We’ve run a few stories about the U.S. raid this past week to get Osama but the most interesting was the one about the secret helicopter that the SEALs ended up having to blow up because it had mechanical failures and crashed.
The resultant crash left the SEAL team having to scramble with a plan B but they still managed to pull off their mission. This hasn’t stopped the rampant speculation about the helicopter though with one of the questions being raised about how much those special copters cost.
Well we got that answer in a round about way of an offhand quip from President Obama in the aftermath of the raid
In the White House Situation Room on Sunday night, the president and his national security team watched a soundless video feed of the raid.
When bin Laden’s corpse was laid out, one of the Navy SEALs was asked to stretch out next to it to compare heights. The SEAL was 6 feet tall. The body was several inches taller.
After the information was relayed to Obama, he turned to his advisers and said: “We donated a $60 million helicopter to this operation. Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?”
via Wall Street Journal
Priceless.
