While Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are sticking to anodyne statements about the death of Osama bin Laden being “a great moment” (Murray) and “a major turning point” (Cantwell), Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott is taking a different approach.
For McDermott, the death of Bin Laden is an opportunity to remember how things used to be:
I want to commend President Obama, our brave men and women in uniform, and the entire intelligence community for their tireless efforts related to Osama bin Laden. Unfortunately, President Bush took us off course from this important mission with his misguided invasion of Iraq—a war that is still ongoing after nine years and has tragically resulted in the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and Iraqis. President Obama rightly recognized that our focus should be elsewhere if we were to capture bin Laden, and he executed the mission to achieve the goal.
Glad to see someone in office telling this side of the story.
This was the first thought that came to mind after my friends roommate said that Obama just earned his 2012 election. This piece of the story needs to be told in the same breath as any praise for Obama’s role in this.
He’s right, of course. Bush had no interest in catching Osama; all he cared about was getting Saddam Hussein.
Obama ran heavily as the anti-Bush and was elected as the anti-Bush.
This is a defining anti-Bush moment.
Not to defend GW Bush or anything, and I know y’all are euphoric over Bin Laden’s death, but the bastard really wasn’t that important in the overall terror picture. I’m glad he’s dead, too, but the threat from various elements, affiliated with Al Qaeda and not, is unchanged today. The conflict within Pakistan, for instance, is as alive as ever, to say nothing of various cells around the world (most of them occupied by dimwits, thankfully).
@4: You’re right, of course, but this is so, so meaningful to us as a people.
Hard to say, Fnarf. We don’t know what, if any, intelligence information was inside the house (and we probably never will). But I’m guessing it was probably quite the treasure trove.
Jim’s right and Fnarf is still very very naive.
Fnarf, he was important. He was a high ranking person in an organisation that promoted terrorist attacks against western targets, many of which killed, maimed, and injured innocent civillians. This may not be the end of Al Qaida, but it is important.
Jim McDermott is my man. If I were ever to lose my skepticism of a single politician, it would be for him.
Whether or not Bin Laden played as crucial a role in Al Qaida recently as he once did, symbolically, this was important. Not only did the president stick to his word and accomplish what he set out to do, but he also provided closure to the American people, particularly those who lost someone in 9/11.
I am glad that McDermott said what he did about Iraq, as that is exactly how I felt about the entire Iraq debacle – it was completely misguided, and purposefully so. Our airwaves were so full of propaganda and lies from the Bush administration and Faux Snews, it was hard to see your way through the flotsam and jetsam to the truth.
The super-rich can return now to our regularly scheduled programming of gang-banging the dessicated corpse of US economy in peace, at least for three news cycles.
Eli,
That was a cheap shot by McDermott. No need to have said that. Obama acknowledged Bush in his speech. Bin Laden’s demise was a concerted effort by BOTH the Bush & Obama Administrations. Congratulations to our servicemen & women involved in this extraordinary operation.
@12 – Yes, anything that does not venerate the great accomplishments of L’il Boot, CinC (TM) is a cheap shot. Particularly since he did such a great job of running his little wars.
@11 – You mean they stopped for a while? Or the media point the endless rape out? Damn, I missed that!