Report: Obama Canceled Bin Laden Raid Three Times

The Daily Caller has a preview of an explosive claim contained in a book by Richard Miniter that will be published next month: Before finally approving the SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, President Obama blocked it three times:

At the urging of Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden on three separate occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011 Navy SEAL mission, according to an explosive new book scheduled for release August 21. The Daily Caller has seen a portion of the chapter in which the stunning revelation appears.

In ”Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him,“ Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the “kill” mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. Obama’s close adviser Valerie Jarrett persuaded him to hold off each time, according to the book.

Miniter’s book suggests that Obama got cold feet one more time before finally approving the raid:

Obama administration officials also said after the raid that the president had delayed giving the order to kill the arch-terrorist the day before the operation was carried out, in what turned out to be his fourth moment of indecision. At the time, the White House blamed the delay on unfavorable weather conditions near bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

But when Miniter obtained that day’s weather reports from the U.S. Air Force Combat Meteorological Center, he said, they showed ideal conditions for the SEALs to carry out their orders.

Obama’s indecision is the theme of Leading From Behind. The book is not limited to foreign policy, but also covers such topics as Obamacare. Miniter is a reliable source, so the book’s claims should be taken seriously. Go here to pre-order the book from Amazon.

If Miniter’s report is correct, as I think we can assume it is, it is reminiscent of Bill Clinton and welfare reform. Clinton vetoed welfare reform twice (or was it three times?) before he finally signed the legislation–as I recall, late on night on board Air Force One, with no fanfare. When welfare reform turned out to be a success, Clinton claimed it as his foremost domestic achievement. It is ironic that Barack Obama was probably as unlikely as any plausible president to approve the killing of bin Laden, and yet, when he finally and apparently reluctantly did so, it provided just about the only bright spot of his term in office.

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