I think Obama deserves the credit because in his speech he said that he made it a top priority to take out bin laden. Bush did not care to find him, even though in the beginning he said that was his main focus. It took Obama 2 years compared to Bush's 8 years in office and nothing was accomplished. I say mission finally accomplished.

I think everyone who was part of this take down deserves the credit. Right down to the lowly mess hall server who gave team 6 their last meal before they went on this mission. Without food in their stomachs they might have passed out during the mission due to hunger.

[Greenday]

I think Obama deserves the credit because in his speech he said that he made it a top priority to take out bin laden. Bush did not care to find him, even though in the beginning he said that was his main focus. It took Obama 2 years compared to Bush's 8 years in office and nothing was accomplished. I say mission finally accomplished.

I think everyone who was part of this take down deserves the credit. Right down to the lowly mess hall server who gave team 6 their last meal before they went on this mission. Without food in their stomachs they might have passed out during the mission due to hunger.

No, Obama had 10 years worth of intel instead of Bush's 8. If the CIA had figured it out while Bush was president, it would have been done during that presidency. Obama had everything Bush got to work with, and then some.

I bet even those cooks would never take credit for it. Maybe I should receive credit for the mission too.

[Evandril]

If Obama doesn't deserve credit, then Bush certainly does not. While noone here has said he does, that is a common point quite a few, ah, people are saying (Mostly the Obama can do no right croud)

The fact a politician of ANY sort is claiming credit for what the military did really isn't new...In fact, I don't doubt that you'd have a hard time showing a president who *didn't* take credit for military successes during their administration...and it's been rare any have been able to fully duck the blame for mistakes made on their watch, as well.

[Rapscallion]

Not just claiming credit, they are often given credit - Winston Churchill is often lauded as a great wartime prime minister, but he never (from what I understood) went around saying 'praise me for this'.

Rapscallion

[Andara Bledin]

I love watching all the pedantic contortions people go through just to deny Obama any credit for anything that's gotten done while he's been president just because they can't get over their own bigotry against him.

^-.-^