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Lawrence O’Donnell Says Bin Laden Lunged ‘Line’ Reminds Him of ‘Questionable’ Police Shooting Report

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by Tommy Christopher | 11:17 pm, May 4th, 2011

» 27 comments

As details continue to emerge (and shift) about the shooting of Osama bin Laden, the apparent contradictions threaten to undercut the wave of euphoria that the terrorist leader’s demise sparked on Sunday. On Wednesday night’s The Last Word, host Lawrence O’Donnell spoke with MSNBC’s Richard Wolffe about one such contradiction, the recent report that bin Laden wasn’t armed, but “appeared to lunge for a weapon.” O’Donnell observed that this was “The classic line that appears in every police report of every questionable shooting” of an unarmed suspect by police. Oddly, O’Donnell lets the suggestion dangle, as he and Wolffe go on to discuss the inconsistent stories that have been rolling out about the shooting.

While O’Donnell was probably just noting an ironic similarity, it is worth noting that most police shootings of unarmed suspects don’t involve a guy who has killed thousands, and is as likely to have several blocks of Semtex under his jammies as some Vicks Vap-o-rub. It is entirely proper for journalists to dig for the truth, but just as important not to obscure it by omitting important context. Given who bin Laden was, what he was capable of, it is hard to imagine any provocation too small to take him out.

The balance of the segment dealt with the administration’s difficulty in getting the story right before getting the story out. Wolffe made the excellent point that this is the price of transparency, that when the facts are unclear, everyone gets to see that the facts are unclear: (from MSNBC)

Fair enough, two or three days is a short time in which to nail down every detail of such a monumental operation. However, the administration has also been caught flat-footed on questions that should have been settled before bin Laden ever began to crap his pants for the last time. As I’ve noted previously, there’s no excuse for the muddy messaging on whether waterboarding was used to gain intel on the bin Laden kill, but even more baffling is the suspense-filled deliberation over whether to release photos of the remains, finally decided today.

That should have been decided earlier, and easier, than whether and when to use a ground assault. For what it’s worth, and I hate like hell to even kind of agree with Sarah Palin on this, I think the photos should be released. Not because of any “pussy-footing” taunts or chest-thumping “deterrent” (although there is a case to be made that such a physical symbol of defeat could actually save lives by demoralizing the enemy), but because the reasons to do so outweigh, in importance, the reasons being given not to.

This is America, a free country with a free press, and whatever was gained by bin Laden’s killing was paid for by all of us. I agree that we ought not display it as a trophy, but those of us who feel the need to see it, to close the wound a little more, perhaps, or even for a flash of well-earned, wicked glee, or for reasons held too closely to convey, we ought to be free to do so. To deny us that, essentially to avoid pissing off some terrorists, is to grant the villain victory from beyond the grave.

Osama bin Laden, Richard Wolffe, Sarah Palin, Semtex

lonestar77

Since you brought up the waterboarding again, I’ll ask you again, if you believe the President should have the power to use it and if you agree with me that the left really only hated waterboarding because Bush was President? Honestly, how can anyone care if KSM is subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques?
Barack Must Go

If these two attempting to explain away the Obama administrations dishonest modus operandi wasn’t so very sad it would actually be comical.
slickerwick

Waterboarding terrorists is bad but shooting them dead is good?
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Probably NOT wrong

A GEEK and a CREEP!
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Crazy Larry is crazy.

It doesn’t matter whether he lunged for the gun, was armed, or was taking a bath. Obama gave the order to shoot to kill – wanted *dead or deader*.

I can’t believe the story is so inconsistent. They are stepping all over their *win* by the sloppy handling of the details. Didn’t they watch it unfold via helmet cams? How can the story be this unclear if they watched it happen?

I saw some great tweets about this:
MikeRiggs
I can’t be the only person who both believes that OBL is dead and that U.S. citizens deserve to see a photo for which they paid $1 trillion.

DavidLimbaugh
It’s not hard 2 believe stories re Obama vacillating abt the kill order given his fecklessness abt the photo & his general predispositions

The Chuck Todd tweet erupted on Twitter, and he ended up deleting it
http://twitpic.com/4tcuwm/full

Obama said we don’t need a *spike the ball* moment… Yet, he has closure because he saw the pics, and he is having his own *dance in the endzone* moment at ground zero.

Nice post, TC.
The Lantern of Truth

Well done , Tommy .

For a liberal , you’re an actual human being .
THE REAL ROYAL KING

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

sarainitaly said:
They are stepping all over their *win* by the sloppy handling of the details.

I am so pleased you found another opportunity for an anti-American diatribe and for mindlessly bashing our president. And, I have to give you some credit, you had to dig very hard for this. To the very pits of your dark sould, I show think. And, if the diatribe is thin, the bashing shrill, so what? It is the effort that is to be applauded.

sarainitaly said:
How can the story be this unclear if they watched it happen?

The fact that military operatives, current and former, including the Rightist Reactionary Oliver North, don’t find the confusion implausible or troubling shouldn’t cause you to reset that steel trap at all, should it? Facts. Honesty. They’re not the issue. The issue is your ability to frame an anti-American diatribe and to bash our president. Just another day in the life of the expatriate Sarah N. Italy.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
THE REAL ROYAL KING

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

While O’Donnell was probably just noting an ironic similarity, it is worth noting that most police shootings of unarmed suspects don’t involve a guy who has killed thousands, and is as likely to have several blocks of Semtex under his jammies as some Vicks Vap-o-rub. It is entirely proper for journalists to dig for the truth, but just as important not to obscure it by omitting important context. Given who bin Laden was, what he was capable of, it is hard to imagine any provocation too small to take him out.

An excellent point, Tommy.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
tatboy

Tommy: “It is entirely proper for journalists to dig for the truth, but just as important not to obscure it by omitting important context”

But then O’Donnell woundn’t have a show at all.
tatboy

Wolffe made the excellent point that this is the price of transparency, that when the facts are unclear, everyone gets to see that the facts are unclear

Yes… we’ve heard lot of reports about how “transparent” this administration is.
THE REAL ROYAL KING

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

tatboy said:
Tommy: “It is entirely proper for journalists to dig for the truth, but just as important not to obscure it by omitting important context”

But then O’Donnell woundn’t have a show at all.

O’Donnell can be more than a bit of a moral absolutist, can’t he?

Still, the point about the lunge is good. Were this a police incident in the US, liberals would be decrying “police brutality” without any consideration of the evidence, and conservatives would be proclaiming their unconditional support for the police, without any consideration of the evidence. Here, we have just the converse don’t we? Conservatives are willing to marginalize our Seals, the Men and Women in our Intelligence Services and our President, and Liberals proclaim their undying affection for all of them, and evidence is simply not considered.

Any argument can be made that the photos ought to be released. The argument can be reasonable, and reasonable minds can differ. A serious argument cannot be made that Bin Laden is not dead.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
ChrisNH

“‘Disgusting’ is way too nice a word for Lary Odonel.”
writer

Larry, we don’t care if he lunged or did a break dance. Shove it.
http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

O’Donnell and Wolffe are simply liberal blind ideologues (see they are on BOTH sides) that instinctively take the anti-law enforcement side. Personally, I don’t care if bin Laden was sitting on the toilet doing the Islamabad Journal crossword puzzle when we shot him. He needed to be made dead….and was.

sarainitaly said:
It doesn’t matter whether he lunged for the gun, was armed, or was taking a bath. Obama gave the order to shoot to kill – wanted *dead or deader*.

I can’t believe the story is so inconsistent. They are stepping all over their *win* by the sloppy handling of the details. Didn’t they watch it unfold via helmet cams? How can the story be this unclear if they watched it happen?

To be very fair, Obama wanted to get the info out quickly. When an operation involves over 80 soldiers (don’t forget the pilots) on the ground and hundreds in direct support, it can take some time to get all of the details and reports together.

Contrary to what John King at CNN wants us to think, they did not “watch” the entire op go down. They saw some. All reports are that they did not have live real-time om the take down of bin Laden.

THE REAL ROYAL KING said:
Still, the point about the lunge is good. Were this a police incident in the US, liberals would be decrying “police brutality” without any consideration of the evidence, and conservatives would be proclaiming their unconditional support for the police, without any consideration of the evidence. Here, we have just the converse don’t we? Conservatives are willing to marginalize our Seals, the Men and Women in our Intelligence Services and our President, and Liberals proclaim their undying affection for all of them, and evidence is simply not considered.

No. The point about the lunge is stupid. There is a huge difference between the streets of the USA and the battlefield, and a bigger difference between local law enforcement and military action.

The only converse in this I see is someone trying to twist this to make it a liberal/conservative issue for the purpose of bashing the other side. Nobody is marginalizing anything on this op.

THE REAL ROYAL KING said:
The issue is your ability to frame an anti-American diatribe and to bash our president. Just another day in the life of the expatriate Sarah N. Italy.

Channel Dick Cheney much? Sure reads like it.
http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

Keeva said:
O’Donnell and Wolffe are simply liberal blind ideologues (see they are on BOTH sides) that instinctively take the anti-law enforcement side.

Before the chiming starts, I meant that there are blind ideologues on both sides. And both sides are pointedly stupid when they go this route.
seek

The only ones who know exactly what happened haven’t said. Everything else is hearsay.

According to Panetta, there was a blackout on communications for 20-25 minutes.

Those 20-25 minutes have given everyone 100′s of hours of what occurred.
tatboy

THE REAL ROYAL KING said:
¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! O’Donnell can be more than a bit of a moral absolutist, can’t he? P>

Just a bit…
http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

O’Donnell’s key demo #’s approaching Cenk territory…
bye-bye Larry O…
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Seems this story just keeps changing… I now see there was a 25 minute black out. Why? The lunge issue is still stupid, if the order was shoot to kill.

I have also seen different numbers regarding the number of troops who went in. From 20 to now, Keeva, over 80?

http://www.bookwormroom.com/2011/05/04/the-obama-administrations-cloud-of-confusion-explained/

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2011/05/blue-falcon-alert.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Blackfive+(BLACKFIVE)

I still think the handling of information has been sloppy.
http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

seek said:
The only ones who know exactly what happened haven’t said.

And chances are they are not going to say. Some folks still respect the word “classified.”
http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

sarainitaly said:
I have also seen different numbers regarding the number of troops who went in. From 20 to now, Keeva, over 80?

My understanding is 77 members of the actual Seal team plus the pilots. We will eventually have all of the facts. I could be wrong. I was in Pittsburgh at the NRA convention at the time, so I am relying on news reports.

sarainitaly said:
I still think the handling of information has been sloppy.

I have to agree that the rush to get details out has been poorly managed. A lot of it was based on instant reports and the changing info is the result of detailed debriefs. However, the ability to keep this secret until it happened was very well done.

I hope that this does not grow into this decade’s Grassy Knoll.
notsofast

While O’Donnell was probably just noting an ironic similarity, it is worth noting that most police shootings of unarmed suspects don’t involve a guy who has killed thousands, and is as likely to have several blocks of Semtex under his jammies as some Vicks Vap-o-rub.”

I was wondering which sophomoric writer would come up with such a pathetic excuse for shooting an unarmed man and I’m not to see it is the official Barry apologist, TC!
notsofast

Larry it’s simply: if UBL were black, Sharpton and Jesse would be marching in front of the WH right now.
seek

Keeva said:
And chances are they are not going to say. Some folks still respect the word “classified.”

agreed
TucsonTerpFan

It should remind O’Donnell of that line; everyday he attempts to lunge for an intelligent thought, but he seldom makes the catch.
X-3

Leave it to -0′Donnell to defend the vermin.