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Honestly, the thing that I am having trouble wrapping my head around is how you have a 40-minute firefight 1,000 feet from Pakistan's West Point, in a town with two Army regiments, in a neighborhood surrounded by residents who know the sound of gunfire (retired Pakie GOs), and not have somebody dial 15.
Even if the friendly weapons were suppressed, it's not likely that the hostile force would use silencers in their own home. You're talking about the sound of helicopters, followed by explosions and small-arms fire, for forty minutes. You'd think that somebody in a uniform of some kind would swing by to check it out.
That said, it is obviously a tremendous success for the U.S. Ten years of grinding out the search followed by 40 minutes of extreme force, on a one-acre plot of land, surgically killing 5 and leaving 17 alive, applied at the far end of the globe. Can you hear me now?
Honestly, the thing that I am having trouble wrapping my head around is how you have a 40-minute firefight 1,000 feet from Pakistan's West Point, in a town with two Army regiments, in a neighborhood surrounded by residents who know the sound of gunfire (retired Pakie GOs), and not have somebody dial 15.
Even if the friendly weapons were suppressed, it's not likely that the hostile force would use silencers in their own home. You're talking about the sound of helicopters, followed by explosions and small-arms fire, for forty minutes. You'd think that somebody in a uniform of some kind would swing by to check it out.
That said, it is obviously a tremendous success for the U.S. Ten years of grinding out the search followed by 40 minutes of extreme force, on a one-acre plot of land, surgically killing 5 and leaving 17 alive, applied at the far end of the globe. Can you hear me now?
1) A guy actually live-tweeted the whole thing. He lives in that neighborhood and had no idea what was really going on. He was just reporting explosions and gunfire.
2) It's possible that the US set up roadblocks and anyone around there was told to back off.
1. Firefight was over in minutes. Rest of the time was gathering intel.
2. Pakistan army and law enforcement officials are some of the most corrupt and laziest in the world (ask me how I know). I was once on a plane that was held on the taxiway for 5 hours because I pissed off an immigration officer who asked for bribes. This plane was full of families and crew. We waited five hours because the pissed off officer flagged my 5 year old daughter and the officer who was supposed to check up on this flag was sleeping at his home and came to the plane at 6 or 7 am in the morning. Do you really thing they would get up to check on a firefight at 5:00 am?
1) A guy actually live-tweeted the whole thing. He lives in that neighborhood and had no idea what was really going on. He was just reporting explosions and gunfire.
Honestly, I think this more makes the point of confusion than breaks it. The live tweeter was an IT consultant, not a police officer, soldier, or retired military leader. A SCAR-H sounds a lot different than a Kalashnikov. Either nobody heard it (which the live tweeting makes unlikely), or people heard it and didn't respond with force for one reason or another.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diny
2) It's possible that the US set up roadblocks and anyone around there was told to back off.
Certainly possible that we constricted entrance and egress. Given the layout of the compound, it is even possible that some responders were outside and unable to get in. To hold it like that for forty minutes though? In an Army town?
That said, dispatcher sends you a place where there is a report of gunfire. You arrive and see some heavily armed person. Think that you might get on the radio for that one? Or if the dispatcher sends you and gets no response back (assuming the responder is at gunpoint) they send another guy - even to Nakatomi Tower.
I live in a Pakistani suburb next to the military academy. I think something is happening 'official'. I think, "It's 1am, helicopters are buzzing overhead and guns are blazing...I'd prefer to not get out of bed."
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Speaking of beds...a popular rallying cry the past couple of days is that, "Obama got the 3AM call, and he answered." Well, he got that call...and he hit the snooze button. This guy is unreal.
you know what....shiiite happens very quickly in these situations....time of day..people groggy...etc.
add that to the fact you are dealing the best military team the US has to offer.....I give the benefit of the doubt just to the strike capabilities of the SEAL team.
however, maybe just maybe...the pakistanis were just NOT LOOKING FOR A FIGHT???!!!....lol
moreover the pakistani gvt. is in a crap position anyway:
to us they look like they are complicent in the harboring of Bin Laden...and to the terrorist world they run the risk of looking too pro-american(west) because they did not try to intervene.....
let them be pissed that we did what we did and how we did it....or would they prefer we shut off the 1 billion dollar aide faucet
Speaking of beds...a popular rallying cry the past couple of days is that, "Obama got the 3AM call, and he answered." Well, he got that call...and he hit the snooze button. This guy is unreal.
So what exactly is the problem? I would guess that the clandestine strike, violating the sovereignty of one of our purported allies, is not a decision to be made without significant consideration as the diplomatic, military and political ramifications are far-reaching. I don't think The Prez has the concerns of disgruntled keyboard jockeys at the front of his decision tree.
I live in a Pakistani suburb next to the military academy. I think something is happening 'official'. I think, "It's 1am, helicopters are buzzing overhead and guns are blazing...I'd prefer to not get out of bed.
"Osama Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan.: ISI has confirmed it << Uh oh, there goes the neighborhood :-/"
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