Larry Elder: Bush Led, Bin Laden Dead

It was a good feeling this morning to read this article by Larry Elder which reinforces our discussions that Bin Laden would not have been found and killed without the investigative techniques used by the Bush Administration following 9/11. Obama has closed some of those interrogation camps which we think is a wrong move. At one time AG Holder and Obama wanted to close GITMO (probably still do) and try the terrorists in the United States after giving them Miranda Rights. Since when do we give terrorists the rights of US Citizens?

It is still hard to believe that Obama ordered that Bin Laden be buried in a Muslim ceremony before being lowered into the sea. Why? Is his Muslim heritage why he had so much trouble making a decision to send a 'kill' team to Pakistan to take out Bin Laden? Maybe it is time for the non-natural born, ineligible to be President Obama to admit he is way over his head as President and step down. But then that would mean giving up the perks. What happens if terrorists hit this Country again with Obama as President? Will he cower in the closet? It is a sad day for America to have a President who cannot make up his mind and has people working for him that even tried to spin this action to make him look better.

With so many wrong stories out of the White House on the action, we have to believe that Obama was not involved in the planning or in giving his approval since it seems he and Valerie Jarrett were opposed to the mission no matter what manner they used.

If the rumors coming out of the White House are true (we believe they are), the actual mission was ordered by CIA Director Panetta, Secretary of Defense Gates, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Panetta leading the mission. We are very thankful to those three for standing up and ordering a 'kill' mission to take out Bin Laden. We see no problem with the order since the Executive Order signed by President Bush after 9/11 was still in place.

President Bush and his team led the way to get Bin Laden which even former Speaker Pelosi recognized with her call to the former President to congratulate him.

Elder: Bush Led, Bin Laden Dead
By Larry Elder May 5, 2011 6:30 am

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.

President Obama's deputy national security advisor, John Brennan, confirmed that the death of bin Laden resulted from "a mosaic (of intelligence) appearing over time and by ... people who have been following bin Laden for many, many years." This explains why 81 percent of Republicans give former President George W. Bush "at least some of the credit" for bin Laden's death. U.S. security forces tracked and were able to kill bin Laden through the use of the discredited, maligned, and -- in some cases -- the discontinued terror-fighting policies and practices of Bush.

So how much credit do Democrats give Bush?

Not much. Only 35 percent of Democrats, according to The Washington Post, believe that Bush deserves "at least some of the credit." Yet Obama took advantage of policies the left attacked -- at least under Bush -- as wrong, illegal and immoral.

"Enhanced interrogation techniques" -- The Washington Post's associate editor and foreign affairs columnist, David Ignatius, writes, "Some of the detainees (who gave information that led to bin Laden's location) were subjected to 'enhanced interrogation techniques,' the CIA's formal name for what is now widely viewed as torture."

Gitmo and secret prisons, aka "black sites" (now closed by Obama) -- "The revelation," writes The Associated Press, "that intelligence gleaned from the CIA's so-called black sites helped kill bin Laden was seen as vindication for many intelligence officials who have been repeatedly investigated and criticized for their involvement in a program that involved the harshest interrogation methods in U.S. history."

Rendition, the practice of moving a detainee to a country with more severe interrogation policies -- "Current and former U.S. officials," according to The Associated Press, "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."

Bush-Cheney "executive assassination ring" -- Navy SEAL Team Six is part of the Joint Special Operations Command. Two years ago, The New Yorker's Pulitzer prize-winning Hersh denounced the JSOC by calling it Bush-Cheney's "executive assassination ring": "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days ... they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it. It's an executive assassination ring, essentially. ... That's been going on, in the name of all of us."

Excerpt: Read More at GOP USA