In the anguished White House debates over the war in Afghanistan, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. argued consistently to stress counterterrorism over the more costly strategy of nation-building. It turns out, though, that Mr. Biden warned against the most sensational counterterrorism operation of the Obama presidency: the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
In a speech last weekend to House Democrats at their annual retreat in Cambridge, Md., Mr. Biden said he had advised President Obama not to go ahead with the raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, arguing that the military needed more time to make sure Bin Laden was in the complex.
He offered, in characteristic Biden-style, an account of the fateful meeting in the White House Situation Room, when Mr. Obama polled members of his war council for their judgment on whether he should give the go-ahead for the raid.
“He went around the table with all the senior people, including the chiefs of staff, and he said, ‘I have to make a decision. What is your opinion?’ ” Mr. Biden said, in an account later confirmed by the White House.
The president, Mr. Biden said, started with his national security adviser, Tom Donilon, then moved to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and other senior officials, including Leon E. Panetta, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who oversaw the raid, before ending up with the vice president.
“Every single person in that room hedged their bet except Leon Panetta,” Mr. Biden recalled. “Leon said go. Everyone else said, 49, 51.”
The president then turned to Mr. Biden. “He said, ‘Joe, what do you think?’ And I said, ‘You know, I didn’t know we had so many economists around the table.’ I said, ‘We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go. We have to do two more things to see if he’s there.’ ”
Mr. Obama stood up to leave and told the group, “I’ll give you my decision.” The next morning, Mr. Biden said, the president gave Mr. Donilon the order – “Go” – just before boarding his helicopter for a domestic trip.
The vice president cited the story, he said, to show that “this guy’s got a backbone like a ramrod.” His was not the first recounting of the qualms among Mr. Obama’s advisers: Robert M. Gates, the defense secretary at the time, was also known to be skeptical of the operation. But it was the most vivid and detailed.
On Monday, Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said Mr. Biden was “speaking accurately.” He added, “The broader point, as the president has made here, is that this was not a sure thing, but the president had so much faith in our special forces and their capacity to fulfill this mission, that he made the call to go forward.”