And that the statement you quoted from the article doesn't mean what you would like it to mean, let me tell you about my background.
I am a retired Army colonel who spent the last fourteen years of his active duty career as Middle East Foreign Area Officer, performing duties gathering, analyzing and disseminating intelligence products. I had two tours of duty, totaling eight years, with USCENTCOM.
As the article points out, the mission was conceived, planned and approved under the Obama administration. It was not executed until now due to operational considerations. I assume you understand what all this means. (If not, I will graciously explain it to you.)
The statement you quote from the article is actually not a criticism of the president for signing off on the order to execute the already approved mission but a criticism of someone in the chain of command who performed duties similar to mine who may not have asked the right questions of the intelligence analysts and/or may not have conveyed critical intelligence shortfalls to operational planners.
At any rate, I am confident that had this occurred to either Presidents Clinton or Obama early in their tenures the media wouldn't have dropped the sentence you quoted into the article.
[Post edited by WAHOO 73 at 02/02/2017 9:41PM]