I just got back from an early afternoon viewing of 'The Hangover'.
I loved it! Its moments like these when I wish I was a bit younger.
Why is youth wasted on the young?
The World Has Four Corners But Space Is Endless. The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. - H.G. Wells, "The Discovery of the Future," 1901
Saturday, May 28
Friday, May 20
Beware 'Lone Wolves' in Aftermath of Bin Laden Killing, Advisory Says
Lone individuals are the most likely to launch attacks in the United States following the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to a joint Department of Homeland Security/FBI bulletin sent to state and local law enforcement.
The advisory says lone offenders who share al Qaeda's ideology are the greatest near-term threat because they are "unburdened by organizational constraints that can slow operational decisions by established terrorist groups."
Individuals could try to attack low-security targets using simple improvised explosive devices or small arms, the message said. However, the May 9 advisory obtained by CNN notes that federal law enforcement officials have "no credible information to suggest that a specifically targeted plot is underway."
The document cited the vow in the al Qaeda statement confirming the death of bin Laden which said "the soldiers of Islam" would continue to plan attacks. The advisory also says over the past year, Inspire magazine -- published in English by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- and various jihadi spokesmen have said attacks by individuals "can have a significant impact."
The notice mentions several attacks involving a single perpetrator, including the November 2009 Fort Hood attack that left 13 people dead. Army Major Nidal Hasan is accused in that shooting.
The advisory says lone offenders who share al Qaeda's ideology are the greatest near-term threat because they are "unburdened by organizational constraints that can slow operational decisions by established terrorist groups."
Individuals could try to attack low-security targets using simple improvised explosive devices or small arms, the message said. However, the May 9 advisory obtained by CNN notes that federal law enforcement officials have "no credible information to suggest that a specifically targeted plot is underway."
The document cited the vow in the al Qaeda statement confirming the death of bin Laden which said "the soldiers of Islam" would continue to plan attacks. The advisory also says over the past year, Inspire magazine -- published in English by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- and various jihadi spokesmen have said attacks by individuals "can have a significant impact."
The notice mentions several attacks involving a single perpetrator, including the November 2009 Fort Hood attack that left 13 people dead. Army Major Nidal Hasan is accused in that shooting.
Law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned that plots by lone wolves are the most difficult to detect and disrupt. But the DHS/FBI bulletin urges state and local law enforcement officials to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
Sunday, May 15
Barack Obama Pays 9/11 Respects At Ground Zero
Barack Obama spoke no words as he laid a red, white and blue wreath at the centre of Ground Zero. But then he didn't need to: the location and the identity of the individuals gathered round him spoke for him.
The location was in the shade cast by the Survivor Tree, an oak that was recently planted at the World Trade Centre for a second time. The first time was in the 1970s, but the tree was later engulfed in rubble on 11 September 2001.
Remarkably, it was found alive though badly damaged, then nursed back to health and finally replanted at its old home last December. It now stands 9 metres (30ft) tall.
A tree. A child. On the back of one man's killing, the almost 3,000 lives that he took were remembered in their company.
It happened under the same cloudless New York sky that had famously been a feature of 9/11 itself. On that day, almost 10 years ago, the beauty of the crystal clear blue sky seemed to mock the terrible events that were to unfold beneath it.
But on this occasion, with the knowledge that 9/11's architect had been confined to a watery grave, the beauty of the day seemed more in tune with events. Before laying the wreath, Obama walked through the memorial plaza that is now taking shape at the heart of Ground Zero. He saw the two giant footprints of the Twin Towers that form the physical and aesthetic heart of the site, which will become reflective pools and the largest manmade waterfalls in America. In the past week the first of the 2,976 names of those who died in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania have appeared, etched in bronze plates that have just been set out along the pools' edges.
In time, when the memorial area is complete, the sound of falling water and rustling leaves of the Survivor Tree and some 400 other oaks will suffuse the space that once was filled with 1.8m tonnes of rubble and molten steel beneath a mushroom cloud of dust.
Before arriving at Ground Zero, Obama paid homage to the 343 New York firefighters who lost their lives when the two towers collapsed. He visited the Pride of Midtown, a firehouse in Manhattan which lost an entire shift – 15 men – on that day, leaving 28 children fatherless.
He told the surviving rescue workers that he hoped the killing of Bin Laden had brought them some comfort. "Obviously you can't bring back the friends you lost," he said. "But what happened on Sunday sent a message around the world that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.
"Our commitment to make sure that justice was done was something that transcends politics. It doesn't matter which administration it was, who was in charge, we were going to make sure that the perpetrators received justice. That's some comfort, I hope."
Later, he visited a police precinct in lower Manhattan, along with New York's 9/11 mayor, Rudy Giuliani. Obama told the officers gathered to greet him: "We did what we said we were going to do."
This being Ground Zero, wherever Obama went he was followed like a faithful dog by the record of history. In particular, he was shadowed by the memory of a previous president's visit to the same place.
Not far from the spot where Obama laid his wreath, that president stood in 2001 on top of a crushed fire truck, his arms around a firefighter, speaking through a megaphone. "Can you hear me?" one of the rescue workers shouted out to him, just four days after the towers came down.
"I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who brought those buildings down will hear all of us soon."
He was right. Twenty three days after he made those off-the-cuff comments, George Bush began the war in Afghanistan. He didn't know then, he couldn't know then, that it would take America another nine years and seven months to be heard by the main culprit.
After Bush spoke, rescue workers at the site broke out into a chorus of "USA! USA!" It was the same chorus that was heard on Sunday night all round the perimeter of Ground zero when news came through of Bin Laden's death.
Thomas Von Essen was the commissioner of the New York fire department in 2001 when the tragedy happened, and recalled spending that day with Bush. "You could see from his face when he saw the mountain of rubble that it had a profound impact on him," he said. "I'm not a fan of politicians, they are so insincere, but I saw his face I knew he really understood what people had been through."
Von Essen said that he was glad that Obama had repeated the presidential visit nearly a decade later. But there was an aspect to the proceedings he was not so happy about.
"It was courageous of the president to authorise the raid on Bin Laden and I'm glad it worked out; it could easily have gone wrong. But this is now the political side – getting the pictures and taking the credit. I'm a little tired of all that."
TJ, a cement mason from Brooklyn who was one of the first people to start clearing the site after the Twin Towers collapsed, remembers helping to pull the fire truck on which Bush stood out of the rubble. He had no qualms about the commemoration.
"Obama's paying his respects just like he should. I don't think it's political. He's coming here to pay respects to the dead – it's what it is, no more no less."
Just outside the security fence around Ground Zero, bouquets of roses had been placed on the side of the road alongside a makeshift altar consisting of an empty bottle of Johnnie Walker blue label, some well-worn military boots and the badge of the 4th Infantry Division from the Iraq war. "Today let us pray for peace," someone had written.
Amid the crowd, a hawker was selling badges. They were stamped with the date 1 May 2011, and the words "Mission accomplished".
The location was in the shade cast by the Survivor Tree, an oak that was recently planted at the World Trade Centre for a second time. The first time was in the 1970s, but the tree was later engulfed in rubble on 11 September 2001.
Remarkably, it was found alive though badly damaged, then nursed back to health and finally replanted at its old home last December. It now stands 9 metres (30ft) tall.
Close to the oak stood Payton Wall. She was four years old when her father, Glen Wall, died in the Twin Towers. Now 14, she wrote a letter to the president describing how she coped with that loss. By happenstance, Obama read the letter on Monday, the morning after he had orchestrated the killing of the architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden.
It happened under the same cloudless New York sky that had famously been a feature of 9/11 itself. On that day, almost 10 years ago, the beauty of the crystal clear blue sky seemed to mock the terrible events that were to unfold beneath it.
But on this occasion, with the knowledge that 9/11's architect had been confined to a watery grave, the beauty of the day seemed more in tune with events. Before laying the wreath, Obama walked through the memorial plaza that is now taking shape at the heart of Ground Zero. He saw the two giant footprints of the Twin Towers that form the physical and aesthetic heart of the site, which will become reflective pools and the largest manmade waterfalls in America. In the past week the first of the 2,976 names of those who died in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania have appeared, etched in bronze plates that have just been set out along the pools' edges.
In time, when the memorial area is complete, the sound of falling water and rustling leaves of the Survivor Tree and some 400 other oaks will suffuse the space that once was filled with 1.8m tonnes of rubble and molten steel beneath a mushroom cloud of dust.
Before arriving at Ground Zero, Obama paid homage to the 343 New York firefighters who lost their lives when the two towers collapsed. He visited the Pride of Midtown, a firehouse in Manhattan which lost an entire shift – 15 men – on that day, leaving 28 children fatherless.
He told the surviving rescue workers that he hoped the killing of Bin Laden had brought them some comfort. "Obviously you can't bring back the friends you lost," he said. "But what happened on Sunday sent a message around the world that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.
"Our commitment to make sure that justice was done was something that transcends politics. It doesn't matter which administration it was, who was in charge, we were going to make sure that the perpetrators received justice. That's some comfort, I hope."
Later, he visited a police precinct in lower Manhattan, along with New York's 9/11 mayor, Rudy Giuliani. Obama told the officers gathered to greet him: "We did what we said we were going to do."
This being Ground Zero, wherever Obama went he was followed like a faithful dog by the record of history. In particular, he was shadowed by the memory of a previous president's visit to the same place.
Not far from the spot where Obama laid his wreath, that president stood in 2001 on top of a crushed fire truck, his arms around a firefighter, speaking through a megaphone. "Can you hear me?" one of the rescue workers shouted out to him, just four days after the towers came down.
"I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who brought those buildings down will hear all of us soon."
He was right. Twenty three days after he made those off-the-cuff comments, George Bush began the war in Afghanistan. He didn't know then, he couldn't know then, that it would take America another nine years and seven months to be heard by the main culprit.
After Bush spoke, rescue workers at the site broke out into a chorus of "USA! USA!" It was the same chorus that was heard on Sunday night all round the perimeter of Ground zero when news came through of Bin Laden's death.
Thomas Von Essen was the commissioner of the New York fire department in 2001 when the tragedy happened, and recalled spending that day with Bush. "You could see from his face when he saw the mountain of rubble that it had a profound impact on him," he said. "I'm not a fan of politicians, they are so insincere, but I saw his face I knew he really understood what people had been through."
Von Essen said that he was glad that Obama had repeated the presidential visit nearly a decade later. But there was an aspect to the proceedings he was not so happy about.
"It was courageous of the president to authorise the raid on Bin Laden and I'm glad it worked out; it could easily have gone wrong. But this is now the political side – getting the pictures and taking the credit. I'm a little tired of all that."
TJ, a cement mason from Brooklyn who was one of the first people to start clearing the site after the Twin Towers collapsed, remembers helping to pull the fire truck on which Bush stood out of the rubble. He had no qualms about the commemoration.
"Obama's paying his respects just like he should. I don't think it's political. He's coming here to pay respects to the dead – it's what it is, no more no less."
Just outside the security fence around Ground Zero, bouquets of roses had been placed on the side of the road alongside a makeshift altar consisting of an empty bottle of Johnnie Walker blue label, some well-worn military boots and the badge of the 4th Infantry Division from the Iraq war. "Today let us pray for peace," someone had written.
Amid the crowd, a hawker was selling badges. They were stamped with the date 1 May 2011, and the words "Mission accomplished".
Thursday, May 5
Navy SEAL Raid on Bin Laden Compound Reflects Tradition of Grit, Secrecy
The fatal shooting of Osama bin Laden with two bullets, the first to the chest and the second to the head, was the climax in a risky, secret Navy SEAL mission of the kind the U.S. is turning to more frequently for its national security.In a post-Cold War era of “irregular warfare” against antagonists such as insurgents and drug traffickers, the U.S. leans increasingly on covert skills and operations. The U.S. military’s Special Operations Command, which includes the SEALs, has more than tripled its budget and quadrupled the number of operatives deployed overseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, SEAL teams have engaged in intense combat during raids on al-Qaeda and Taliban strongholds. During the early moments of March 2003 invasion of Iraq, SEALs working with British and Polish commandos conducted one of the largest special operations raids of the war when they simultaneously took control of two major offshore oil platforms and oil manifolds on the Al Faw Peninsula.During the first Gulf War to expel Iraqi invaders from Kuwait, 15 SEALs in four speedboats set off explosive devices along the coast to fool Iraqi defenders into thinking that a large Marine force was landing.Tributes
Two SEALs have received the Medal of Honor posthumously for their actions in the recent wars -- Petty Officer Michael Monsoor in Iraq and Lieutenant Michael Murphy in Afghanistan. The Navy has named a new DDG-1000 destroyer after Monsoor and a DDG-51 destroyer afterMurphy.Defense Secretary Robert Gates in August paid tribute to the brutal physical conditioning that the Navy’s Sea, Air, Land commandos, or SEALs, endure in their training. He stood on a Coronado, California, beach to witness 67 sand-covered sailors crawl out of the water as they completed the standard ritual of “Hell Week.”“Knowing that they’ll be going into the fight and the fact that they’re all volunteers is very moving,” Gates told reporters afterwards.President Barack Obama, in the weeks before the raid, consulted closely with Vice AdmiralWilliam McRaven, head of the Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina-based Joint Special Operations Command, a White House official told reporters yesterday.‘Special Mission Units’
The JSOC, a highly classified sub-command of Special Operations Command, is in charge of operations involving so- called “special mission units.” The units execute counterterror missions to kill high-level Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders and train to interdict weapons of mass destruction that terrorists might possess.This command includes the Army First Operational Detachment-Delta, or Delta Force; the 75th Ranger Regiment; the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment; and the Navy’s counterterror SEAL force, the Special Warfare Development Group. Previously known as SEAL Team Six, it conducted the bin Laden raid.Mike Thornton, a Navy SEAL who received the Medal of Honor for saving the life of a fellow commando during the Vietnam War, helped establish SEAL Team Six in 1980 and watched special operations forces grow. He said he has been impressed by accounts of the bin Laden mission and knows the dedication and hard work the commandos put into it.“I was just very proud of them,” Thornton said in a telephone interview from Fort Hood inTexas, where he was addressing troops. Thornton, 62, retired from active duty in 1992 and now works as a public speaker and fundraiser for military-related foundations.Every Mission Different
He wouldn’t comment on the details of the bin Laden mission, saying every operation is different and it was impossible to know precisely the conditions under which the commandos were operating.“This is war,” Thornton said. “People have to understand that freedom is not free.”McRaven told Obama during a March 29 meeting that he wanted his units to conduct dress rehearsals for the raid, said the White House official. Obama asked how quickly the rehearsals could go and what the risks would be to the military personnel - - for example, what would be likely to happen if residents detected the helicopter force a minute from the compound.Situation Room
Obama had a 12-minute telephone conversation with McRaven the day before the raid, wishing the JSOC force good luck. Obama said he would personally be following the mission closely.A now-famous photo of the president and his national security team monitoring the operation in the White House Situation Room shows Air Force Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, assistant commanding general of JSOC, sitting at the head of the table.Obama in April nominated McRaven to head the entire U.S. Special Operation Command, under which JSOC falls. He would succeed the current commander, another SEAL, Admiral Eric Olson.SEAL commandos are among the most physically fit and ferocious operatives in the Special Operations Command. They specialize in waterborne operations, such as scuba diving, underwater demolition, coastal raids and river combat. They also have developed other capabilities, such as parachuting, helicopter assaults and clandestine attacks on dry land.The two dozen SEALs who carried out the operation to capture or kill bin Laden flew in by helicopters, one of which they had to blow up when they found that a technical glitch would prevent it from carrying them back out.‘Wild Bill’
The SEALs trace their roots to World War II -- specifically to General William “Wild Bill” Donovan’s commandos in Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA, and to the Navy frogmen who surveyed beaches and cleared obstacles for Allied amphibious landings.After President John F. Kennedy ordered the armed services to increase their number of counter-insurgency units, the Navy in the early 1960s converted many of its underwater demolition teams into SEALs with the added mission of guerrilla and counter-guerrilla warfare.‘Green Faces’
During the Vietnam War, the Vietcong nicknamed the unusual American force the “men with green faces,” because the SEALs seemed to spring up from the ground at any time to kill or kidnap guerrillas.A Navy man -- there are no women among the SEALs -- undergoes more than a year of additional training to qualify for the elite unit. Applicants typically are physically fit sailors or officers in their late teens or early 20s.The quest to become a SEAL begins with a seven-week swimming and exercise course for conditioning. Next comes 25 weeks of basic underwater demolition training that includes rigorous, almost brutal physical conditioning, dive training, small-boat seamanship and ground combat instruction.That’s the period that includes Hell Week, when they are allowed only a few hours of sleep amid practically nonstop physical exercise and immersion in chilly water. The training is conducted at the Naval Special Warfare Command headquarters at Coronado, California, near San Diego, and, until the 1970s, also took place at a SEAL base in Norfolk, Virginia.Hell Week
Hell Week teaches the future commando to turn his mind off the pain and misery and focus on the mission. As many as three- fourths in each class drop out of the 25-week course. Those who remain go on to 26 weeks of qualification training that includes lessons in close combat and guerrilla warfare.The group commonly referred to as SEAL Team Six is the Navy force’s secret counterterrorism unit. It’s located on one of the many Navy bases in the Norfolk area, housed in a heavily guarded compound with a bland cover name on the sign in front to confuse the curious.The secrecy of the bin Laden operation, which U.S. officials said they didn’t reveal to any allies, reflects another characteristic of SEAL operations: Officials wanted to ensure that the mission could be carried out successfully and without interruption.In the end, the SEAL commandos on the scene were able to declare the codename confirmation for mission success against bin Laden -- Geronimo EKIA, or Enemy Killed in Action.John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security, praised the commandos during a White House briefing yesterday. Respecting the secrecy that surrounds their work, he did so without ever specifically identifying them as SEALs.“The accomplishment that very brave personnel from the United States government were able to realize yesterday is a defining moment in the war against al-Qaeda,” Brennan said.
The fatal shooting of Osama bin Laden with two bullets, the first to the chest and the second to the head, was the climax in a risky, secret Navy SEAL mission of the kind the U.S. is turning to more frequently for its national security.
In a post-Cold War era of “irregular warfare” against antagonists such as insurgents and drug traffickers, the U.S. leans increasingly on covert skills and operations. The U.S. military’s Special Operations Command, which includes the SEALs, has more than tripled its budget and quadrupled the number of operatives deployed overseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, SEAL teams have engaged in intense combat during raids on al-Qaeda and Taliban strongholds. During the early moments of March 2003 invasion of Iraq, SEALs working with British and Polish commandos conducted one of the largest special operations raids of the war when they simultaneously took control of two major offshore oil platforms and oil manifolds on the Al Faw Peninsula.
During the first Gulf War to expel Iraqi invaders from Kuwait, 15 SEALs in four speedboats set off explosive devices along the coast to fool Iraqi defenders into thinking that a large Marine force was landing.
Tributes
Two SEALs have received the Medal of Honor posthumously for their actions in the recent wars -- Petty Officer Michael Monsoor in Iraq and Lieutenant Michael Murphy in Afghanistan. The Navy has named a new DDG-1000 destroyer after Monsoor and a DDG-51 destroyer afterMurphy.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates in August paid tribute to the brutal physical conditioning that the Navy’s Sea, Air, Land commandos, or SEALs, endure in their training. He stood on a Coronado, California, beach to witness 67 sand-covered sailors crawl out of the water as they completed the standard ritual of “Hell Week.”
“Knowing that they’ll be going into the fight and the fact that they’re all volunteers is very moving,” Gates told reporters afterwards.
President Barack Obama, in the weeks before the raid, consulted closely with Vice AdmiralWilliam McRaven, head of the Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina-based Joint Special Operations Command, a White House official told reporters yesterday.
‘Special Mission Units’
The JSOC, a highly classified sub-command of Special Operations Command, is in charge of operations involving so- called “special mission units.” The units execute counterterror missions to kill high-level Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders and train to interdict weapons of mass destruction that terrorists might possess.
This command includes the Army First Operational Detachment-Delta, or Delta Force; the 75th Ranger Regiment; the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment; and the Navy’s counterterror SEAL force, the Special Warfare Development Group. Previously known as SEAL Team Six, it conducted the bin Laden raid.
Mike Thornton, a Navy SEAL who received the Medal of Honor for saving the life of a fellow commando during the Vietnam War, helped establish SEAL Team Six in 1980 and watched special operations forces grow. He said he has been impressed by accounts of the bin Laden mission and knows the dedication and hard work the commandos put into it.
“I was just very proud of them,” Thornton said in a telephone interview from Fort Hood inTexas, where he was addressing troops. Thornton, 62, retired from active duty in 1992 and now works as a public speaker and fundraiser for military-related foundations.
Every Mission Different
He wouldn’t comment on the details of the bin Laden mission, saying every operation is different and it was impossible to know precisely the conditions under which the commandos were operating.
“This is war,” Thornton said. “People have to understand that freedom is not free.”
McRaven told Obama during a March 29 meeting that he wanted his units to conduct dress rehearsals for the raid, said the White House official. Obama asked how quickly the rehearsals could go and what the risks would be to the military personnel - - for example, what would be likely to happen if residents detected the helicopter force a minute from the compound.
Situation Room
Obama had a 12-minute telephone conversation with McRaven the day before the raid, wishing the JSOC force good luck. Obama said he would personally be following the mission closely.
A now-famous photo of the president and his national security team monitoring the operation in the White House Situation Room shows Air Force Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, assistant commanding general of JSOC, sitting at the head of the table.
Obama in April nominated McRaven to head the entire U.S. Special Operation Command, under which JSOC falls. He would succeed the current commander, another SEAL, Admiral Eric Olson.
SEAL commandos are among the most physically fit and ferocious operatives in the Special Operations Command. They specialize in waterborne operations, such as scuba diving, underwater demolition, coastal raids and river combat. They also have developed other capabilities, such as parachuting, helicopter assaults and clandestine attacks on dry land.
The two dozen SEALs who carried out the operation to capture or kill bin Laden flew in by helicopters, one of which they had to blow up when they found that a technical glitch would prevent it from carrying them back out.
‘Wild Bill’
The SEALs trace their roots to World War II -- specifically to General William “Wild Bill” Donovan’s commandos in Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA, and to the Navy frogmen who surveyed beaches and cleared obstacles for Allied amphibious landings.
After President John F. Kennedy ordered the armed services to increase their number of counter-insurgency units, the Navy in the early 1960s converted many of its underwater demolition teams into SEALs with the added mission of guerrilla and counter-guerrilla warfare.
‘Green Faces’
During the Vietnam War, the Vietcong nicknamed the unusual American force the “men with green faces,” because the SEALs seemed to spring up from the ground at any time to kill or kidnap guerrillas.
A Navy man -- there are no women among the SEALs -- undergoes more than a year of additional training to qualify for the elite unit. Applicants typically are physically fit sailors or officers in their late teens or early 20s.
The quest to become a SEAL begins with a seven-week swimming and exercise course for conditioning. Next comes 25 weeks of basic underwater demolition training that includes rigorous, almost brutal physical conditioning, dive training, small-boat seamanship and ground combat instruction.
That’s the period that includes Hell Week, when they are allowed only a few hours of sleep amid practically nonstop physical exercise and immersion in chilly water. The training is conducted at the Naval Special Warfare Command headquarters at Coronado, California, near San Diego, and, until the 1970s, also took place at a SEAL base in Norfolk, Virginia.
Hell Week
Hell Week teaches the future commando to turn his mind off the pain and misery and focus on the mission. As many as three- fourths in each class drop out of the 25-week course. Those who remain go on to 26 weeks of qualification training that includes lessons in close combat and guerrilla warfare.
The group commonly referred to as SEAL Team Six is the Navy force’s secret counterterrorism unit. It’s located on one of the many Navy bases in the Norfolk area, housed in a heavily guarded compound with a bland cover name on the sign in front to confuse the curious.
The secrecy of the bin Laden operation, which U.S. officials said they didn’t reveal to any allies, reflects another characteristic of SEAL operations: Officials wanted to ensure that the mission could be carried out successfully and without interruption.
In the end, the SEAL commandos on the scene were able to declare the codename confirmation for mission success against bin Laden -- Geronimo EKIA, or Enemy Killed in Action.
John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security, praised the commandos during a White House briefing yesterday. Respecting the secrecy that surrounds their work, he did so without ever specifically identifying them as SEALs.
“The accomplishment that very brave personnel from the United States government were able to realize yesterday is a defining moment in the war against al-Qaeda,” Brennan said.
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