In Obama’s world, it’s a beautiful day to ignore American hostages.

My friend Susan Katz Keating is a journalist.  A real journalist; not like the bulk of the PlaySkool, T-ball journalistas we have today.

She began being paid (instead of being an “intern” or a “volunteer”) for her writing in college.  From the Left Coast she moved to the east coast where she lives today, and is extremely knowledgeable in military, intelligence and political activity, with many friends and colleagues in each area.  Her specialty is military journalism.  Hence, she has many contacts around the nation and around the world.  She has written for People, Readers Digest, Time, Soldier of Fortune, the New York Times, American Legion, VFW and Air & Space Smithsonian.  An author of nine books, she was also crew chief on a B-52 restoration.  She is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.  In her spare time she has broken the human genome, discovered warp drive and makes a mean cannoli.  Okay.  The thingie about genome and warp drive?  Not so much.

I could go on and on about her curriculum vitae, but I’d rather her story speak for itself.

From AMInewswire.com:

Hostage rescue was aborted while Obama vacationed

by Susan Katz Keting

Under the dim light of a quarter moon, a U.S. special operations team skimmed through the night skies above eastern Afghanistan, awaiting final mission approval from President Barrack Obama while speeding toward the objective. The commandos were fast on their way last month to rescue two western hostages held by hostile gunmen.

As the raiders approached their target — a makeshift prison compound — they suddenly were ordered to stand down. The president, who was vacationing on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, did not have time to give the required final go-ahead. He wanted 24 hours to consider the rescue.

A day later, Obama approved the mission. The commandos relaunched. This time, they reached the target — only to find the hostages had been moved four hours prior, said sources with direct knowledge of events.

Wait; was Obama golfing whilst Rome burned?  Please continue.

The missions took place Aug. 10 and 11, in Afghanistan, Thomas confirmed. He did not address operational details of the rescue missions; but AMI spoke to sources who provided details, some of which CENTCOM confirmed. 

The sources are security officials who are privy to the kidnaps and the attempted rescues. They do not work together and are affiliated with different agencies. The sources are not authorized to talk to the press, and spoke to AMI on condition of anonymity.

This is just last month, boys and girls.  AMI discovered that seven hostile combatants were killed, while no civilians or US forces were injured or killed.

“We had the hostages within reach,” said a source who met face to face with this reporter at a remote dockside setting in the United States to discuss the incident. The source insisted that the meeting be held outdoors and without access to electronic devices.

“The first time we went in, we had to stand down,” the source said. “The second time, the hostages were gone. Our special operations team went all that way for nothing.”

Around this time you should be asking “who were the hostages?” and “did the delay have an affect on the outcome and why?”

The special operators aimed to recover two civilians — American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks — who were kidnapped Aug. 7, in Afghanistan. The kidnapped men are English teachers at the American University in Kabul.

“We are aware of reports of a U.S. citizen kidnapped in Kabul,” a State Department official said. “Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to comment further.”

The hostages were one American and one Australian.

King and Weeks reportedly were snatched off the street around 8 p.m. Kabul time on a Sunday. Four assailants wearing what appeared to be official uniforms smashed a window to the teachers’ vehicle and pulled them from their car at gunpoint. A driver and a guard, both inside the vehicle during the incident on Dar-ul-Aman Road, were not captured, and were later questioned by police.

The kidnappings unfolded in Afghanistan shortly after President Obama and his family began an extended seaside vacation in Massachusetts.

Wait; am I detecting the odor of Titleist PRO V1 and Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 816?

Over the course of the next two weeks, the Obamas enjoyed a holiday marked by trips to the beach (at Martha’s Vineyard), dinners with friends, and — for the president — round after round of golf.

“The hostages didn’t have the luxury of time,” said an official with knowledge of the events. “The president was on vacation. How could he not find time to approve this mission?”

Some 6,500 miles away in Afghanistan, meanwhile, efforts were underway to recover King and Weeks.

“Everybody that had the ability to rescue them was trying to find them and be in a position to rescue them,” said one security source.

Resources are in place, operators are primed and plans are in hand.

The mission needed only one more thing: the final go-ahead from the president, authorizing the rescuers to execute. In one ready room, the radio crackled to life. Instead of delivering the expected verbal green light, though, the voice on the radio gave other news:

“‘The president can’t make time on his schedule to give the go-ahead,'” the security source said.

Right.  Because FN Executive Chef Keith Cournoyer’s Seared Sea Scallops, lemon-spinach risotto & red pepper-caper butter are to die for.  You wouldn’t want to miss them.

The vacationing president wanted to push the mission back 24 hours, the source said. The commandos peeled off, and returned to base. Col. Thomas declined to say where the base was located, or what it was named.

One day later, President Obama did authorize a rescue mission, and the operators relaunched. This time, the raiders arrived on target at a compound in eastern Afghanistan.

“We assaulted the compound,” the security source said. “We knocked down walls. It was a high-profile breach.”

For more than an hour, the special operators fought inside the compound, engaging in small arms fire, the source said.

So: were the hostages there?  Were they freed?

The commandos asked people on scene: “Where are King and Weeks?”

The answer: the hostages had been moved four hours prior.

“Gone,” the security source said. “Vanished.”

And no one knows where they are.  They were missed by four hours.

“Humans are essentially ATM machines,” (Christine Fair, a security studies professor at Georgetown University) said. “[Captors] don’t actually keep the hostages. They snatch them and then sell them to whatever terrorist organization is willing to pay the most, whether it be the Taliban or some faction thereof.”

Custodial captors can take hostages to any number of places.

When asked, the White House officially shrugged its shoulders.  Meh.

The White House deflected questions on the situation overall.

When queried, the White House first directed this reporter to the State Department, then deflected to another department when pressed about the president’s authority as commander in chief of the armed services.

“Talk to the Defense Department,” national security press officer Mark Stroh told AMI.

But wait, there’s more.  Susan Katz Keating wrote on Twitter:

There you go, the loving, professional, diligent care and concern displayed by the current uninvolved and unconcerned lame duck occupant of the White House.