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Journalism of Courage
US President Barack Obama put off operations three times to kill worlds most dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden before finally going ahead with the mission at the insistence of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,a new book has claimed.
Osama was killed by US Navy SEALs inside his compound in Abbottabad,Pakistan in May 2011. The president feared that the operation might go tragically wrong and he would be blamed for it,the Mail Online reported claiming it had viewed excerpts of the book Leading from Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him.
The book,which was slated for release on Tuesday,claims that the White Houses carefully-crafted narrative of Obama as a decisive leader who sanctioned the killing of the al-Qaeda supremo was a myth.
Obama was often disengaged as the bin Laden operation took shape,he left critical decisions to the then-CIA Director Leon Panetta,then-Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the book says.
The book describes Obama as heavily influenced by three women Clinton,wife Michelle and longtime adviser and confidante Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett had opposed the idea,Miniter said. She worried about a backlash against the president, the book says. As a result,Obama was studiously undecided.
But Clinton fought for a military strike during her regular weekly meetings with the president. As the two powerful women fought for the presidents ear,the CIA overcame concerns regarding intelligence reports about the Abbottabad compound. Clintons ties to Panetta and David Petraeus,who led US and allied forces in Afghanistan at the time,played a crucial role in winning approval for the raid,the book says.
Obama eventually knew Clinton was right, the book claims. The White House termed the report as fabrication.
