Four days after U.S. forces found and killed Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, President Obama will pay an emotional visit to New York City today, visiting with first responders and victims’ families to mark the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist.
Obama is scheduled to visit with emergency responders, including a stop at a midtown Manhattan firehouse that lost 15 members in the attacks nearly 10 years ago. He will also lay a wreath at ground zero.
New York City has been on high alert ever since the stunning announcement on Sunday that bin Laden had been killed. The NYPD has said extra security would remain in place for the president’s visit.
“We have the NYPD out there protecting us,” Mayor Bloomberg said Wednesday. “I feel as safe today as I felt last week, and I think all New Yorkers should.”
Obama has visited ground zero before, but not as president. His last public appearance there was as a candidate in 2008.
News of his visit today evoked comparisons this week to former President George W. Bush’s appearance at the rubble pile in the days after the World Trade Center was hit. Obama invited Bush to accompany him this time, but the former president declined.
A small group of families will meet with Obama privately after he lays a wreath at the site.
“My number one thing is to thank him for being a man of his word — he said what he was going to do and he told us and I’m glad that he did it,” said Jim Riches, who lost his son on 9/11. “And as one father to another I want to thank him very much for doing that.”
Some family members also say they hope to lobby Obama about some ongoing issues at the site, including a plan to store unidentified remains there and the arrangement of the engraved names on the memorial panels.
A woman who lost her husband in the World Trade Center attack said she thinks Obama’s visit is “a very nice gesture.”
“I love the fact that he’s honoring our loved ones,” said Barbara Minervino, of Middletown, N.J.
Security is expected to be tight throughout the city for the duration of Obama’s visit. Police say there are no specific threats, but Commissioner Ray Kelly has said officials assume bin Laden’s followers might try to avenge his death with an attack..
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that the president has decided not to release graphic death photos of bin Laden. Carney said Obama told CBS for an upcoming interview: “This is not who we are. We don’t trot this stuff out as trophies.”
(Source: NBC New York)
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5 Responses
Disgraceful, self-serving, election campaigning.
He takes the credit just because he’s in the White House at the conclusion of a 10 year effort to get binLaden.
“Oh, but he made the tough decision to do the mission!”
-Tough Decision?!?!?!? My grandmother could have made that decision!!!
No. 1: It was not a 10-year effort to get Bin Laden. President Bush expressed indifference to capturing Bin Laden in 2002, and in 2005, the CIA closed its get-Bin Laden unit.
As for the “toughness” of making the decision, consider these factors:
a. There was some uncertainty about whether Bin Laden was in the targeted compound.
b. There was a high risk of failure of the mission – one helicopter in fact became disabled.
c. Approximately 60 highly trained American commandos (i.e., Navy Seals) were being put at risk of death or injury.
d. The mission involved the breach of sovereignty of a nominal ally – Pakistan. If the mission failed, the fallout could have been grave, not just between the US and Pakistan, but between the US and other states of the Middle East.
e. There were lower-risk alternatives, including a high-altitude precision bombing of the site, but that would have failed to yield proof of the success of the mission. Given that (i) President Obama’s short-form Hawaiian birth certificate was not enough, in the small minds of some small-minded Americans, to establish his eligibility to hold the office he holds, and (ii) many in the Middle East continue to attribute the attack on the World Trade Center to the CIA, Israel, or “the Jews” (which would include you and me), the president was wise to choose the higher-risk mission that would – and did – yield proof of the death of Bin Laden.
Lastly, your reference to your grandmother implies that your grandmother is not tough or wise. Perhaps it would be appropriate for you to apologize to her.
nfgo3…
My grandmother is both tough AND wise.
But despite the points you made, in view of ALL that was involved here, this decision did not require any great wisdom OR toughness.
HAD the mission failed, I’m sure YOU would have been leading the pack defending Obama’s decision anyway, – so, when all is said and done, WHAT did he really risk so much anyway?
In 2005, Runsfeld cancelled a planned raid into northern Pakistan that might have captured al-Zawahri (number 2, now number 1 in al-Qaeda). He felt it was too risky and might jeopardize relations with Pakistan.
#1, what would your grandmother have done?
No. 3: Based on your first paragraph, I presume that you will shortly be offering an apology to your grandmother.
You write in part: “HAD the mission failed, I’m sure YOU would have been leading the pack defending Obama’s decision anyway, – so, when all is said and done, WHAT did he really risk so much anyway?”
What Obama risked if the mission failed would include (a) that I might not defend him, and (b) that my defense of him would have been inadequate to save him politically. You evidently have a high opinion of the value of my support of any politician, and I thank you for the your high regard of my political influence, though I think you have overestimated it.