Barack Obama

In 2005 the Bush administration had advance intelligence regarding the time and place of an Qaeda meeting of the highest level to be led by Ayman Al-Zawahri, second only to Osama bin Laden. With Navy Seals already in parachute gear headed into Pakistan on a C-130, the Bush administration called off the raid, concerned that it was too risky and fearful that Pakistan would be upset, as the target was in the tribal area which Pakistan had specifically barred the US from entering.

On May 2, 2011, President Obama ordered two stealth-configured Black Hawks to fly nap-of-the-earth below radar 120 miles into the sovereign airspace of nuclear-armed Pakistan without a “please” or a “thank you” to the Pakistani government. When Pakistani fighter jets were briefly scrambled during the 38-minute raid, a chilling message was crisply broadcast over their radios: “This is the United States Military. Return to your base or you WILL be engaged.” Osama bin Laden was sliding off the end of the gang plank on the USS Carl Vinson with 300 pounds of chains in his burial shroud before they mustered the courage to fly again.