What We Know Now Puts Some Old Events In A Different Context

Remember the CIA Contractor who was arrested by Pakistan police for the crime of defending himself against two thugs who either tried to rob him or were in fact Al Qaeda?

Well, Lahore is about four and a half hours away from Abbottabad. That's not close. However, this CIA unit was almost certainly deployed as part of the operation to find bin Ladin, and who knows, may have been tracking the couriers. Perhaps the couriers were found in Lahore, delivering messages to Al Qaeda in Lahore, then later followed back to Osama's Al Qaeda Headquarters.

Maybe?

Another thing that looks different in context is Obama's roast-speech at the Correspondent's dinner. He already had given the order to get bin Ladin. I don't know if he knew for a fact bin Ladin was there, but he knew there was a good chance.

It tends to explain a little of his cockiness. Also, a joke that is particularly pointed is at about 10:30 -- he's goofing on Trump for making a trivial decision about who to fire after a steak-oriented contest on The Apprentice. He snarks about the decision to fire "Little John, Meat Loaf, or Gary Busey," "These are the sorts of decisions that would keep me up at night." And then tosses in "Well-handled, Sir, well-handled."

The joke was funny then, but it's even more pointed now.

Oh, and of course-- pre-empting the Apprentice. I don't know about that one, if he timed the announcement to coincide with that show. If they had a confirmation, it's likely they would be announcing it shortly thereafter.

I'm guessing that compare-and-contrast was more of a bonus.

posted by Ace at 12:56 PM

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