In that narrow sense, then, Yoo is correct that Obama didn’t see taking bin Laden alive as a top priority. And I will admit breathing a sigh of relief that we had avoided the political circus that would have resulted had we captured him. But especially given the evidence haul that we took from his compound (which Yoo curiously doesn’t mention), I have to say things worked out about as well as anyone could have hoped. Osama’s death is in itself an important symbolic victory (just as his escape would have been a disaster).

Also, as much as I hate the right-wing trope that criticizing the government is “maligning the troops”, I couldn’t help but notice that implicit in Yoo’s critique is a refusal to give any credit to the judgment of the SEALs. Unless I hear evidence to the contrary, I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that they took the appropriate action to a) achieve their strategic objective and b) minimize the potential for harm to themselves and any innocent people at the scene.

Bullshit.

“Certainty is a fuzzy enough concept”

More bullshit. Certainty means being 100% sure.

If someone wants to interpret this to mean that the CIA was “certain”, I wouldn’t argue the point. Certainty is a fuzzy enough concept that it’s not worth arguing 20 imaginary per cent of certainty. (100% certainty could be reserved for God or Bin Laden himself.)