The Obama White House can keep a secret.. This was started in AUGUST

[SoCalDem]

and not a peep leaked out.. The people in a need-to-know situation zipped their traps & said nothing..

It shows that adults ARE in charge:)

The UK knew about this too.

The sudden announcement of the "no honeymoon" for the UK newlyweds struck me as odd, when all the media was abuzz about how he had taken off two weeks and how they planned to go to Kenya or Jordan..

Someone nixed the honeymoon at the "right moment", knowing what a target those two might be..

[CottonBear]

1. You may very well be right about the honeymoon cancellation.

The newlywed groom and his younger brother, who served in Afghanistan, are both active members of the UK military.

[DebJ]

2. Gates announced he would resign in August, too, but wouldn't

give a date. Maybe he was confidant the job would be done.

[SoCalDem]

13. Gates, Panetta & Petraeus were intimately involved in this..

They all get to go out on a high note

[Lasher]

3. They kept it secret from Pakistan.

I have long suspected Pakistan's secret service of protecting bin Laden. They had no opportunity to do so this time.

[SoCalDem]

5. Pakistan knew Bin Laden was there.. they are just playing CYA now

Now would be a perfect time for a BIG speech, laying out the following:

Bin Laden is captured/killed.
Middle Easterners are throwing off the oppressive leaders of decades.
The US & allied forces have set in motion, plans for the Iraqis & Afghans to take care of themselves.

These are all sovereign nations, and the leaders the people choose can come to us at ANY time for advice, but the military actions in that region are OVER..

Our forces are coming home...ALL of them

The Middle East now has a task at hand.. They can align with the rest of the world, and get their houses in order as they get back to the business of commerce, education and the betterment of their own people. We cannot GIVE them freedom, but we have removed impediments to their achieving their own freedom.

It is now up to them to choose the correct path for their people.

[Lasher]

10. That's a speech I'd like to see.

I'd add something about cutting off funding.

[joshcryer]

16. God I hope that happens. +10000000000000000

[bleever]

4. I keep thinking there was some other noteworthy PDB in August...

I think it was back in 2001...

Help me out here.

[SoCalDem]

6. Yep..one president was too busy vacationing to pay attention

another one paid attention:)

[TheDebbieDee]

7. My daughter stated that the search for Bin Laden may

have triggered the whole Wiki-leaks debacle.........maybe they were afraid Assange would get hold of info that would have tipped off Osama Bin Laden or scared him to a new hiding place.

[pacalo]

17. Assange is well aware of the name Osama bin Laden & his value to the U.S.

He assured the State Department he didn't want to endanger national security:

Here, Assange can make the department's case especially difficult. Well before publishing the cables, he wrote a letter to the U.S. government, delivered to our ambassador in London, inviting suggestions for redactions. The State Department refused. Assange then wrote another letter to State, reiterating that "WikiLeaks has absolutely no desire to put individual persons at significant risk of harm, nor do we wish to harm the national security of the United States."

In that second letter, Assange stated that the department's refusal to discuss redactions "leads me to conclude that the supposed risks are entirely fanciful." He then indicated that WikiLeaks was undertaking redactions on its own.

"WaPo:"Why Prosecuting WikiLeak's Assange Won't Be Easy"

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. I bet Greenwald's pissed that he didn't know this was coming. (nt)

[moondust]

14. +1

This is but one obvious reason that the Wikileaks "industry" is a bad idea.

[JCMach1]

9. Since 2008... Obama declared a secret war on ISI

or the rogue elements at least...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1007822

[progressoid]

11. Pfft.

That's nothing. The Bush whitehouse kept the secret that 9/11 was an inside job for 7 years!

:sarcasm:

k/r

[SoCalDem]

12. why you little troublemaker, you

:spank:

[JDPriestly]

15. This is the sort of thing that has to be kept secret.

Our government keeps too much secret, but they were right to keep this plan very secret.

[HopeHoops]

18. Sort of funny since the shrub ignored the memo he got in August 2001.

[SoCalDem]

19. He ignored everything that was important n/t