Actually, I unduly disparage village idiots. The village idiot, better known as Joe Biden who by our misfortune is Vice President of the United States uttered:
“You can go back 500 years. You cannot find a more audacious plan. Never knowing for certain. We never had more than a 48 percent probability that he was there.”
Off the top my head, I can think of Pearl Harbor, Dolittle’s Raid, Entebe, and Serman’s March to the Sea. However the most audacious of the all, and one with whom the former senator from Delaware ought to be familar, is George Washington crossing the Delaware in blizzard to attack a superior British force. A raid led by the commander-in-chief, himself. That is audacious.
Hat tip and more, Ed Morrissey, Hot Air.
Er … what? I won’t take anything away from the call to hit the Abbottabad compound; there were genuine political risks in play for President Obama, and no guarantee of success. However, only someone with complete ignorance of military history could call a green light on a mission with a 48% chance of success the most audacious plan in the last 500 years. Here are a few from just off the top of my head:
- Guadalcanal
- Raid on Tokyo
- Battle of Cowpens
- Dunkirk
- Bunker Hill
- Agincourt, if one is willing to go back 600 years or so
The White House should take pause before they use the phrase “deliberate ignorance.”
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