It Took an Obama to Take Out Osama

Almost 10 years ago, Osama bin laden's terrorists attacked America on 9/11. Bush declared war and we went into Afghanistan. But because the American troops were pulled out and sent to Iraq, Osama bin laden escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora - and disappeared.

Until yesterday.

We should give credit to President Obama and his team for finally bringing a mass murderer to justice. I am sure the doubters including the 'birthers' and the hyper-partisans will deny even OBL's death, but that would be a slap at the American special forces who conducted this incredible mission. It was smart that they took OBL's body with them to do DNA and photo testing. In the raid, bin laden's people tried to use a woman as a shield, cowards that they are.

Many Americans don't realize that bin laden's terrorists were killing Muslims as well as Americans. His suicide bombers struck Mosques in Iraq (after the U.S. invasion the borders opened up and Al Qaida flooded in. Saddam, who was not religious, never liked OBL and refused to work with him, so there was no Al Qaida in Iraq prior to U.S. intervention).

Bin laden was a Sunni Muslim; so his forces attacked Shiite Muslim Mosques and their people with car bombs and suicide bombers. He won't be missed by us, or most Muslims either. During the 2011"Arab Spring" there were no anti-American flag burnings. There were no Israeli flag burnings. The revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya was by ordinary Muslims wanting freedom from dictators. Osama bin laden was not their hero - OBL didn't believe in democracy and these people knew it. They weren't interested in throwing off one dictator to be replaced by a religious one.

Ironically, OBL's secret hideaway was not a dark cave, but a luxury compound a hundred yards from a Pakistani military base and only thirty miles north of Pakistan's capitol, Islamabad. That confirms the President's wisdom in not alerting the Pakistan authorities prior to the raid.

Ironically, when I was in Pakistan many years ago, I was in Islamabad and took a trip into the mountains near where bin laden ended up building his hideaway. It is very rugged territory, with thousand foot sheer dropoffs and no guard rails.

In the end it took an Obama to take out Osama. The President should be given credit for making a tough call and taking action to bring to justice America's most wanted terrorist...