Khalid Sheik Mohammed was water boarded. As a result of that procedure, he started to talk. Eventually he gave up the name of Osama bin Laden’s couriers. That is just how these things work. If there had been no waterboarding, we would have learned nothing from Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Only in the delusional world of the liberal left do terrorists give up this kind of information because we are nice and kind. But once he started talking, he eventually gave up information that really mattered.
For years the CIA watched for this name. Then in 2010, the courier made a phone call. The U.S. intelligence agencies were waiting. It is important to note that this was part of the program implemented by President Bush, over the strenuous objections of Democrats. Just prior to the 2008 elections, Barack Obama promised to end warrantless wiretaps:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9845595-7.html
“For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and ‘wiretaps without warrants.’”
But Obama already knew these wiretaps were necessary, that is why he voted for the FISA Amendment legislation in the summer of 2008 approving these wiretaps. Senators Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton voted against this legislation:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/blogtalk-obamas-fisa-vote/
It has recently been reported that almost immediately upon being elected, Obama learned of a credible assassination plot against him. While a mere threat National Security was apparently not enough to get him excited, a personal plot aimed at him got his attention.
Prior to 9-11, the United States tried to treat terrorism as a criminal activity. After 9-11, President George Bush realized that we were in a war and that treating terrorism as a criminal activity had been a terrible mistake. That is also the conclusion reached by the 9-11 commission. That is why he bypassed the FISC courts, and started wiretapping on calls made from within the United States to suspected terrorists overseas.
Osama bin Laden was living in a house in Abbottabad that the CIA had known about for years. They didn’t care, because they assumed that Osama bin Laden would be surrounded by armed security. They were wrong. In 2010 that courier finally made a mistake. He called someone the NSA was monitoring. As a result of this phone call, the CIA was able to finally locate him. It does not take much imagination to realize that this was one of those people wiretapped by the evil George Bush. This courier eventually led them to the house in Abbottabad:
The CIA thought they had found bin Laden in August of 2010. It certainly was the best lead in years. One would think that this was enough information to send in a team. The United States has numerous Special Forces units fully capable of handling such an assignment. I suspect that President Bush would not have hesitated to authorize that mission. But Obama demanded proof positive. As Bill Clinton pointed out in Obama’s self-congratulatory campaign commercial, Obama was concerned that if the Navy Seals were killed, or captured, it might make him look bad. Think about that. There was this house, clearly designed to hide someone significant, and one of the few people in the world who knew how to contact Osama bin Laden went there. That should have been more than enough. I suspect we have sent our guys over on far more dangerous assignment s with much less intelligence.
But even though it was obvious that someone important probably bin Laden, was in that house, Obama demanded more proof. So the CIA organized a fake vaccination program in an elaborate scheme to get DNA from someone in that house. The following article describes this adventure:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vaccinations-osama-bin-ladens-dna
Perhaps I am wrong, but it sure looks like a really stupid and high-risk plan. Here we had a strong lead, with regard to the location of bin Laden, and the President waffles demanding more proof. In desperation, the CIA develops this fake vaccination plan. It is a miracle that Osama bin Laden was not tipped off by this bizarre scheme.
By the way, this scheme will cost thousands of lives. There are world-wide humanitarian efforts to wipe out small pox and polio. In some countries, kids are even dying from measles. One of the big barriers to achieving this goal has been the reluctance of people in places like Pakistan to let their children get vaccinated. There are myths commonly repeated in the radical Muslim movements that these vaccines are a western plot to poison children. As a result of the use of humanitarian efforts to try and find bin Laden, parents all over Pakistan are refusing to let their children get immunized:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/13/bin-laden-vaccine-plot-cia
The story is crystal clear. Obama was far less worried about killing Osama bin Laden than about his own political future. That is why there was such a long delay in authorizing the raid. It is also why he went on national TV to gloat about the great success. It is why he is now running this tasteless commercial. It exposes an incredible lack of character in the President of the United States.
TDM