Just one of the things that might have gone horribly wrong for the SEALs during the bin Laden operation.
Recall that OBL's house was about 300 yards from Pakistan's version of West Point, and a few miles away was a regiment of Pakistani soldiers. If our boys hadn't been as quick as they were, there would have been quite a few dead Pakistani soldiers and probably a few SEALs as well.
The New York Times:
President Obama insisted that the assault force hunting down Osama bin Laden last week be large enough to fight its way out of Pakistan if confronted by hostile local police officers and troops, senior administration and military officials said Monday.In revealing additional details about planning for the mission, senior officials also said that two teams of specialists were on standby: One to bury Bin Laden if he was killed, and a second composed of lawyers, interrogators and translators in case he was captured alive. That team was set to meet aboard a Navy ship, most likely the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea.
Mr. Obama's decision to increase the size of the force sent into Pakistan shows that he was willing to risk a military confrontation with a close ally in order to capture or kill the leader of Al Qaeda.
Such a fight would have set off an even larger breach with the Pakistanis than has taken place since officials in Islamabad learned that helicopters filled with members of a Navy Seals team had flown undetected into one of their cities, and burst into a compound where Bin Laden was hiding.
The administration may have been covering itself by setting up that unit to interrogate a surrendered Osama. Hard to imagine a scenario except a white flag being flown that would have caused the SEALs to hesitate in pulling the trigger.
It says something about SEAL Team Six and the other special forces troops that there were less than 50 of them on the mission, ready to take on a whole regiment and more of Pakistani soldiers.
Deadly, indeed.
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