CIA Director in First Interview: We Had an ‘Obligation to Act’
- Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:28am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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In his first interview since the death of Osama bin Laden, CIA Director Leon Panetta says that bin Laden’s compound produced an “impressive amount” of intelligence, and that despite the circumstantial that bin Laden was there, the U.S. had an “obligation to act.”
Panetta’s comments came in a conversation with Time Magazine. In it, he reveals more details about the circumstances surrounding the decision, including the reliability of the intelligence:
On Tuesday, Panetta assembled a group of 15 aides to assess the credibility of the intelligence they had collected on the compound in Abbottabad where they believed bin Laden was hiding. They had significant “circumstantial evidence” Bin Laden was living there, Panetta says — the residents burned their trash and had extraordinary security measures — but American satellites had not been able to photograph bin Laden or any members of his family. The Tuesday meeting included team leaders from the CIA’s counter-terrorism center, the special activities division (which runs covert operations for the agency) and officials from the office of south Asian analysis.
[...]
But Panetta concluded the evidence was strong enough to risk the raid, despite the fact that his aides were only 60%-80% confident that bin Laden was there, and decided to make his case to the President. At the key Thursday meeting in which President Barack Obama heard the arguments from his top aides for and against going into Pakistan to kill or capture bin Laden, Panetta admitted that the evidence of bin Laden’s presence in the compound was circumstantial. But “when you put it all together,” Panetta says he told the room, “We have the best evidence since [the 2001 battle of] Tora Bora [where Bin Laden was last seen], and that then makes it clear that we have an obligation to act.”
Obama decided that Panetta’s arguments trumped two other options: striking the compound remotely or waiting until more evidence was available to prove bin Laden was there. “If I thought delaying this could in fact produce better intelligence that would be one thing,” Panetta says he argued, “But because of the nature of the security at the compound, we’re probably at a point where we’ve got the best intelligence we can get.”
The aftermath of the mission has been productive. The U.S. collected an “impressive amount” of material from bin Laden’s compound, including computers and other electronics, Panetta says. Panetta has set up a task force to act on the fresh intelligence. Intelligence reporting suggests one of bin Laden’s wives who survived the attack has said the family had been living in the compound since 2005, a source tells TIME.
Read the entire interview here.
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Comments (88)
ginny2shoes
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:42pmI think the only thing we can credit Obama with is he changed his mind on closing Gitmo, & he did not push the waterboarding thing as he said he would when he was running. He would never have thought of it to begin with but at least he didn’t pull that rug completely out of this goal. Thank you to our Military, supurb as usual.
Report Post »ares338
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:31pmA wise man once said “ Even a blind hog will find an acorn”. It might have been Plato, Lau Tzu or maybe Joe Biden. Anyway, where ever you go, there you are.
Report Post »jammin johnny
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:30pmThanx for doing your ******* job! As for the rest of us lucky enough to have a job; were just happy to get a paycheck! Just dont get your arm out of joint patting yourself on the back. And our most sincere thankyou to our troops!!!
Report Post »Tracking
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:17pmThe CIA desreves the credit here. They never get it though. They do their jobs behind the scenes and never say a word. They could care less about politics or religion. In and out and you never even know about it. Give them funding above and beyond what they have and let them do what they do better than anyone in this world. Thanks CIA.
Report Post »These people are the best. Without them, we would be who knows where in terms of safety?
Thanks to Bush also. He was a hard hitter and never gave up.
Obama…not so much…after all, if he had his way, GITMO would be closed and these terrorists scattered to the winds.WE would have No information and no interrogation techniques worth a blip. He wasn’t even on the scene when this investigation started. Was he even a Junior Senator back in 2005? He made one decison to go in and what else could he do with everyone there? Knowing? A room full of people? Say no?
LYFS_A_TRIP
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:29pmAccording to a White House insider BHO had nothing to do with this operative. It was all Panetta and Clinton. Jarrett, who is really the brains of the WH, was insistant that this not take place and wanted BHO to have nothing to do with it. Read my post above yours. It’s a very telling account of what transpired.
Report Post »Dandelions
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:00pmLower our gas!!
Report Post »warner
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:59pmWith all due respect… it wasn’t an obligation but YOUR DUTY!
Report Post »TheGreyPiper
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:04pmWith all due respect– that’s it means, knothead.
Report Post »TankZ71
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:57pmThe whole story stinks! They didn’t get any intel from a prisoner at gitmo. Osaka was sold out for the bounty on his head. He had been living in Pakistan for the last five years or more and paying off the Pakistan goverment to let him live there. Someone collected on the bounty offered by the US to the where abouts of Osama. Its just that simple.
Report Post »TheDHndrsn
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:44pmThe language of the left, I see. And in 2012 voters will have an “obligation to act”. My concern is that, using the logic of the left, this may me an “obligation to stuff the ballot box.” Just sayin’.
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:31pmPanetta had a responsibility to act BECAUSE he had an obligation to act politically before he leaves for Gates job, leaving his replacement General Patreaus a huge intelligence hole!
Report Post »He is a political Shill- should have been investigating Holder/Obama and the Nation of Islam/Black Panthers alliance! These parties have vowed the destruction of America – THEIR WORDS backed up by actions…. How hard is that?
freeweever
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:17pmLeon Panetta is their next vice prez nomination I’ll bet you
Report Post »Mr. Nice Guy
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:01pmI hope you’re right. Obama/Panetta would be easier to defeat than Obama/Biden. Better still if Secretary Clinton should be the nominee.
Report Post »freeweever
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:16pmI’d like to make a bet that Mr Panetta will be tapped for the position now held by the walking dead himself Mr cap and plug jerkin joe biten ,biden, for you slow progressives.Just want to be the first to report the libs next vice prez nomination Vice prez HOPEful,“ quarterback of the assasination of Osama”,“wich i love” but it was an assasination Leon Panetta.That for those dorks will make a strong ticket.Ha Ha Too funny.Whats the only good progressive. ————————— Sorry tried couldn’t think of one so sorry.
Report Post »gingervitis
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:15pmGlenn – read the book! Also, please add spellcheck to this site! Our Prophet -Glenn Beck
In our near future_
Report Post »If only these people had listened and obeyed Glen Beck and heeded the advice of his commercial sponsors. They would have ample supplies of gold, silver and a year’s supply of survival food and non-hybrid seeds to grow one-acre survival garden. Many scoffed at the words of Glen Beck, only to realize too late their folly. A Prophet is seldom appreciated during his lifetime.
Untameable-kate
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:45pmThat comment clearly has NOTHING to do with this story. It is meant only to inflame, which is childish. Please move along.
Report Post »gingervitis
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:24pmthankyou untameablewoman – I would like spell check and the ability to repond directly to your message. We are no safer with or without Osama. We are being destroyed from the inside. Our leaders lack the will or desire to curb spending which will soon bankrupt US. When that happens you had better have gold, silver, guns, ammo, survival food bank, survival food, water, and an area in which to grow food. A Liberty safe would come in handy if they still advertise with Glenn..
Report Post »gingervitis
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:10pmleons strategy to capture Osama. Send in Hillary to Osamas front door and she says: I will huff and I will puff and blow your house down. Osama heard the commotion leaning out the second story balcony. Upon seeing Hillary at the front door in her 70′s pantsuit outfit, he laughed so hard that he fell off the balcony and broke his neck. The seals then gave him a “double tap” to seal the deal.
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:04pmI think we are getting lied to so much now we cant even figure out were the truth begins.
Report Post »Bin Laden where are the pictures Now no reason to hide these.
liberalsarealiens
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:04pmDamn right you were obligated!! So was BO. 10 years of work in finding this SOB! BO absolutly had to run with this ball. He had no choice. It took 10 years BO not 2 years so don’t try and take all the credit here. GB knew the same info you did only it came to frutation a little longer than we all wanted.
Report Post »Just remember this, IT”S THE ECONOMY STUPID!
smak
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:54pm@IT”S THE ECONOMY STUPID!
Clinton was a great President, wasn’t he?
Report Post »liberalsarealiens
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:06pmSmak,
Report Post »Yeah, right! He only let OBL go, defiled the WH, lied, was impeached, changed his policies after realizing the Republican Congress was right about spending and thus the ecomomy improved, etc. Yeah he was a “great” president. Get a clue!
smak
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:54amDamn! Why didn’t we get him while W was President?
Report Post »Damn CIA!
Gonzo
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:03pmAs much as you may hate to admit it, the original thread of intelligence came from W.’s Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. So, you can thank him if you want to.
Report Post »Untameable-kate
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:10pmGonzo, did you hear Boxer saying that inhanced interrogation produced NO useful info that helped get OBL? What a lying whore, can’t give W the credit he is due even now that he is not a political threat to her liberal agenda.
Report Post »smak
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:23pm@So, you can thank him if you want to.
Report Post »I do thank him. But I have to hate Panetta and the CIA now because Osama got Obama. Panetta-What a nose!!!!!
briefer
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:25pmWhatareyoutalkingabout??? Rummy says that “enhanced interrogation” had nothing to do with it.
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/DonaldRumsfeld-gitmo-waterboarding-osamabinladen/2011/05/02/id/394820#
Report Post »fourfreedom
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:49amIf Osama didn’t allow computers or phones around him then where did all these computers come from for gathereing information? Or where they non internet capable computers, just curious?
Report Post »LastCallForEmpathy
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:46amWhat a mug on this guy…
Report Post »Gruug
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:44amDoesn’t the pic at the top here just look a little like Mr. McGoo?
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:54amHe has a nose for intelligence work.
Report Post »Ebbertron
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:43amHe looks like a Muppet character.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:09pmThe Swedish Chef??
Report Post »lildeb56
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 5:37pm@Banjermon – don’t insult the Swedish Chef, Dude! lol
Report Post »DangerClose
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:39amAmazing! Bottom-up work, top-down credit.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:53amRoger that. Can you imagine this bunch as the coaching staff of an NFL team? The post game interviews would be all about the decision they made to throw the red flag in the third quarter instead of crediting the players on the field for making plays.
Report Post »smak
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:03pm@Gonzo
Report Post »Roger that. Can you imagine this bunch as the coaching staff of an NFL team?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coaches get credit for how well the players play.
Gonzo
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:09pmYes they do and these guys are getting plenty of credit. It wasn’t Leon and Barry that won this game though, it was years of hard work by the CIA and the military.
Report Post »txn4justice
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:13pmI doubt any of those coaches in the sit-room watching the video have had close quarters combat training with live rounds and live targets. That is reserved for the players on the field of battle.
Report Post »smak
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:27pm@Amazing! Bottom-up work, top-down credit.
Pretty much how the world works. Like all those executive bonuses.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:04pmThe GE Bonuses?? Jeffery Immelts Bonuses??
Report Post »briefer
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:24pmAnd if the whole operation went south (like Desert One), you’d blame the troops and leave Obama out of it…right?
Report Post »smak
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:30pm@ briefer
Report Post »And if the whole operation went south (like Desert One), you’d blame the troops and leave Obama out of it…right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No. Obama would be blamed.
briefer
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:43pm@smak: Exactly the point I wanted to make. These folks really can’t have it both ways. If this whole operation went pear shaped…it would all be because of Obama’s terrible leadership. But, since it succeeded, they’ve got to pretend that he had nothing to do with it.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:36am“He had to stop dreaming like a Commie of a ”Red October”. He needed to start playing “Patriot Games It was a ”Debt of Honor”, and he neededto execute “Executive Orders”, as Bin Laden was a “Clear & Present Danger”.
Report Post »LastCallForEmpathy
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:36amThey are all great actors…
Report Post »Susan Harkins
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:34amCIA Director Leon Panetta — obligation to act.
Hey Leon — good, we got him. Wonderful. Now lets move on…
You have other “obligations to act” also. Why don’t you start by investigating our 3 Branches of Govt and identifying all of the Marxists/Communists/Socialists who are bent on bring down America? Can you get a tingle down your leg and possible feel an OBLIGATION TO ACT ON THIS ALSO???!!!!
Report Post »smak
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:38amOsama got Obama!
Report Post »Untameable-kate
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:40amOur government would be ripped to shreds if anyone investigated those socialist commies.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:36pmObama is Osama
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:46pmIf we somehow survive the coming storm this summer, and I don’t think we will. But if we manage to, and we actually get to have elections in 2012, and IF we, the tea party win majorities in both houses and the Oval office, then we should see take place what you refere too.
Report Post »But I don’t see it, I want too, but I’m way to good of a chess player to not see our imminent checkmate looming. we’ve been out thought, outplayed, and out maneuvered and IMHO we, as a free nation are finished this summer, September at the latest. there won’t even be a civil war, anyone who has an inkling of rising up is already marked for removal by the administration the second marshal law is called in August. Oh there will be sporadic pockets of resistance sure, but those will be short lived at best. Our only move left is a swift and LEGAL removal of the king Obama, and it’s up to the House of Representatives to move, and to move sometime within the next three weeks to impeach Obama, failing that I suggest we all just hunker down for a long good nite.
13th Imam
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:02pmBetterdays
Report Post »Re: this summer. Barry‘s legion of community disorganizers can only disrupt the City’s. Once out in the country where the Taxpayers live, any troublemaking group would be squashed. As a rule Barry and Holder’s people burn their own neighborhoods first. Not many causing trouble in my area would be returning home. Ever.
Fair Winds
CatB
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:10pmObama didn’t like the competition .. he will bring down the country.
Report Post »powhatan
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:30amI still have zero repect for Panetta…and intelligence succes is in spite of him…
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:35amGood, Intel and bi laden : DONE.
Thank You military.
ECONOMY
Report Post »OIL
ELECTION
CONSTITUTION
Please!
Sinista MACE
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:36amAHahaha!
A responsibility to “act”.
AHAHA!
Their “act” isn’t very convincing.
They are bad actors.
This is a bad movie.
Report Post »Ironmaan
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:43amNow now about doing something about the terrorists and traitors in this country. For example, those idiots ho openly say they are Marxist communists and are out to collapse the system.
Report Post »http://guerillatics.com
smithclar3nc3
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:45amHere’s a the real question DO WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO ACT ON THE 14,300,000,000,000 DEBT THAT WILL DO MORE DAMAGE THAN TERRORIST HAVE EVER DONE OR COULD EVER DO?
Report Post »chirodoc007
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:47amAn “Obligation to Act” is the direct result of “if it leaks that we could have gotten Bin Laden and didn‘t we’ll never get re-elected”.
They acted because they had to and our Special Forces, through superior training and ability, made it happen.
Report Post »Gas137
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 11:52amIt comes back to the American people’s basic trust/mistrust in the White House. We never know the truth of what goes on behind those closed doors.
Report Post »gingervitis
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:00pmIs that guy ugly! I feel safer already. Why are certain unqualified people placed in such important positions. “The Next To Last American President”
The dreams of Barack, his father and father’s father once carried to fruition, became our socialist nightmare on Elm Street. This dream of Barack was most dangerous during his waking hours. As President, Barrack’s minions worked around the clock to implement his dastardly agenda. The country wished it could awake from his nightmare, but it was too late!
The gifts from Allah kept on giving.
It appears that the seeds for the ultimate revenge were firmly planted in the fertile Muslim soil of Indonesia. Obama lived in Indonesia from the impressionable ages of six to ten. He attended a Muslim School and became a regular fixture at a radical Mosque. A favorite course at this school was to “How to Defeat the Infidels. “ Listed below is a copy of Obama’s School notes on destroying the “Great Satan”.
1. Force your enemy into financial oblivion with major budget deficits
2. Create a multi generational group totally dependent on the Government.
This Group known as the “Takers” will blindly support your Progressive Agenda.
3. Encourage open borders between the US and Mexico. Accuse any one against this as racist. A country without borders cannot survive.
4. Form a separate civilian defense force as large and well funded as the US Military. This is needed for any successful coup. You cannot trust the military leaders, particularly in the United States to turn against its citizens.
5. Islam says a Muslim can lie or verbally mislead the Infidels. Say or do anything that will give you the advantage. Allah is result oriented and will reward one with 70 virgins and a one-way ticket to their paradise.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:03pmThe gov has had Obligation to Act since the first attack on US citizens well before 9-11-2001!!!
Report Post »Polwatcher
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:06pmDirect responsibility to act…who is Panetta apologizing to…the enemy…the Saudis, who. He should be shouting from the roof tops that we succeeded in killing the bastard.
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:22pmIf a pictures worth a thousand word then this picture says the colonic worked!
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:34pmThank you Mr President . I mean President George W. Bush. Waterboarding works. Guantanamo works. The only reason the idiot in the Whitehouse acted was because too many people knew he was dragging his feet to make an actual decision to kill this Terrorist. If GWB had made this decision Bwaney, Nancy, Harry , and the rest of the Socialists would have been screaming , bloody murder. The double standard of DEMOCRATS is overwhelming.
Report Post »79USMC83
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:38pmWhat has high walls and barbed wire on top???? A PRISON !!!! Did the Paki’s have him under arrest?
Report Post »GETLIFE
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:42pmOh this is sweet! Too much attention on the years of work and credit given to all those who made it happen. The voters need to know that the “real” decision was Obama‘s and that it wasn’t as straightforward as we might imagine. Took a real leader. and blahbeddy blahbeddy blah….
If the Great O were a real leader, Bush would be standing next to him at Ground Zero for his next photo op.
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 12:47pm@chirodoc007,
“An “Obligation to Act” is the direct result of “if it leaks that we could have gotten Bin Laden and didn‘t we’ll never get re-elected”.
“They acted because they had to and our Special Forces, through superior training and ability, made it happen.”
Yes. And remember, it’s May now, which is the beginning of the radical Marxist’s plan to do sit-ins, organize for strategic defaults on mortgages and student loans, etc.
Obama needed OBL dead now to divert the attention from these other efforts from his fellow radicals.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:08pmOne domestic terrorist taking out a foreign one .. “act”?????
Anyone buy groceries, gas, etc today?
House worth anything?
Report Post »its_time_to_arrest_our_government
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 1:18pmwhat im hearing from my military friends is that this is all a lie to cover up for obamas not being eligible. osama ben laden died last week of liver failure. this is awful convienant that ben laden is found and killed at the very time that obamas eligibility is being questioned. wikkipedia has scrubbed the real meaning of NATURAL BORN CITIZEN from its website. and why was the body destroyed? was it to hide the fact he died of liver failure. i was told all muslums must be buried within 24 hours and must be buried with their heads pointed twords mecca. this is bullchips folks! we are being fed lies. this is nothing more that another distraction. wake up folks we are being lied to!
Report Post »kryptonite
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:10pmScr*w you, moderator. You deleted half this thread; all the comments that exposed Obama’s lies. Stupid liberals have taken over The Blaze.
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:56pm“A responsibility to act.” That is interesting because we, the American people” also have a responsibility to act.
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
November 2012, WE MUST ACT.
Report Post »US_SOLDIER
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 3:17pmOBL plans:
He said the mujahedeen fighters did the same thing to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s, “using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers.”
“We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat,” bin Laden said.
He also said al Qaeda has found it “easy for us to provoke and bait this administration.”
“All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations,” bin Laden said.
As part of the “bleed-until-bankruptcy plan,” bin Laden cited a British estimate that it cost al Qaeda about $500,000 to carry out the attacks of September 11, 2001, an amount that he said paled in comparison with the costs incurred by the United States.
“Every dollar of al Qaeda defeated a million dollars, by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs,” he said. “As for the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars.
The total U.S. national debt is more than $7 trillion. The U.S. federal deficit was $413 billion in 2004, according to the Treasury Department.
“It is true that this shows that al Qaeda has gained, but on the other hand it shows that the Bush administration has also gained, something that anyone who looks at the size of the contracts acquired by the shady Bush administration-linked mega-corporations, like Halliburton and its kind, will be convinced.
“And it all shows that the real loser is you,” he said. “It is the American people and their economy.”
As for President Bush’s Iraq policy, Bin Laden said, “the darkness of black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America.
“So the war went ahead, the death toll rose, the American economy bled, and Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future,” bin Laden said.
U.S. government officials said Friday that the tape appeared to be authentic and recently made. It was the first videotaped message from the al Qaeda leader in nearly three years.
And these are old estimates people. Wake up before it’s too late
Report Post »avenger
Posted on May 3, 2011 at 4:39pmhahahaha…what pure ******** ! this was orchestrated by the people that run the puppet..
Report Post »Thatsitivehadenough
Posted on May 4, 2011 at 12:12amIf not for him, Bin Laden would still be alive:
Report Post »http://socyberty.com/issues/white-house-insider-obama-hesitated-panetta-issued-order-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/