Bin Laden would have escaped if Pakistan permission sought: Obama
Obama administration officials have previously justified the decision not to involve Islamabad by citing the risk that Bin Laden might somehow be tipped off and flee his compound in Abbottabad before the team of Navy SEALs arrived.
Leon Panetta, then the director of the CIA and now defense secretary, said in an interview with TIME magazine shortly after the May 2011 raid that there was a concern that the Pakistanis "might alert the targets."
But in Monday's presidential foreign policy debate against Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama presented such risk as a certainty.
"If we had asked Pakistan (for) permission, we would not have gotten him," Obama said.
The Bin Laden raid was one of the many issues Obama used to differentiate himself from his opponent.
Romney - during his failed bid for the 2008 Republican nomination - criticised Obama for warning publicly that, if Islamabad didn't act, he would go into Pakistan to get high value targets like Bin Laden. Romney suggested such comments were not helpful in building ties.
On Monday, Romney said he also would have ordered the raid.
"We had to go into Pakistan. We had to go in there to get Osama bin Laden. That was the right thing to do," Romney said.
The question of who in Pakistan might have known about Bin Laden's whereabouts is still a matter of speculation.
The Pakistani ambassador to the United States at the time of the raid, Husain Haqqani, told a forum in Washington in August that he believed someone somewhere in Pakistan must have known - a similar sentiment echoed by Panetta.
"I don't have any hard evidence, so I can't say it for a fact. There's nothing that proves the case. But as I said, my personal view is that somebody somewhere probably had that knowledge," Panetta told CBS' "60 Minutes" program in January.
COMMENTS (47)
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@Zubair: That is not the topic of the debate sorry. The US has indeed commited war crimes but overall, it is a nation that holds accountable its presidents when they do wrong. The Pakistanis dont do this because they think they are always right.
@ Cautious/Be Realistic/1984
Attack on Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and atrocities in the length and breadth of the world by US will bring more and more reactive forces in the world. Osama was never ever capable of attacks on twin towers. If he was, he should have done atleast one similar attack in US or any allied European country of the US in the past 10 years but that never happened.
Unfortunatly, we have the puppets of US sitting in our power houses who have no options to toe the US policies and the rest you understand very well.
Shakil Afridi never knew that he was working on OBL. but he did know that he was working as an agent for US in helping them reach their sinister design. It could have been any thing from topling the government, to supporting the terrorist and so on. Hence he is a traitor by all means and miss used his office
Farah : "After losing 40000 lives and billions of rupees on this war. This is the level of trust of Americans for us. " One establishes a trust by actions and deeds. It does not come automatically. If u study Pak's history of dealing with americans, I am sure both will have their reasons not to trust each other. Losing 40000 lives is because of the snakes you bred, with/without US's help.
Actually Obama wants to say that Pakistani leadership,which has been declared the US' ally in war against the terrorism,is or has been untrustworthy and incredible and sharing the operational information against Osama with Pakistan was extremely harmful and could cause the Osama's escape..... Shame on you Pakistani leaders that your so-called true friend USA doesn't trust you in your security matters and concerns and important matters and still now you consider USA your true friend and you are still US-aid's dependent......
@Mirza: He was in Abbotabad city, not in Army base.
agree 100%.
@Nadeem: How about you!
@Mirza:
Let us accept it- Pakistan can be an associate or accompalice but never a trusted friend. Did Pakistan trained terrorists not create mayhem in China?
@Awais: I listened to it live and left it on the same channel while they replayed it 2 or 3 times. He did say if he notified Pakistan that they would not have gotten him. The only two possibilities for what you're saying to be true, even just to yourself, if you watched the debate is: 1. you're being picky about exact wording 2. you have issues processing the English language
A white lie!! The USA was tipped of by the Bin Laden family from Sauidi Arabia! The use of Hegel speculative logic in such instances is not bad. The Pakistan military was outsmarted because of their adherance to cross border follow up arrangements, although the so called stealth helicopters were sighted with naked eye and the line of communication from military to Zardari collapsed. Pakistan military brass has been previously outsmarted by the Indian brass on several occasions. Unless the pakistan military is converted to a National army and undergoes the cultural revolution similar to the one the Chinese went through, Pakistan military is ot organised to protect the integrity of the land.
Rex Minor
@Thor: Is it wrong to think that way?
Of course, Rehman Malik would have himself escorted him out.
@Awais: "I listened to the debate live. Even more carefully when Pakistan was the subject. Never once, I heard Obama saying that. What a joke this media has become!"
HEre is the debate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tecohezcA78 Here are the exact words. They occurred at 1:00:30-1:00:58 "When it comes to going after Osama bin Laden, you said, well, any president would make that call. But when you were a candidate in 2008 — as I was — and I said, if I got bin Laden in our sights, I would take that shot, you said we shouldn't move heaven and earth to get one man, and you said we should ask Pakistan for permission.
And if we had asked Pakistan for permission, we would not have gotten him. And it was worth moving heaven and earth to get him."
I watched the debate live, and Obama's words were "If we had asked Pakistan for permission, we would not have gotten it". IT, not him, Meaning Pakistan would not have given the US permission to enter its airspace and carry out this operation on Pakistani territory.
There is a big difference between what you reported and what his words were. During the debate he did not say that if they had asked Pakistan for permission, OBL would have escape.
well as pakistanis why dont we admit it bcoz do we not have good talibans and bad talibans mantra? yes we good talibans are pak proxies and they r used to remove kabul democratic govt and bad talibans are the one who wants to destabilise pak. so yes US president was right we should say der is no good and bad talibans they are all bad talibans
First I will say I do not condone the killing of Bin Laden. He should of been brought to trial. The article says there was a concern that Bin Laden may be warned of the US approaching. The article does not say the entire Pakistan government nor public would warn him. How can someone with a high status such as Bin Laden live in a country and nobody know? I think someone did. Husain Haqqani thought so too. There seems to be a lot of tension between the US and Pakistan. I know the US government is not ideal, nobodies is. Governments are made up of people, and like everyone else you know, they have ideas that differ from each other. Look at the individuals involved and not the entire population.
@Thor: No he does not, unless one has learned "the great art of reading between the lines" in one of the madrassa in the land of pure and could decipher Obama’s true and conspiratorial message! Like any smart chap Obama does not consider the entire Pakistani nation a bunch of blind followers of Bin Laden and his kind of jihadists. However if the Pakistani state (all branches including its above the rule book branches like the military and ISI!) falters and shows its surrendering posture to the beasts and cavemen, he would not mind taking occasional unilateral actions to safeguard what he as President perceives as the US security interest.
It is true but hard to digest
I listened to the debate live. Even more carefully when Pakistan was the subject. Never once, I heard Obama saying that. What a joke this media has become!
@Zubair. So why hasn't the Pakistani govt denied the OBL debacle? This event gave Pakistan a black eye and one would think that if this was a sham they would be first to shout that it was a fake. Conspiracy theorist go to great lengths to ignore the obvious.
what should be more worrisome is that Obama talked about Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan in the same sentence and in the same vein......
@Zubair: If OBL death was fake,then release Dr.Shakil Afridi
@Zubair: Even the Pakistani govt., army, ISI confirmed OBL was living in the compound. Whether he was killed by the US or is being kept alive is a different issue. Whatever his status but he was captured that day. The US would never bury OBL on land to make him into a martyr. Plenty of fundamentalist muslims would be showereing petals on his grave for the next millenium since its common practice to glorify tyrants.
Stop living in denial. If OBL being there was fake the Pakistani agencies would be jumping like crazy. They find conspiracies in every corner so this would have been very easy to deny.
Pretty clear that the American's believe that someone high up in your "deep state" was hiding OBL. After 2014 the American's may disclose who they think was involved, disclose your various nefarious deals and likely pronounce Pakistan as a sponsor of terrorism with associated sanctions. Life after American withdrawal is going to be tougher than you imagine.
@Farah: Stop crying. Loosing 40000 people was to further your cause and fight your own battle. Stop believing that war against terror is a war of USA. It is a war for your own survival.
Pakistan was warned by Obama four years ago that should OBL be found in Pakistan, he will go after him. Pakistan doubted it but USA proved them wrong.
Just like the drone targets that the CIA was earlier informing the Pakistani 'agencies' about. They used to only bomb empty buildings. It took the Americans a while to cotton on to the fact that the occupants were long gone before the drones hit. That is how Pakistan was left out of the loop. But a public statement by the President of the US must be humiliating !!
YES ,Mr OBAMA you are quite right. Good Judgement.
@Farah: Remember what Richard Armitage said when he visited pakistan after 9/11 " if you dont co-operate we would bomb you back to stone-age " You do a job ,Pakistan,.. & you get paid for it.This money pays not to just for the war but also to grease the Pakistani economy. US-PAK relationship is a relationship of convenience not TRUST !!!! That debate was for keep the American public happy.. Not to please the pak public. Deal with it.
This means that the US does not accept the Abbott Abad Commission Report that gave clean chit to Military Establishment
Well this needs a matching answer from somebody in Pakistan!
"US President Barack Obama, in some of his most blunt remarks to date, said on Monday that Osama bin Laden would have escaped if the United States had sought Pakistan’s permission ahead of the raid on the al Qaeda leader’s compound."............... .........and this is nothing but the bitter truth!!!
And we threw his body into the sea so that Pakistan or Al-qaeda does not resusitate him to life. The whole world is being fooled by US over the drama of Alqaeda....A true Hollywood movie..Keep watching guys:)
Serious TRUST deficit, and justifable?
Obviously.
Amreeka put OBL there so that they could launch operation to defame Pakistan!
It simply means no trusts exists between US and Pakistan.
what a news !!
Alternative headline: "Obama says out loud what everyone already knows".
there is a huge huge difference between what he said and what is your headline. As reported in the full text, he said we would not have gotten him, he did not say, he would have escaped...dont you think there is a difference???
you people have the license to go into any country do whatever you want.
For once he is right !!
After losing 40000 lives and billions of rupees on this war. This is the level of trust of Americans for us.
in other words, Obama think all Pakistanis are culprits?