Biden ‘advised’ Obama on Osama raid

US VP Joe Biden said he advised President Obama in 2011 to go ahead with the raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

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Washington - US Vice-President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he advised President Barack Obama in May 2011 to go ahead with the raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, contradicting his past comments about the discussions leading up to the raid.

“As we walked out of the room and walked upstairs, I said - I told him my opinion that I thought he should go, but follow his own instincts,” Biden told an event at George Washington University.

“I never ... say what I think finally until I go up in the Oval (Office) with him alone.”

Biden, whose comments came as he weighs whether to enter the 2016 presidential race, has previously said he advised Obama against approving the 2011 raid without trying one more time to verify that bin Laden was present at the Pakistan compound where he was eventually found.

“I said, 'Wait another seven days for information'“ Biden said at a fundraising event in New Hampshire on May 26, 2011, according to reports in The New York Times and other media.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential race, who was Obama's secretary of state at the time, has highlighted her support for the raid.

Biden avoided naming her among those decided in whether the operation should move forward.

“There were only two people who were definitive and were absolutely certain” he said.

Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta said “go,” Biden said, and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said “don't go.”

Clinton in the Democratic debate last week took a veiled shot at Biden by emphasising her involvement in Obama's decision to authorise the raid.

Biden has said that he has been mulling a possible bid for the Democratic nomination, but Clinton's strong performance at the debate has led some in the party to conclude Biden has waited too long to jump into the race.

Clinton's campaign had seemed to be stumbling with the persistent controversy over her use of a private email server as secretary of state - raising doubts among some voters about her trustworthiness - but since the debate her poll standings have risen.

The White House declined to weigh in on whether Biden had changed his story about his position on the bin Laden move.

“I don't have any insight to share with you about the private conversations between the president and the vice-president,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

A Biden campaign would put Obama in the awkward position of having to choose between his vice president of seven years and his former secretary of state should the president decide to endorse a candidate during the 2016 primary season.

Biden spoke during an event to honor former Vice-President Walter “Fritz” Mondale, who served under President Jimmy Carter.

Biden was joined by several political heavyweights who spoke about their relationships with Mondale, who served in the Senate, representing Minnesota, before becoming vice president.

Reuters

 

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