What kind of strategic planning and critical thinking does it take to carry out an execution of the leader for al-Qaeda? As revealed by breaking news tonight, the plan was successful and Osama bin Laden has been confirmed dead.
The details are still slowly being released, but I don’t think it is too early to assess what kind of planning must have taken place to successfully complete this mission. While bin Laden has been actively hunted since he planned the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, he has actually been responsible for terrorist activities for decades. He has lived the majority of his life on the run and supposedly took shelter in the caves and mountains of Afghanistan.
After over 10 years of hunting bin Laden, a lead came to light in August 2010 which revealed that he was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to President Barack Obama, a small team of Navy Seals executed a precise plan to enter the compound, engaged in a firefight, shot bin Laden, and recovered his body for DNA testing.
There are so many areas of critical thinking that we can apply to this mission, but let’s focus on the last step of the RED Model of Critical Thinking- “Drawing Conclusions.”
One of the most difficult parts of decision making is recognizing when you are ready to draw a conclusion. There is always potential for analysis-paralysis (being unable to draw a conclusion because you want to continue looking at the evidence/alternatives). How do you know when you have enough evidence to move forward in a situation like this? What are the alternatives? What are the risks? How can we plan to avoid any negative consequences?
Given the fact that President Obama had specific evidence about bin Laden’s location for about 8 months, I can only imagine how much intelligence was gathered during that time period to confirm the suspicion.
In addition, any coordination of Pakistan’s government, military, intelligence sources, Navy Seals operations, etc must have been nothing less than perfection. Reportedly, there were no casualties other than bin Laden himself, and no member of our military or bystanders were harmed in the process. I find that truly miraculous!
Also, the fact that bin Laden was killed approximately a week ago, and the announcement itself was delayed until DNA tests could confirm it was his body is fascinating. I think it was a genius move on Obama’s part (and I thank him for sparing us from a week of news anchor speculation and punditry), but I’m more shocked that everyone involved was able to keep this a secret.
Can you imagine being the person who delivered the fatal shot and took down the most well-known terrorist of the 21st century and not being able to tell anyone that you are the hero?
Clearly this is an historic day, and many Americans feel that justice has been served, but I think this is also a great opportunity to learn so much about President Obama and our military commander’s critical thinking and strategic planning skills. As you hear more details about the intelligence that was gathered, put yourself in the President’s shoes and imagine what you would have done in this situation.
What part of this story do you find the most fascinating?
How did you feel after hearing the news- excited, relieved, shocked, conflicted, nervous, patriotic?
***note: This post was published 1 hour after President Obama’s speech, so new details may emerge that conflict with the initial reports discussed in this post.
Editor’s Note: Breanne Harris is the Solutions Architect for Pearson TalentLens. She works with customers to design selection and development plans that incorporate critical thinking assessments and training. She has a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology and has experience in recruiting, training, and HR consulting. She is the chief blogger for Critical Thinkers and occasionally posts at ThinkWatson. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter for more of her thoughts.
