The Killing of Osama Bin Laden: How the Mission to Hunt Down a Terrorist Mastermind was Accomplished by Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

Author:Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff [Nemcoff, Mark Yoshimoto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Military
ISBN: 9781934602034
Publisher: Glenneyre Press
Published: 2011-05-05T19:00:00+00:00

CODE NAME: GERONIMO

National Security Advisor Tom Donilon received the President’s signed orders in the Diplomatic Room of the White House and set the mission for a Saturday launch. However, weather conditions, crucial for the helicopters to enter and exit the target area safely, were poor. The mission would have to be delayed.

During the next 72 tense hours, Obama displayed a remarkable poker face. In Alabama, Obama and the First Lady got an up-close look at communities in Tuscaloosa that had been devastated earlier in the week by fierce tornados. Later in the day, the President and his family visited Cape Canaveral, Florida. Originally there to watch the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s final journey into space, the launch had to be scrubbed due to technical issues. Undeterred, the First Family toured NASA’s facilities and Obama met in private with both Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Congresswoman who had miraculously survived an assassination attempt earlier in the year, and her astronaut spouse, Mark Kelley, the Endeavor mission commander.

That night, before returning to Washington, Obama even delivered the commencement address at Miami Dade College. In a deeply personal speech, the President sidestepped many of the inspirational phrases he is best known for in favor of recalling his father’s troubled life and journey to the U.S. in search of a better education.

"I didn't know him well, my father," said the president. "But I know that when he was around your age, he dreamed of something more than his lot in life. He dreamed of that magical place; he dreamed of coming to study in America."

On Saturday, Obama attended the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, a lively event that placed the President square in the middle of a room filled with every reporter and news correspondent who calls the White House beat home. Obama was unflappable and even managed to deliver a few well-deserved zingers at Donald Trump after having endured weeks of pointless attacks by “The Donald” over the non-issue of the President’s Hawaiian birth certificate. One amazing moment happened that evening when comedian and event emcee, Seth Meyers, cracked a joke about the long-sought after Osama Bin Laden.

"People think Bin Laden is hiding in the Hindu Kush," unknowingly quipped Meyers, "but did you know that every day from 4 to 5 p.m. he hosts a show on C-SPAN?"

The President’s only reaction was a hearty guffaw.

Half a world away, in Abbottabad, morning was rising. It would be the last one of Osama Bin Laden’s life. Had he stepped out onto that third floor balcony, the one behind the seven-foot tall spy wall, and looked upward, he would have seen a beautiful clear sky.

One with plenty of visibility.

Unbeknownst to the al-Qaeda leader, the most hunted man in U.S. history, there were crews fueling helicopters, men readying their weapons and technicians packing their gear. All to come visit him. A man who’s codename for this mission would be “Geronimo.”

Hours later, in Washington D.C., as was his normal Sunday Morning custom, President Obama went to play golf at Andrews Air Force Base.

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