Politics! What politics??

I agree with you completely that the main point should be the success of the mission; still, musky stuff like this seems to inevitably attach to high profile operations, often from an individual with no grounding in the environment in which the mission occurs and the hazards present.

Certainly, with something like 9,000 to 10,000 people participating in the rescue operation, logistics and planning were certainly a huge challenge. Sideshows like this tend to confuse and distract from the main operation. This presents a real challenge to those running the show.