A new book by a former Wall Street Journal reporter and staff editor asserts that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and not President Barack Obama, was the driving force in deciding to assassinate Osama bin Laden. The president allegedly was afraid that the operation would fail. The White House totally rejected the claim by journalist Richard Minter in his book, "Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide For Him." National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor called the claim "completely made up and wrong. The decision to take out Osama bin Laden was made by the president, as many of those involved have said on the record.” Clinton’s spokesman also backed the White House version and said Minter is “wronger than wrong.” Minter also wrote a book in 2003 alleging that then-President Bill Clinton failed to hunt down bin Laden, who led the Al Qaeda terrorist network before he was eliminated in his Pakistani villa by American forces last year. Obama allegedly passed up three opportunities to approve the mission to kill Bin Laden, and his advisor Valerie Jarrett told him to back off because of the negative fallout if the operation failed, Minter wrote. He added that Clinton overrode Jarrett’s advice and convinced Obama to proceed with the maneuver, which took slightly more than one hour from the time U.S. helicopters landed at bin Laden’s compound until they took off. The Navy SEALs who carried out the maneuver brought back a treasure chest of hard discs that have helped track down other Al Qaeda terrorists.
