Much was made of Barack Obama's earlier comments about what he would do if he had actionable intelligence pinpointing where Bin Laden was to be found in the northwest frontier of Pakistan. Obama's clear, concise, and reasoned answer drew much hand wringing and head wagging from conservatives and neo-conservatives.
Obama said if he knew where Bin Laden was in Pakistan and Pakistani leadership refused to do anything about it, refused to cooperate, he would order action to be taken.
Great moaning cries of national sovereignty went up from the neo-con camps. How dare this upstart be so reckless and green about the sovereign countries who partner with America? The same people who cheered and waved pom-poms of support for an act of naked aggression and subsequent military occupation of the previously non-threatening sovereign nation of Iraq, were beside themselves in utter shock when Barack Obama suggested striking our enemies, pinpoint style, without getting the approval of the sovereign nation of Pakistan.
Obama's answer was thrown about as a sign he wasn't ready for prime time. He just didn't know how it all worked out there in the big world….too naive and inexperienced, he was.
But then….
In the predawn hours of Jan. 29, a CIA Predator aircraft flew in a slow arc above the Pakistani town of Mir Ali. The drone's operator, relying on information secretly passed to the CIA by local informants, clicked a computer mouse and sent the first of two Hellfire missiles hurtling toward a cluster of mud-brick buildings a few miles from the town center.
The missiles killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a senior al-Qaeda commander and a man who had repeatedly eluded the CIA's dragnet. It was the first successful strike against al-Qaeda's core leadership in two years, and it involved, U.S. officials say, an unusual degree of autonomy by the CIA inside Pakistan.Having requested the Pakistani government's official permission for such strikes on previous occasions, only to be put off or turned down, this time the U.S. spy agency did not seek approval. The government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was notified only as the operation was underway, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities. Link
Of course Obama was right about doing what needs done against 9-11 criminals. George W. Bush agreed with the president-to-be about Pakistan and he proved it, Junior did EXACTLY what Obama had previously advised. Rightfully so, I might add. What Bush ordered in Pakistan was the strategy I thought we would see after 9-11. We got an occupation in Iraq instead.
But now that Bush is listening to the new president-to-be, perhaps we'll get back on the right track in our conflict with Islamic extremists.
I wonder if Junior sent a thank you note to Obama for the good foreign policy tip?
Obama is already the new president.
