Posted on 05/05/2011 6:30:28 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
As lefties gloat over the political implications of Osama bin Laden’s demise, and the media ramp up an “Obama bounce” meme, conservatives should politely but persistently shift the conversation from politics to policy. In my latest column for Townhall, I draw on a number of fascinating news accounts elucidating how the our military and intelligence community finally nailed bin Laden. US officials describe a “mosaic” of intelligence that ultimately led a team of Navy SEALs to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan — suggesting that it took many years and myriad sources to pinpoint bin Laden’s precise location. As we now know, the central strand of intel involved one of bin Laden’s trusted couriers, Abu Ahmed Al-Kuwaiti; finding him was the key to locating his boss. The early evidence is in, and President Bush and his team should feel gratified and vindicated:
Osama bin Laden was found because the United States military exploited actionable intelligence extracted by subjecting terrorists to enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) in secret CIA prisons, by questioning enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, and by capturing a top al Qaeda source in Iraq.
As long as some liberals remain intent on keeping political score, it must be pointed out that all three sources of these indispensible data points were direct or indirect results of Bush policies – EITs, Gitmo, and the Iraq war – that much of the American Left, including Barack Obama, fought tooth and nail.
Much of the evidence I cite to back up my thesis comes from two sources: A short AP story published shortly after the raid (and linked here by Allahpundit), and an incredibly detailed piece in London’s Daily Telegraph. A few key bits from the resulting information goldmine:
On the Guantanamo connection -
Secret American military files from Guantanamo Bay, leaked to Wikileaks and seen by The Daily Telegraph, suggest that al-Kuwaiti may have been with bin Laden ever since he disappeared from the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan in 2001.
The file for the Guantanamo detainee, Muhammad Mani al-Qahtani, who was to have been the “20th hijacker” on 9/11, contains a reference to the key US intelligence thread that led directly to bin Laden.
According to the file, al-Kuwaiti provided al-Qahtani with computer training for the mission to attack the US in the summer of 2001. Al-Qahtani was told by the lead 9/11 hijacker, Muhammad Atta, “to make reservations and buy airline tickets to Orlando for five individuals” including himself.
“Detainee [al-Qahtani] received computer training from al-Qaeda member Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti in preparation for his mission to the US,” according to the file, dated 30 October 2008.
On KSM, secret CIA “black site” prisons, and Enhanced Interrogation Techniques -
Current and former U.S. officials say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden’s most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed’s successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania.
…
The CIA gained crucial information confirming the role of al-Kuwaiti from two inmates at Guantanamo Bay – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Faraj al-Libi.
Al-Libi’s file, dated 10 September 2008, also refers to his contact with bin Laden’s personal courier, although he gives another name.
And on the Al Qaeda operative captured in Iraq:
The file suggests that the courier’s identity was provided to the US by another key source, the al-Qaida facilitator Hassan Ghul, who was captured in Iraq in 2004 and interrogated by the CIA. Ghul was never sent to Guantanamo but was believed to have been taken to a prison in Pakistan.
He told the Americans that al-Kuwaiti travelled with bin Laden…
The picture that emerges from al-Qahtani’s Guantanamo file supports statements given in the last 24 hours by US officials, who named Ghul as the “linchpin” in the intelligence operation to find bin Laden.
In short, Al-Kuwaiti’s existence was flagged by at least one Guantanamo Bay detainee, his role and pseudonym were confirmed by KSM and al-Libi, and his true identity was spilled by an Al Qaeda terrorist operating in Iraq. It’s no exaggeration to assert that all three of these intelligence “strands” may never — or perhaps would never — have materialized absent the controversial Bush administration policies listed above. These facts are not historical footnotes. They eviscerate a number of core left-wing articles of faith, including the flawed notions that President Bush “took his eye off the [Al Qaeda/bin Laden] ball,” that Iraq was unrelated to the larger war on terror, and that EITs are not effective — not to mention the ongoing obsession with shuttering Gitmo. As I conclude in the Townhall piece, Presidents Bush and Obama deserve significant credit for this massive accomplishment, and it would be intellectually dishonest to suggest otherwise:
Barack Obama ran for president, in large measure, as the anti-Bush. He was a prominent opponent of the war in Iraq. He promised to shutter the Guantanamo Bay prison. He pledged to ban certain EITs. Today, as president, he is rightfully receiving praise from virtually all quarters for his decisive order to take out the most wanted man in the world. Obama, his supporters, and indeed all Americans have every reason to celebrate that accomplishment. But they must also recognize and appreciate that actions and policies implemented by President Bush, often in the face of searing partisan criticism, played an inextricable role in identifying the dots that were finally connected and acted upon last weekend.
In response to bin Laden’s death, Americans of all partisan stripes should follow the example set forth by the current president and his predecessor: Credit the brave special ops forces who conducted the daring operation, offer political credit where it’s due, and celebrate this American achievement, which is a gift to all of civilization.
UPDATE – Larry Elder makes another good point in this vein:
Osama bin Laden was a) killed by a unit overseen by what New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh denounced as Vice President Dick Cheney’s “executive assassination ring,” which was b) sent into action based on intel derived from the now-outlawed “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which were c) used on detainees captured during the George W. Bush administration, who were d) being held in now-outlawed “secret prisons” or in the intended-to-be-closed Gitmo.
That’s another feather in Bush’s cap. All of the detainees/informants involved in this story were captured on his watch.
Guy Benson is the Political Editor of Townhall.com — HotAir’s sister site — and hosts the Guy Benson Show. Follow him on twitter: @guypbenson
If this sentence is what you actually mean, there is no more point in discussing President Bush with you than there is with Alan Grayson.
He said basically the same thing as you just did to Ed Schultz (who didn't disagree). They're both crazy leftists, but if you're fine in agreeing with them, there's not much I can do to help you find what is true.
Take care, hosepipe. Life is better than you think it is.
You much watch what they do.. and react to it..
Is Bush a tool or a believer?.. Who cares?..
Sometimes he is one sometimes he is the other..
YOUR reaction is what counts..
Even if you hated his guts in every other regard, your insistence on arguing that he did no good in any area of his Presidency puts you in the same category as any leftist who does the same thing as you are doing - i.e. the Alan Graysons and Barack Obamas of the world.
Your ideology may be better than theirs, but your thought process is the same. Irrational.
btw, I've spent a lot of hours making a great deal of effort (in the REAL world) to rid the Republican party of leftists. I would wager that you haven't done anything of the sort, though it would give you more credibility if you actually had.
The Progressives have many forms of leftist.. including Rinos and single issue republicans.. G. Bush is a progressive not your average leftist.. his agenda is greater than world socialism.. It is a new world order.. built on capitalism socialized.. or socialized capitalism.. much like China.. only different..
All socialists are progressives.. BUT not all progressives are socialists.. I know this sounds like circular thinking BUT thats what a progressive is.. "a circular thinking posture child".. Its a mental disorder..
ALL BIG government republicans ARE progressives.. Bush Jr. is not alone either.. many republicans are in this state.. probably you are too.. It seems you cannot tell the difference between a leftist and a progressive.. Sometimes they are the same and sometimes they ARE NOT..
ROFLOL! The part in bold......... REALLY funny. REALLY wrong.
Thanks for the conversation, hosepipe. It didn't get anywhere, but at least it was civil.
Let me know when you actually DO something conservative. WORK for conservatism. MAKE a difference in moving this country radically toward the right.......just like John Kasich is doing here in Ohio and Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Michelle Bachmann, Mike Pence, Allen West, etc., etc., etc.(unless you're crazy enough to think they're all 'progressives' too).
Until then, all your internet talk (mostly whining) is worthless theory and doesn't help the country a bit. Try to SAVE it from the progressives......in BOTH parties. Don't just sit there.
btw, that's a challenge. DO something. Most Bush-haters never get around to it. Maybe you will....
Well I do, do my part in exposing progressive republicans.. i.e. G. Bush Jr. and Sr..
Prescott Bush was another slimy progressive.. Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin D., Obama, the Clintoons.. Johnson.. the Maine twins, John McLame, Graham.. and that Lugar creature.. so many so little time.. Oh!... and Myth Romney.. It might be easier to list the NON progressives..
There are stories out there that Mullah Omar offered to give Bin Laden up days after the bombing started in Afghanistan, but that Bush refused.
Also Bush refused to allow the marines to deploy in sufficient numbers to trap Bin Laden at Tora Bora.
The American people (left, right, and center) have become so cynical of our political "leaders" that there is no amount of evidence that will change people's minds.
The birthers will continue to know that Obama was born in Kenya. We all know that Vince Foster was murdered by the Clintons. There are others that know that Islamic terrorists were behind the Oklahoma City bombing, or that 9/11 was an inside job.
And don't forget the 50+% of Americans that think space aliens have visited the U.S. and the government is hiding that fact from us.
Scary admission, hosepipe. You are accomplishing NOTHING.
And apparently are proud of it. No wonder you're so mad all the time and do so much whining.
(Prescott Bush?? LOL! Yeah......he's a real threat these days!)
I repeat. Let me know when you're actually helping the conservative cause, and we'll talk again. But thanks for the honesty. This is a conservative forum, and I'm sure it's interesting to more conservative activists than me that you think doing nothing to promote conservatism is enough.
NO..... I'm moving this "thread" to the right.. successfully..
The whole country is another matter..
The United States has NOW a federal government that match the people..
Washington D.C. is corrupt BUT not any more corrupt than the people generally are..
The fed. gov't matches the people.. ELSE the people would change it..
George Bush is corrupt.. not any more corrupt than many other republicans are but corrupt nevertheless..
Some are more corrupt than he is.. and some are less corrupt than he is..
BUT George Bush Jr. is Corrupt...
Maybe he was less corrupt at one point in his life..
BUT I don't try to split hairs anymore..
Anyone who says all Republicans are 'corrupt' is not worth wasting effort to discuss issues with.
There may be 10 or 12 freepers who agree with you, but the vast majority of conservatives are far more discerning than you are.
As I have said to others, if everyone is a RINO, no one is a RINO. And if you claim EVERY Republican is corrupt, you have destroyed the meaning of the word. There is no such thing as corruption if you truly believe YOU are the only one who is not corrupt.
As far as I see it, your POV has much more in common with Barack Obama than it does with any thinking conservative. Hating all Republicans doesn't make you more conservative. It just reveals that you are irrational.
Completely, thoroughly, utterly, entirely irrational.
Thanks for letting all the thinking conservatives on this board know that. You're not making a single bit of difference in the world of politics, but that's the way you want it.
Type away, hosepipe. Typing on the internet is........in your own words....... all you're good for.
A lot of the self-proclaimed 'true conservatives' on this board are complete phonies....children who don't know right from wrong, but I've never seen you as one of them before.
But now, with your self-admission of doing nothing to save this country from Marxism, you have put yourself in the same category as the little knot of punks on this forum who also don't lift a finger to help the country.
I say shame on ALL of you who claim conservatism on a forum, but sit on your butts and let the country go swirling down the toilet while the rest of us do the work. You're ALL pathetic freeloaders. Shame on you!
I did not say that.. you're "PROJECTING" again...
Using superlatives is usually a feminine approach..
You're saying what "I DIDN'T" say.. not all republicans just many of them..
Thats a good gambit usually employed by democrats.. i.e.. projecting..
BUT not on FR "we" know the ploy and catch the "USERS"..
Consider yersef caught..
Marxism and Fascism are BOTH leftism..
Marxism makes ALL business partners with the government..
Fascism makes ALL business partners with the government..
They just do it in different ways..
ALL lite-socialism makes government a parasite of business.. in yet a different way.. but its still leftism..
You have Progressives in all those groups and other variations as well..
You make the problem(s) simplistic.. which does NOT mean simple.. but TOO SIMPLE..
democracy is a lie... ALL DEMOCRACY!!!..
---------------------------------
Democracy is the road to socialism. -Karl Marx
Democracy is indispensable to socialism. The goal of socialism is communism. -V.I. Lenin
The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism .-Karl Marx
I did not say that.. you're "PROJECTING" again... Using superlatives is usually a feminine approach.. You're saying what "I DIDN'T" say.. not all republicans just many of them.. Wow. I have to step in here and congratulate you for your clever and semi-deceptive use of the English language.
THIS is what you said...
George Bush is corrupt.. not any more corrupt than many other republicans are but corrupt nevertheless.. Some are more corrupt than he is.. and some are less corrupt than he is..
Some are more, some are less, implying, of course, that all are, but not quite stating it outright.
Very clever. And I missed it. Shame on me.
I suppose that ability comes from doing nothing but sitting at a computer for 10 years, eh? :) All that inactivism has its benefits.
Anyway, congrats. You are quite probably the only Bush-hater on this forum who doesn't have a low IQ.
Nice work.
(The sexist touch was nice, too...... you're a pro, hosepipe. A real pro. :)
Come here ya big lug.. hold my cigar and beer... ((( HUG ))
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