Obama didn't see bin Laden die,,

President Barack Obama didn’t see Osama bin Laden get shot but learned that he was killed after a team used the code “Geronimo,” signifying his capture, CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday.

Panetta said in an interview with PBS that officials in the Situation Room “didn’t know just exactly what was going on” Sunday for 20 to 25 minutes when the team entered bin Laden’s Pakistani compound.

“There were some very tense moments,” Panetta said. “But finally, Adm. McRaven came back and said he had picked up the word ‘Geronimo.’”

Panetta also said the administration didn’t tell Pakistani officials about its plans to raid bin Laden’s compound because of the possibility that they might warn him or his supporters about the mission.

*snip*

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0511/geronimo_535a30aa-9a5b-4f77-a6a9-8dcc814984ea.html

edited to add Panetta Video claiming Obama didn't see Osama die.. http://bungalowbillscw.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-conflicting-reports-about-obama.html

Or The Hill. I'll wait to hear it.

with video of Panetta saying Obama didn't see. Is that helpful?

:hi:

Thanks so much! There are so many things being said and written that I've vowed to myself not to believe a word unless I can read the lips from whence they came!

:hi:

Only a video of Panetta?

Or at least, the feed Obama and the NSC were seeing wasn't from that Seal. Not exactly a surprise with 24 guys on the ground, and no one exactly sure which of them is going to find him.

Just wondering since I saw the issue raised but never found an answer.

They were in and out of there pretty quickly. (Had to be.)

That doesn't include the time to travel to the location. That's a lot of time. So this still baffles me.

:hi:

Q And I understand that there was a moment of real tension, one with the helicopter, but then also when the Navy SEALs were leaving and the Pakistani government started scrambling their jets, and there was a concern that they were coming to where the U.S. troops were, where the Navy SEALs were. Was there an actual concern that the Pakistanis -- since they were not apparently informed about this military operation, was there an actual concern that they might actually take military action against the Navy SEALs?

MR. BRENNAN: We didn’t contact the Pakistanis until after all of our people, all of our aircraft were out of Pakistani airspace. At the time, the Pakistanis were reacting to an incident that they knew was taking place in Abbottabad. Therefore, they were scrambling some of their assets.

Clearly, we were concerned that if the Pakistanis decided to scramble jets or whatever else, they didn’t know who were on those jets. They had no idea about who might have been on there, whether it be U.S. or somebody else. So we were watching and making sure that our people and our aircraft were able to get out of Pakistani airspace. And thankfully, there was no engagement with Pakistani forces. This operation was designed to minimize the prospects, the chances of engagement with Pakistani forces. It was done very well, and thankfully no Pakistani forces were engaged and there was no other individuals who were killed aside from those on the compound.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/02/press-briefing-press-secretary-jay-carney-and-assistant-president-homela

Pakistan is a large country plus Pakistan has allowed U.S. anti-terror operations. The U.S. had already been given air-space authorization.


One Pakistani official told CNN on Monday that the operation was American, and that Pakistan "assisted only in terms of authorization of the helicopter flights in our airspace." He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the issue.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/bin.laden.pakistan.role/index.html?iref=allsearch

And I thought to myself that the 40 minutes they spent at the compound added to the travel time it took to get there is one heck of a lot of minutes for them not to be noticed. After all, Pakistan is a nation with nukes. You'd think they'd be on a hair trigger for foreign aircraft flying in their airspace.

Remember how we questioned how our own Air Force wasn't scrambled fast enough on 9/11? All the conspiracy theories about why that went down seemed fair enough to ponder. Same with this situation.

They were aware something was going to take place but they did not know that the target in mind was OBL. The U.S. was given air-space approval.

Below that, it's effectively blocked by terrain. So as long as the choppers stay less than 50 feet off the ground, they can't be "seen" by military radar. At that altitude, the enemy has to rely on spotters, people keeping a visual lookout.

Thanks for your reply. I hope we learn more details about this as it's had me baffled.

Several reporters that work in that area have said it's risible to believe that the Paks didn't know.

Being "retired military" doesn't give you special powers to spot aircraft at a distance. A perceptive person, or someone who worked with helicopters, might recognize that they didn't sound quite like the ones usually run by the Pakistani military, but by that time they would already be at the target.

believes the Paks didn't know.

....let whatever the White House want to TELL.... TELL... they are not going to compromise security.

I wasn't making anything into a conspiracy. I thought...looking at the picture provided by the Whitehouse---that they actually saw the it happen.

All they said about that pic was that it was during the op.

said it, I said *I* thought that's what happened....

As I think it is now fairly certain that they were protecting him. Also, the decision to insert boots on the ground rather than a bombing strike from a drone or aircraft. I applaud the President for both of those choices.

the guys really didnt see it all, so if they didnt know EXACTLY what happened then it was an EVOLVING story and not liars.

It's dangerous too, because people tend to believe the thing they hear first.

of what happened.

I've grown my iggie by at least one pizza already today!

I thought Seal teams used head cams on missions....

On one of the networks he said what they would be watching in the "war room" was a video feed from a drone or spy satellite, not the helmet cams worn by the Seals. It would be the green night-vision image you see so often in movies.

would they be unable to watch the helmet cams in real time?