Taking down Osama bin Laden was an achievement resulting from a culmination of a decade of national security policy. Soft power and diplomacy helped along the way, but it was hard power and military might that made it possible. President George W. Bush put the correct policies in place, including the PATRIOT Act, Gitmo and increased intelligence gathering. President Barack Obama was wise to continue executing many of the same strategies. Here are the main reasons we were able to take him out. #1. We Invaded Afghanistan. Anyone who is a hunter knows you have to flush game out before you bag it. It often works the same way with terrorists. The Taliban refused to give up bin Laden because the two groups were joined at the hip and saw Afghanistan as just the first step in building bin Laden’s worldwide terrorist empire—pushing him out was job #1.
#2. We Set Up Gitmo. When the full story of the long war against terrorism is told, we will learn that detaining and interrogating enemy combatants was a critical tool in winning the war. Indeed, we have found that when we released Gitmo detainees, many of them went back to the battlefield. There are already reports that detainees through lawful interrogations provided key intelligence cues that helped tracked down bin Laden. CIA Director Leon Panetta told NBC News yesterday that “enhanced interrogation techniques [1]“ were used to extract information that led to the mission’s success.
#3. We Increased Intelligence Gathering. We had a number of intelligence operations running inside of Pakistan with the help of the government. We used the data collected there, in Afghanistan, at Gitmo and at other facilities around the globe to diligently and patiently connect the dots. This high quality analysis is not possible without modern technology and military equipment and dedicated personnel.
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Quick Hits:
•Obama Administration officials are demanding answers from Pakistan to questions about Osama bin Laden and his years-long residence in the Abbottabad compound. •Navy SEALs hauled five computers, 10 hard drives and more than 100 storage devices from bin Laden’s compound in “the largest potential intelligence coup of the post-9/11 era.” •Though President Obama’s overall approval rating improved following news of bin Laden’s death, 55 percent disapprove of how he’s handling the economy — an all-time high. •Gas prices in Chicago and Michigan have hit all-time average highs at $4.44 and $4.26 a gallon, respectively. •The Wisconsin wave is continuing state-by-state, as students’ interests are overtaking union demands.
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