By Richard Sisk
The War Report

Jessica Buchanan was sick, possibly dying.

The CIA and the FBI picked up the crucial intelligence on the condition of the Ohio woman – military officials wouldn’t say how —  and the information was the main factor in President Barack Obama’s decision to order the special ops raid that rescued Buchanan and her Danish colleague, Poul Hagen Thisted, from their Somali kidnappers.

“The sense of urgency was heightened over the last couple of weeks” as Buchanan’s condition deteriorated, said George Little, a Pentagon spokesman. He would not describe the condition for privacy reasons, but it was believed to be a kidney infection.

Obama gave the order Monday, and his decision set off frantic rounds of discussions at the White House on Tuesday with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. William McRaven, head of the Joint Special Operations Command, as all three prepared to attend the State of the Union Address.

Panetta and McRaven gave the go and it was still underway as Obama left the White House for the Capitol, the officials said, although he had learned by then that the two hostages had been freed in the raid that killed all nine of the kidnapers. In the well of the House, Obama stopped as he passed Panetta and said “Leon good job tonight. Good job!”

Word of the successful raid from which the entire rescue team returned safely would not be disclosed until after Obama finished his address. “This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people,” Obama said in a statement.

The military officials would not confirm or deny that the lead unit in the raid was SEAL Team 6, the same unit that killed Osama Bin Laden last May in an assault into Pakistan that was planned by McRaven.

Although officials would not say how they learned of the location of the hostages, and their condition, the involvement of the FBI in the  planning was stressed. FBI agents were on the ground in the region but did not participate in the actual assault, the officials said.

Buchanan and Thisted were captured on Oct. 25 near the north-central Somali town of Gadaado. The town is near a known base for Somali pirates, but the officials said that the kidnapers were common criminals out for ransom. They had no links to Somali terrorist groups such as Al Shabab, which has been trying to lure young Americans to join jihad in the region, the officials said.

The U.S. commandos parachuted into the target area and swarmed the compound where the captives were held. They eliminated the kidnapers after a brief firefight. The officials said that Buchanan and Thisted were being held in close proximity to explosives, but they were not wired to any bombs. The rescue team and the hostages were taken out of the area by helicopters.

“This successful hostage rescue, undertaken in a hostile environment, is a testament to the superb skills of courageous service members who risked their lives to save others,” Panetta said. “I applaud their efforts, and I am pleased that Ms. Buchanan and Mr. Thisted were not harmed during the operation.

(Photo: Two HH60 Pave Hawk helicopters similiar to the type used by Special Operations. Air Force photo.)