The day after Bin Laden was caught, here is what Rush Limbaugh said
"We need to sincerely congratulate President Obama. He has done something extremely effective -- and when he does, it needs to be pointed out. He has continued the Bush policies of keeping a military presence in the Middle East. He did not scrub the mission to get Osama Bin Laden."
Many of us, will say that Obama 'continued' Bush policies, that's how Bin Laden was caught.
The fact is, Bush recklessly let Al Qaeda rebuild in Pakistan, while he pondered to despot Musharaf
Here is a must read, from the NYT from June 30, 2008, a few months before Obama took over, it details the frustration by the CIA and millitary at the Bush admin for not allowing them to do their job.
Late last year, top Bush administration officials decided to take a step they had long resisted. They drafted a secret plan to authorize the Pentagon's Special Operations forces to launch missions into the snow-capped mountains of Pakistan to capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda.
But more than six months later, the Special Operations forces are still waiting for the green light. The plan has been held up in Washington by the very disagreements it was meant to eliminate. A senior Defense Department official said there was "mounting frustration" in the Pentagon at the continued delay.
As we know Rumsfeld fought the CIA, by having his own DIA, but the infighting really hurt America
American intelligence officials say that the Qaeda hunt in Pakistan, code-named Operation Cannonball by the CIA in 2006, was often undermined by bitter disagreements within the Bush administration and within the intelligence agency, including about whether American commandos should launch ground raids inside the tribal areas.
Inside the CIA, the fights included clashes between the agency's outposts in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Islamabad. There were also battles between field officers and the counterterrorism center at CIA headquarters, whose preference for carrying out raids remotely, via Predator missile strikes, was derided by officers in the Islamabad station as the work of "boys with toys."
While we all know Obama took on Pakistan with the latest mission, just as he promised he will, but the tough Bush pondered to Autocrat Gen. Musharaf. and did everything to apease the Pakistanis
a small number of "black" Special Operations forces — Army Delta Force and Navy Seal units — were allowed to accompany Pakistani forces on raids in the tribal areas in 2002 and early 2003.
That arrangement only angered both sides. American forces used to operating on their own felt that the Pakistanis were limiting their movements.
But even that was stopped
Under pressure from Pakistan, the Bush administration decided in 2003 to end the American military presence on the ground.
Frustrated, the admin decided to bring in Mr. Tough-Guy himself
In order to keep pressure on the Pakistanis about the tribal areas, officials decided to have Bush raise the issue in personal phone calls with Musharraf.
The conversations backfired. Two former United States government officials say they were surprised and frustrated when instead of demanding action from Musharraf, Bush instead repeatedly thanked him for his contributions to the war on terror. "He never pounded his fist on the table and said, 'Pervez you have to do this,' " said a former senior intelligence official who saw transcripts of the phone conversations
All Americans in Pakistan from the Embassy to the CIA had one mission, to make the Pakistani rulers happy.
Along with the Afghan government, the CIA officers in Afghanistan expressed alarm at what they saw as a growing threat from the tribal areas. But the CIA officers in Pakistan played down the problem, to the extent that some colleagues in Kabul said their colleagues in Islamabad were "drinking the Kool-Aid," as one former officer put it, by accepting Pakistani assurances that no one could control the tribal areas.
Would Bush have done the same as Obama did, with the 'gutsy' mission? absolutely NOT
Ayman al-Zawahri, Bin Laden's top deputy was believed by intelligence officials to be attending a meeting at a compound in Bajaur, a tribal area, and the plan [was] to send commandos to capture him
But even as Navy Seals and Army Rangers in parachute gear were boarding C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan, there were frenzied exchanges between officials at the Pentagon, Central Command and the CIA about whether the mission was too risky
Rumsfeld shut down the mission (continuing his feud with the CIA)
And while the top CIA brass was sent to Iraq, the Pakistani mission was filled with recent graduates.
by 2006 the Iraq war had drained away most of the CIA officers with field experience in the Islamic world.
the new operation was staffed not only with CIA operatives drawn from around the world, but also with recent graduates of "The Farm," the agency's training center at Camp Peary in Virginia.
"We had to put people out in the field who had less than ideal levels of experience,"
The results didn't take too long to take hold
Militants inside Pakistan only continued to gain strength. In the spring of 2006, Taliban leaders based in Pakistan launched an offensive in southern Afghanistan, increasing suicide bombings by sixfold and American and NATO casualty rates by 45 percent. At the same time, they assassinated tribal elders who were cooperating with the government.
Intelligence reports were painting an increasingly dark picture of the terror threat in the tribal areas. But with senior Bush administration officials consumed for much of that year with the spiraling violence in Iraq, the Qaeda threat in Pakistan was not at the top of the White House agenda.
the commander, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, ordered military officers, Special Operations forces and CIA operatives to assemble a dossier showing Pakistan's role in allowing militants to establish a haven.
American commanders had been pressing for much of 2006 to get approval from Rumsfeld for an operation to capture Sheik Saiid al-Masri, a top Qaeda operator and paymaster whom American intelligence had been tracking in the Pakistani mountains.
Rumsfeld and his staff were reluctant to approve the mission, worried about possible American military casualties and a popular backlash in Pakistan.
Now that you know about what kind of coward we had in the White House, what can you expect from a dovish President, who was against the Iraq war all along. read on.
Read More
