US forces were stationed just a few hundred yards from Osama Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound in October 2008, according to reports within the WikiLeaks embassy cables.
Guardian
Holy smokes.
The information about the US troops is contained in the account of a meeting in Washington between the-then US deputy secretary of state, John Negroponte, and Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, discussing security co-operation and concerns across the country.
After both parties agreed the security plans lacked resources, Pakistan's national security advisor, Mahmud Ali Durrani, referred to the training co-operation.
"Durrani pledged Pakistan's support for the US Training-of-Trainers for the Frontier Corps starting in Abbottabad in October," the report read.
US forces may have visited the town for a second time, months later, according to the cable. "Due to the slow pace of construction, Durrani added he was doubtful that the more permanent training site at Warsak would be ready for the next iteration of training, scheduled in early 2009.
So under the Bush administration, we had US troops - presumably ones who spoke Pashto, since they were training troops for the Frontier Corps - within a few blocks of Osama bin Laden.
And we didn't catch him.
Yeah, Bush's brilliant leadership is responsible for Sunday's success. NOT.