David Ignatius and Bin Laden’s Biden Judgment

Presumably to buck up their campaign theme–“Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive“–the Administration pre-leaked some documents to David Ignatius taken from OBL’s compound revealing that OBL hoped to attack President Obama. Ignatius described the aspirational plot as a “bold” command

Before his death, Osama bin Laden boldly commanded his network to organize special cells in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack the aircraft of President Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus.

“The reason for concentrating on them,” the al-Qaeda leader explained to his top lieutenant, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency. . . . Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis. As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour . . . and killing him would alter the war’s path” in Afghanistan. [my emphasis]

And even while Ignatius admits OBL was never going to be able to shoot Petraeus and Obama out of the air, he offers it as proof that the terrorist still wanted to launch spectacular attacks.

The plot to target Obama was probably bluster, since al-Qaeda apparently lacked the weapons to shoot down U.S. aircraft. But it’s a chilling reminder that even when he was embattled and in hiding, bin Laden still dreamed of pulling off another spectacular terror attack against the United States. [my emphasis]

Politico–that arbiter of beltway conventional wisdom–has described Ignatius’ acceptance of a motivated leak to be a scoop of such proportions to solidify his position as the “preeminent writer on national security affairs.” Politico even offers a quote from its own anonymous Administration source explaining what they got by leaking stuff to Ignatius.

“David is not only influential, he’s a serious journalist who is taken seriously,” an Obama administration official told POLITICO. “His byline gives [the bin Laden] story instantaneous cachet, credibility and, yes, visibility.”

Which Politico accompanies with fawning quotes from Jeff Goldberg, Evan Thomas, Steve Clemons and Sally Quinn (Sally Quinn!?!?!) affirming Ignatius’ magnificence as national security status.

There’s just one problem with all that.

Ignatius, this purportedly brilliant commenter, doesn’t even notice, much less mention, how stupid OBL was.

OBL was going to kill Obama not for the sake of killing the US President, but because Biden, who served in the Senate for 36 years, almost 12 of which he served as one or another powerful committee Chair, “is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis.”

Really?

Joe Biden may be many things: but he is as prepared to be President as just about any person in this country. And in a number of key debates during this Administration–notably, what to do with Afghanistan–Biden proved to be right two years before the rest of the Administration copped on.

OBL’s plans to attack Obama, then, show not just how unhinged from reality about al Qaeda OBL was by this point, but also how completely ignorant he was about America.

You’d think that DC’s crack national security correspondent would note just how laughable OBL’s plots were late in life.

But I guess if he did, the Administration wouldn’t come to him anymore for his purported “instantaneous cachet, credibility and, yes, visibility.”

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12 replies
  1. Phil Perspective says:

    OBL’s plans to attack Obama, then, show not just how unhinged from reality about al Qaeda OBL was by this point, but also how completely ignorant he was about America.

    I don’t know that he was completely ignorant. After all, look at how our elites have destroyed this country since 9/11. And didn’t Biden vote for the Iraq war? Something smells funny. Did OBL really think Biden is less prepared to be US President than Obama? Up until 2008, Biden had been in the Senate since Joe Namath was still playing NFL football. If OBL really said that, he must have been smoking some pretty strong stuff.

  2. Teddy Partridge says:

    This was my reaction upon hearing of OBL’s Obama plot: tall man, you aren’t trading experience for inexperience with than plan. If anything, you’re getting someone in the top spot with much more foreign policy experience than Obama will ever have, if he lives to be 80.

    It struck me as stupid and naive. I realized that OBL was not the boogeyman he was portrayed, and that his understanding of US players was, at best, limited.

    Of course, Very Serious Persons took it exactly the opposite: that OBL’s “aspirations” were real unto the end. Idiots.

  3. PeasantParty says:

    Declassified?

    Zoom! Scoop away, Marcy. Scoop Away!

    Now, one would think that since the docs were now available, this terrific investigative journalist would not need the anonymous verbal propaganda from special Administrative sources! I don’t know which is worse, a jerk preening himself in newsprint or the propaganda.

    Igantius, Seriously? Come on, America deserves better.

  4. Bob Schacht says:

    When I was a first year college student, my English teacher had us get copies of Time and Newsweek, and notice every adjective and adverb for evidence about how the writers were trying to spin the stories they were reporting on. In your quote, the word “boldly” is a classic example.

    Ignatius is a useful tool to learn about the most recent inanities of the people running this country.

    Bob in AZ

  5. JTM says:

    Is the Admin actually preparing us for a different Veep in 2012 by leaking an insult to Biden to a reporter who won’t correct said insult?

    Is the long-term plan here, given that Biden would not be viable in 2016, to get us ready for Obama’s successor?

  6. Bold coward says:

    Did preeminent asskisser David Ignatius inquire how murder of prisoners comports with Hague Convention Article 23?

  7. Bob Schacht says:

    @JTM:

    Is the long-term plan here, given that Biden would not be viable in 2016, to get us ready for Obama’s successor?

    I doubt it. Running as VP chains one to Obama’s legacy, for good or ill. His successor might want more independence.

    Bob in AZ

  8. William Ockham says:

    Is Bin Laden’s judgment any worse than the administration’s judgment of Ignatius? Or maybe they are just punking us all, because who could say this unironically:

    he’s a serious journalist who is taken seriously

    Seriously?

  9. matt carmody says:

    Sally Quinn???
    Doesn’t she have some starving Somali kids to feed?
    Oh wait… never mind.

  10. Tom Allen says:

    @William Ockham: I think that’s actually part of his biographical blurb. “David Ignatius is an associate editor and columnist for The Washington Post. He is a serious journalist who is taken seriously. He owns a mansion and a yacht.”

    Or maybe I’m thinking of Elmer Fudd.

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