Target: Bin Laden " How did The Obama Admin do it?"

As details continue to emerge regarding the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, the situation becomes a bit easier to visualize.





The nail-biting, 40-minute secret operation that resulted in Osama bin Laden's death could have been a calamitous political and military failure; a bloodbath in Pakistan that could have left U.S. forces and scores of civilians dead or captured by America's most ferocious enemy.


Or, as it happened, it could unfold largely in textbook fashion – delivering a stunning success for the often maligned intelligence community, a political and national security coup for a struggling president and revenge for Americans still carrying vivid memories of Sept. 11.

By clandestinely sending a team of special operations forces into an enemy fortress in a suburban neighborhood of a sovereign country, President Barack Obama chose the path of greatest risk, but also greatest reward.

There were so many ways it could have gone wrong.  But it was an almost seamless operation.

As U.S. officials evaluated their options, Obama asked for a gut check from top members of his national security team.

The various plans, White House counterterror chief John Brennan said, were "debated across the board and the president wanted to make sure, at the end, that he had the views of all."
The level of risk stretched from moderate to massive.

"When you go into something like this, there are no guarantees," said Dick Couch, a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War who later worked for the CIA. "There's the fog of war. Things go wrong that you don't really plan or intend."

Bin Laden might not have been there, the commandos could have run into stiff resistance or hidden explosives, or U.S. troops might have been detected by Pakistani forces who could have taken action against them, Couch said in a phone interview Tuesday. "They have to plan ahead and account for as many of these contingencies as possible," he added. "But you can't take all the risk out of it."

The benefits, however, were too rich to ignore. With a precision assault, there would be much greater certainty they would positively identify bin Laden – a linchpin for success. It also reduced the risk of mass civilian casualties and dramatically increased the opportunity to gather what officials call a treasure trove of documents and intelligence.


As he reviewed the options, Obama had history to consider. As some of his predecessors can attest, these are the missions that can define a presidency.




Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek and Robert Burns contributed to this report.