Most of us here remember Operation Eagle Claw (if not by name, by circumstance), the failed mission to rescue the hostages in Iran.
In the mission, an American military team was lost in the deserts of south Iran while carrying out a rescue effort that would have been dangerous and likely deadly had the helicopters made it to Tehran.
The mission failed, and from there, the presidency of Jimmy Carter seemingly never recovered.
While there has been deserved and heartfelt praise for the military and its well-trained team, others are loath to admit the risks that President Obama took to order a mission such as Sunday’s against Osama bin Laden. Had it failed, there would have been dead Navy Seals and (more) burned out husks of helicopters in sovereign Pakistan. Think of the Republican-Press-Complex feeding frenzy that would have caused. And if bin Laden had not been at the compound, the president would still would take all the criticism, with little going to military and CIA operatives.
Then, we would have read many, many more stories about the failed Iranian mission — and most of us would have learned its name for the first time.
For those who want to dismiss the president’s role in this mission, remember that the cost of failure was incredibly high.
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Surely the same people who are saying that the CiC’s role in the successful mission was minor, just a formality, and earns him no credit would also say that the CiC’s role in an UNsuccessful mission was minor, just a formality, and not his fault.
Just like Reagan, the Republicans, and a majority of American voters obviously felt that the failed rescue mission was no reflection on the president, just on the military.
which is I am guessing why Obama held 5 separate meetings with his national security team about this subject alone, why they prepared for a few months before pulling it off, and why the seals ran exercises designed around storming this particular compound many times before going in.
High risk, hell yes, but incredibly well done too, and certainly not in any haphazard manner.
That raid was short changed from the start.
There is no comparison.
You should see the number of comments over at redstate along this vein:
and
Looks like our President just screwed the pooch; now the terrorists have won.