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
Oh great! Thank you .. and I do, too. Others .......
Yeah...gotcha! :)
Thank you President Bush!
Bush didnt cause Obama... Obama would have run for Prez anyway..
What Bush did was make it possible for him to be elected..
Some that would have given Bush benefit of the doubt... DIDN'T....
Blacks verified a racist bent, true.. but it was whites that elected Zero..
especially white women.. and hispanics..
Bushs border fiascos were just that a fiascos..
Made him seem like a wimp.. like his father..
Turned out he is a wimp... saying nothing about the virtual traitor in the White House..
With Bush it is about stuff he shouldn't have done.... but did...
And things he didn't do, but should have..
A blind squirrel gets an acorn sometimes.. Bush is like that..
He seriously increased the federal government even with cutting some taxes..
He is either politically blind or seriously dumb with a few smart people masking it all..
He even looks like Alfred E. Nueman... (Madd mag)..
I have warned many on FR since he decided to run for President..
But I indeed voted for him.. I had no choice.. look who ran against him..
I know.
Logic surely demonstrates that, if these fools can
be so off the mark and in such otherwordly denial
about something SO simple as:
*the factual and undeniable truth regarding the
documented path to UBL’s demise
*which obviously began at President Bush’s initiative, authorization, and full participation,
then NONE of their other commentaries or arguments
about ANYTHING carry an iota of trustworthiness or credibility. They should be discarded out of hand
for any consideration by all the rest of we mentally
functioning posters.
THEY HAVE FINALLY BLOWN IT! THEY ARE FOREVER
MARKED AND ID’D HERE BY THEIR PERNICIOUS BABBLINGS.
Remember their names for the future. I am.
Enough is enough.
Hi OWF. Yep, I’ve been convinced that numerous people around here who trumpet themselves as “real” conservatives are actually Leftists deliberately sowing division. It’s so easy, really.
How is anyone supposed to distinguish you from a leftist troll with nonsense like this?
Bush did NOT "make it possible" for Obama to be elected. That's illogical and not fact-based.
The reasons Obama got elected were because of...
A leftist drooling media who didn't do their job and vet the candidate and lied to cover up his many faults
8 years of incessant lies about Bush
6 years of incessant lies about Iraq
A McDonald's drive through American public who were "war weary"
A spineless Republican party who spent too much money and refused to stand with President Bush on Iraq
A media who manufactured and exaggerated Republican "scandals"
A horrible RINO candiate in John McCain
Psuedo cons who stayed home because there was 'no difference' in the candidates (and were willing to throw the country in the toilet
A leftist caused economic disaster, conveniently timed to throw the election
A prom-king, American Idol youth who wanted to vote for the cool guy
An American public filled with white guilt who wanted to vote for the cool black guy
A unified racist black population who also wanted to vote for teh cool black guy
Billions of illegal overseas dollars going to Obama
And that's not all.
Your "Bush's fault" meme is poppycock.
Yes. Unfortunately, it is.
I wonder how many of them post both at Loser Post and at HuffPo as well as FR?
The difference between the extreme right losers and the left is indistinguishable.
I know their names, STARWISE. They are marked men...........errr boys.
A leftist troll?... you're projecting..
You seem to have forgotten where you are..
If I were a troll I would have been be bounced years ago..
I didnt drink Bush's Kool Aid.. Did You?..
Bush and his family have proven they are "progressives"..
Maybe even one worlders.. and God knows what else..
I wanted Bush Jr. to prove to me he was not as I said.. he didnt..
So be it, let be written.. he is a malefactor..
‘...sane FReepers know that our freedom from another attack after 9/11 is due to the resolve, focus, programs and devotion to Mission #1 by President Bush, and relentless pursued and executed by our incredible intel pros and awesome military....’
AMEN, AMEN, Starwise!! And, THANK YOU for the WHOO HOO picture of the Protector-in-Chief!
Next time do us all a favor and dont vote and dont stick around here .... You are way too pathetic
Are you a democrat?...
No... Im a guy who is proud to have voted for GW Bush and I always will be....
With friends like you who needs enemies?
~~~~~~~~~
BTW, I'm getting SICK & TIRED of hearing our brave troops being regularly referred to as "assaulters" by the Obama admin officials. That's a purposeful, outrageous, and personally demeaning prejorative and INSULT to those incredibly outstanding men of unparallelled courage and valor!
BRAVA!!
Thank you.
It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. It’s just a photo shop picture; there really isn’t a frog with teeth. I’d be scared of a frog with teeth too. ;-)
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