“If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.”
That line was given in a speech by President Obama in 2008 while he was campaigning for office as President of The United States. Since becoming president, Mr. Obama has not only lived up to this promise, but has authorized more drone attacks in Pakistan than the previous administration ever had. It’s been reported that these attacks, although Bin Laden was the ultimate target, resulted in other terrorists being killed.
According to a recent report by The Washington Times, “CIA drone attacks in Pakistan killed at least 581 militants last year [2009], according to independent estimates. The number of those militants noteworthy enough to appear on a U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists: two.” The report goes on to question the wisdom of these increased attacks, stating “despite a major escalation in the number of unmanned Predator strikes being carried out under the Obama administration, data from government and independent sources indicate that the number of high-ranking militants being killed as a result has either slipped or barely increased.”
But it will appear now, that the Administration was acting on “actionable intelligence.” And on Sunday, that intelligence paid off;
“Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan,” Mr. Obama said. “A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”
I’ve heard it said that while the rest of the political pundits and talking heads play checkers, the President is actively engaged in a game of chess. Chalk this one up as a checkmate against Osama Bin Laden.
