Peninsula Daily News
news sources
WASHINGTON — When news of Osama bin Laden’s death broke late Sunday, thousands of people thronged Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate near the White House, while just 16 blocks away the streets near the Capitol were deserted — a stark reminder of how the responsibility for the daring assassination raid rested squarely on the shoulders of one man in Washington.
By the time the 40 momentous minutes U.S. forces were on the ground in Pakistan concluded, President Barack Obama had fulfilled President George W. Bush’s goal of getting bin Laden “dead or alive,” and made good on his own 2008 campaign promise to elevate the world’s top terrorist to be the intelligence community’s top-priority target.
His gutsy call to send in special operations forces so bin Laden or his body could be positively identified, rather than bomb beyond recognition his compound in Abbottabad, earned praise from across the political spectrum.
“There are so many other places that we might be able to find to disagree with the president. Today should be not one of them,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
“This was a well-planned, well-executed [mission]. The Bush administration deserves credit for where they got the investigation, the Obama administration deserves credit for pulling it along and actually giving the order to go ahead and do it. It wasn’t without risk.”
Democrats said the killing of al -Qaida’s leader vindicated Obama’s decision to boost war efforts in Afghanistan and follow through on a planned withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
“This was a direct result of President Obama’s efforts to refocus on Afghanistan and Pakistan as a central battleground in our fight against terror,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “Over the past 2 years, the Obama administration has significantly escalated our military, diplomatic intelligence and economic efforts to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida.”
Republicans were more reserved, though they said the president earned the plaudits.
“The president made the right call, and we thank him for it,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Republicans, though, were also quick to credit George W. Bush and said the string of intelligence that led to bin Laden’s compound stretched back four years ago, as a direct result of the emphasis his administration placed on interrogations.
Obama stressed his command decisions throughout, including his early directive to the CIA “to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al-Qaida” and his decision to give the go-ahead late last week.
