President Obama on the hostage rescue:
On Monday, I authorized an operation to rescue Jessica Buchanan, an American citizen who was kidnapped and held against her will for three months in Somalia. Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our Special Operations Forces, yesterday Jessica Buchanan was rescued and she is on her way home. As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts.
Politifact:
While it is true that President Obama apparently authorized this mission, we rate this statement "half-true" because:
We don't really know if the American hostage was held "against her will." Hasn't the President heard of Patty Hearst?
The hostages were captured on October 25, 2011, and yet the raid was on January 24, 2012. Therefore the actual time they were hostages is a day short of the "three months" the President claimed.
The President "implied" that he deserved credit for the capture, but he merely "authorized" the capture. We have checked his schedule and he was delivering a speech identified as the "State Of the Union" and therefore could not have been at the Somalia raid at the same time. Checkmate, Mr. President.
The President said that the raid was supported by "dedicated professionals." However, he did not explain what he meant by "dedicated." Did he mean "dedicated" as in having a monument dedicated to them? "Dedicated" as in having one purpose? A "dedicated hosting server?" The Shirelles' "Dedicated to the One I love"?
In the end it was a tough call between "pants on fire" and "half-true" but in the interest of non-partisanship, we decided to credit him with "half-true" (because that's the kind of guys we are).