zaterdag 7 mei 2011

The Fog of Fog

Today’s syndicated column summarizes the week in bin Laden narrative bungles. The Navy SEALs did what they were told to do. It’s President Obama’s civilian messengers who can’t tell a straight story and do right by our heroes who risked their lives. The White House Keystone Kops aren’t just squandering a public opinion bump. They’re squandering the victory of our men in uniform, along with the intel-gatherers who made the mission possible. Milblogger Greyhawk reminds us of a past bungled narrative from this administration that undermined troop morale and national security. As Blackfive military blogger Froggy put it bluntly: “Get your s**t together, Mr President!”

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The Fog of Fog
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011

The official White House account of Osama bin Laden’s demise has seen more slapdash cosmetic surgery over the past week than your average “Real Housewives” reality-show star. President Obama’s allies attribute the bungled “narrative” (their word, not mine) to the “Fog of War.” But each passing day — and each new set of hapless revisions — shows that what really ails the administration is the Fog of Fog.

Errors happen. Miscommunications happen. Confusing the name of which of bin Laden’s myriad sons died (Hamza, not Khalid), for example, is no biggie.

But the hourly revamping of key details of Sunday’s raid suggests something far beyond the usual realm of situational uncertainty that accompanies any military operation. The Navy SEALs did their job spectacularly. The civilians tasked with letting the world know about the mission, however, have performed like amateur dinner theater actors in a tragi-comic production of “Rashomon-meets-The Blind Men and the Elephant-meets-Keystone Kops.”

Incapable of straightforward answers, Team Obama’s clarity-challenged civilians have led nauseated news-watchers through more twists and turns than San Francisco’s Lombard Street.

Take your Dramamine, and let’s review.

Take One: Bin Laden died in a bloody firefight.

Read more at: Michelle Malkin