The Vindication of George W. Bush

Hotair ^ | 05/05/2011 | Guy Benson

[SeekAndFind]

As lefties gloat over the political implications of Osama bin Laden’s demise, and the media ramp up an “Obama bounce” meme, conservatives should politely but persistently shift the conversation from politics to policy. In my latest column for Townhall, I draw on a number of fascinating news accounts elucidating how the our military and intelligence community finally nailed bin Laden. US officials describe a “mosaic” of intelligence that ultimately led a team of Navy SEALs to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan — suggesting that it took many years and myriad sources to pinpoint bin Laden’s precise location. As we now know, the central strand of intel involved one of bin Laden’s trusted couriers, Abu Ahmed Al-Kuwaiti; finding him was the key to locating his boss. The early evidence is in, and President Bush and his team should feel gratified and vindicated:

Osama bin Laden was found because the United States military exploited actionable intelligence extracted by subjecting terrorists to enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) in secret CIA prisons, by questioning enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, and by capturing a top al Qaeda source in Iraq.

As long as some liberals remain intent on keeping political score, it must be pointed out that all three sources of these indispensible data points were direct or indirect results of Bush policies – EITs, Gitmo, and the Iraq war – that much of the American Left, including Barack Obama, fought tooth and nail.

Much of the evidence I cite to back up my thesis comes from two sources: A short AP story published shortly after the raid (and linked here by Allahpundit), and an incredibly detailed piece in London’s Daily Telegraph. A few key bits from the resulting information goldmine:

On the Guantanamo connection -

Secret American military files from Guantanamo Bay, leaked to Wikileaks and seen by The Daily Telegraph, suggest that al-Kuwaiti may have been with bin Laden ever since he disappeared from the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan in 2001.

The file for the Guantanamo detainee, Muhammad Mani al-Qahtani, who was to have been the “20th hijacker” on 9/11, contains a reference to the key US intelligence thread that led directly to bin Laden.

According to the file, al-Kuwaiti provided al-Qahtani with computer training for the mission to attack the US in the summer of 2001. Al-Qahtani was told by the lead 9/11 hijacker, Muhammad Atta, “to make reservations and buy airline tickets to Orlando for five individuals” including himself.

“Detainee [al-Qahtani] received computer training from al-Qaeda member Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti in preparation for his mission to the US,” according to the file, dated 30 October 2008.

On KSM, secret CIA “black site” prisons, and Enhanced Interrogation Techniques -

Current and former U.S. officials say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden’s most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed’s successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania.

…

The CIA gained crucial information confirming the role of al-Kuwaiti from two inmates at Guantanamo Bay – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Faraj al-Libi.

Al-Libi’s file, dated 10 September 2008, also refers to his contact with bin Laden’s personal courier, although he gives another name.

And on the Al Qaeda operative captured in Iraq:

The file suggests that the courier’s identity was provided to the US by another key source, the al-Qaida facilitator Hassan Ghul, who was captured in Iraq in 2004 and interrogated by the CIA. Ghul was never sent to Guantanamo but was believed to have been taken to a prison in Pakistan.

He told the Americans that al-Kuwaiti travelled with bin Laden…

The picture that emerges from al-Qahtani’s Guantanamo file supports statements given in the last 24 hours by US officials, who named Ghul as the “linchpin” in the intelligence operation to find bin Laden.

In short, Al-Kuwaiti’s existence was flagged by at least one Guantanamo Bay detainee, his role and pseudonym were confirmed by KSM and al-Libi, and his true identity was spilled by an Al Qaeda terrorist operating in Iraq. It’s no exaggeration to assert that all three of these intelligence “strands” may never — or perhaps would never — have materialized absent the controversial Bush administration policies listed above. These facts are not historical footnotes. They eviscerate a number of core left-wing articles of faith, including the flawed notions that President Bush “took his eye off the [Al Qaeda/bin Laden] ball,” that Iraq was unrelated to the larger war on terror, and that EITs are not effective — not to mention the ongoing obsession with shuttering Gitmo. As I conclude in the Townhall piece, Presidents Bush and Obama deserve significant credit for this massive accomplishment, and it would be intellectually dishonest to suggest otherwise:

Barack Obama ran for president, in large measure, as the anti-Bush. He was a prominent opponent of the war in Iraq. He promised to shutter the Guantanamo Bay prison. He pledged to ban certain EITs. Today, as president, he is rightfully receiving praise from virtually all quarters for his decisive order to take out the most wanted man in the world. Obama, his supporters, and indeed all Americans have every reason to celebrate that accomplishment. But they must also recognize and appreciate that actions and policies implemented by President Bush, often in the face of searing partisan criticism, played an inextricable role in identifying the dots that were finally connected and acted upon last weekend.

In response to bin Laden’s death, Americans of all partisan stripes should follow the example set forth by the current president and his predecessor: Credit the brave special ops forces who conducted the daring operation, offer political credit where it’s due, and celebrate this American achievement, which is a gift to all of civilization.

UPDATE – Larry Elder makes another good point in this vein:

Osama bin Laden was a) killed by a unit overseen by what New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh denounced as Vice President Dick Cheney’s “executive assassination ring,” which was b) sent into action based on intel derived from the now-outlawed “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which were c) used on detainees captured during the George W. Bush administration, who were d) being held in now-outlawed “secret prisons” or in the intended-to-be-closed Gitmo.

That’s another feather in Bush’s cap. All of the detainees/informants involved in this story were captured on his watch.

 

Guy Benson is the Political Editor of Townhall.com — HotAir’s sister site — and hosts the Guy Benson Show. Follow him on twitter: @guypbenson

[woofie]

The people on the left hate Bush’s guts....that SHOULD tell you something.

Im old enough to remember but a lot of people forget......after Reagan left office the left hated his guts and some on the far right also hated him and some of his policies .....(He and Tip O’Neil were the best of friends remember) Government and debt expanded under his watch .....dare I mention Reagan’s border policy? arms for hostages ( that sure made the Republican brand look bad ) (which he passed through congress) hell, look at some of his Supreme court picks (Sandra Day O’Conner anyone?)

Gradually it changed....the hatred on the left slowly dissipated and his critics on the right shut up and died off ....He looked better and better over the years....just as GW Bush has and will

You will be a historic footnote

[onyx]

PREFECT©

[sickoflibs]

RE :”Im old enough to remember but a lot of people forget......after Reagan left office the left hated his guts and some on the far right also hated him and some of his policies ... Gradually it changed....the hatred on the left slowly dissipated and his critics on the right shut up and died off ....He looked better and better over the years....just as GW Bush has and will”

You are delusional claiming GWB is like Reagan.

Reagan left office loved and respected and he won us a third term in the WH: Bush SR 1989-1992. In contrast Bush won us Pelosi and Obama in charge with 60 in the Senate.

You cant even see the difference. Reagan won the cold war. HE WON IT. We got to close our military bases around the world because the USSR collapsed due to his actions. We got a huge peace dividend $$$$ from his policies during the 1990s, starting in 1991. You see anything like that now? GWB, maybe a well meaning guy, was a midget compared to Reagan the best president of our century.

[rabscuttle385]

but you’re actually comfortable posting ugliness here

IIRC, Jim Robinson himself has called Bush a RINO in the past. Shall I go looking for the exact post so I can cite it here?

As for Bush, he was and is a RINO, unless, of course, you would like to state that Big Government "compassionate conservatism," bailouts and nationalizations, the expansion of Big Government bureaucracy (Department of Homeland Security), the Federalization of public education, government intervention to provide "affordable housing" through downpayment grants, amnesties and benefit bonanzas for illegal aliens, welfare give-aways in Africa, and the expansion of socialized health care (Medicare) are in fact conservative in nature.

Every...single...one...of these instances of Bush's agenda of "compassionate conservatism" (which bears an eerie resemblance to Obama's recent assertions that we are each other's keepers and to Obama's steadfast belief that more government is the answer) is fully documented on FR, on the Web, in major news outlets of all political leanings, and in the records of the Federal government.

Frankly, what angers me is that Bush apologists like yourself, when confronted with his decidedly non-conservative record, start crowing about Bush's supposedly good character, integrity, religious beliefs, etc. -- none of which have anything to do with his dismal record as a so-called conservative -- while doing the virtual equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears, closing your eyes, and yelling at the top of your lungs so you don't have to hear the ugly truth about Bush's record.

you’re admitting to being a freeloader, too ?

I said that I stopped, which implied that I was making contributions at some point. Shucks, I was even on the dollar-a-day list at one point. Those are not the actions of a "freeloader," now are they, Starwise?

[Gilbo_3]

rah, rah, sis-boom-bah...wait, what???

why bother with a pissin match ??? at this point we are w/o a decent candidate to step up, so the history really is irrelevant except to say that i will not cast a vote 'for' another rino-o-p hack because hes 'better than' the commie...period...

[BufordP]

It's a damn shame Bush could not leave the country in more capable hands. There's a reason Obama won the WH. Bush's legacy IS Obama.

BTW, my Momma would have fought the WOT as vigorously and would not have kissed Dummycrat ass along the way.

John Derbyshire: Eight Wasted Years ...Margaret Thatcher used to talk about the “ratchet effect.” When the Left gets power, she said, they drive everything Left; when the Right gets power, they slow the Leftward drive, perhaps even halt it for a spell; but nothing ever gets moved to the Right. U.S. politics in the 21st century so far bears out this dismal analysis. What does the Right have to show for eight years of a Republican presidency? I supported George W. Bush in 2000 because I thought he had a conservative bone in his body somewhere. I supported him in 2004 because I thought him the lesser of two evils. At this point, I wouldn’t let the fool park his car in my driveway. Bruce Bartlett was right, every damn word... Bill Gertz interview on Hannity and Colmes Gertz: Well he casts himself as a compassionate conservative and I argue that he's neither. That his administration is neither. He's done tremendous damage to the conservative movement...

[metesky]

We’re talking about war here, sir, not domestic policy and One World paranoia.

[ohioWfan]

I didn't say you were a leftist troll. I said you were acting like a leftist troll, and you are.

You can hate this good patriot the rest of your life, and it will do you no good. It won't make you more conservative. It won't make you more honorable.

It will only make you angrier than you already are, and that will destroy you.

It has nothing to do with "kool-aid" (though you do throw mindless talking points around with the best of them). It has to do with discernment, the ability to make moral judgements, and the ability to accept that your own political views are not the highest moral good.

I'll repeat what I said in my first post to you. I feel as sorry for you as I do for anyone on this board. You have allowed your political ideology to make you a miserable wretch.

What a waste of a good mind.

[ohioWfan]

btw, I don't agree with leftists about ANYTHING.

You share their hatred of President Bush and they would high five you when you compared him with Alfred E. Newman and call him a 'malefactor.'

You are not a leftist troll, but you certainly agree with them about President Bush, and that is pathetic. You and the left are one in spirit.

[ohioWfan]

While I don't have a problem with that in concept, it has been my experience in life that when we want something very bad, we often think it's God's will for that to take place. I'm not trying to give you grief over Bush on this topic, because I don't want to make those types of arguments regarding him. God's will is not always as easy to see as we would like to think it is, and I don't want to speak for Him regarind this man. It's not an argument that I think men should argue definitively on a person that has good and bad traits. That's just my take on it.

Hey, thanks for the response. I appreciate the exchange.

So do I.

My comments about God's provision of a President we needed when we needed him is based solely on the Scriptural absolute that God places all leaders in authority at all times.

He is Sovereign and in control of all things, and nothing happens that is outside of His Sovereign will.

When we were attacked on 9/11 God had provided His own servant whom HE knew would seek guidance and be on his knees in prayer.

God provided President Bush the wisdom he needed and asked for to guide us through some very dark and dangerous days. (That IS, btw, the subject of this thread. Jehovah Jireh).

I don't believe it is Scripturally debatable that God is Sovereign, and in these difficult days with a Marxist in the White House, I rely on that even more than I have before in my long life.

As for the 'border thing'.....there was so much abject hatred and irrational anger on those threads that most Bush supporters avoided them like the plague. The comments were vile, profane, filthy, filled with name-calling and disgusting comments and served absolutely no purpose to promote or discuss conservatism. That's why you didn't 'see' many of us who disagreed with the policy but still respected the President there. There was no place on those threads for sanity. They were emotional explosions from completely irrational Bush haters.

Now, I see that the mindless, dishonest I-hate-Bush boy band is here in force, and the end of rational discussion is at hand.

Perhaps some time when they return to whatever forum they belong on, this discussion can continue, but for now, it's best for me to not even see the bile they post.....

Too bad. It's been a good discussion, and they, as always, have destroyed it.

[woofie]

As for the 'border thing'.....there was so much abject hatred and irrational anger on those threads that most Bush supporters avoided them like the plague. The comments were vile, profane, filthy, filled with name-calling and disgusting comments and served absolutely no purpose to promote or discuss conservatism. That's why you didn't 'see' many of us who disagreed with the policy but still respected the President there. There was no place on those threads for sanity. They were emotional explosions from completely irrational Bush haters.

I said what I could at the time.and was soon shouted down ...I live in a border state and most of those " experts" who were sure Bush was "not protecting the border!" havent been south of New Jersey.

I asked a bio weapons expert friend how someone would attack us ....he said they can get in a boat west of L A and dump their chemical weapons in the water.

Suddenly I realized that Bush was a failure and hadnt built a fence up and down our coastlines like any REAL Conservative President would.

[woofie]

I love it ...Im “irrational” because I point out that Reagan was a a fallible man just like the rest of us ...and you are defending the proposition that Reagan was a God that Bush wouldnt be able to touch.... You might want to get a shrink or two in your “ REAL CONSERVATIVE” utopia.....I have a feeling you might need one.

[ohioWfan]

Suddenly I realized that Bush was a failure and hadnt built a fence up and down our coastlines like any REAL Conservative President would.

LOL! And you KNOW that Reagan worked tirelessly for that coastline fence. That's why 'true' conservatives worship him. :)

[ohioWfan]

Don't waste your time with that one. He makes Bill Clinton and Barack Obama look like honest men.

He's even been called an "idiot troll" by the owner of the forum.

You're wasting your breath trying to reason with it.

[hosepipe]

[ We’re talking about war here, sir, not domestic policy and One World paranoia. ]

There actually several WARS... plus a Trojan Horse in Washington D.C... The domestic WAR is the most grave.. You know the Un-Civil WAR...

The Progressives have always wanted a one world government.. they were not shy in proclaiming that.. even for a time in the Nintys most world class progressives touted those phrases.. They had completely ShUT UP about ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT... Now..

The Bushs were right in there with the Progressives.. its not a new development.. Bush Jr. earned some bonavides after the twin towers but make no mistake.. the Bushs are "progressives"..

Other progressives: The Clintoons, Obama, John McLame, Graham, The Maine twins, the entire democrat party, Carl Rove, Charlie Crankhammar, there is a long list..

[hosepipe]

[ You can hate this good patriot the rest of your life, and it will do you no good. It won't make you more conservative. It won't make you more honorable. ]

I don't hate G. Bush. either of them.. they are what they are..

i.e. Posuers, shills, stealth democrats, phoneys, fakes, moles, progressives, globalists... being a RINO would be a step ...UP...

[hosepipe]

[ You are not a leftist troll, but you certainly agree with them about President Bush, and that is pathetic. You and the left are one in spirit. ]

The leftys just followed party talking points to prepare the way for "THE ONE"... as G. Bush did everything he could do to "dispirit" and under-mine the republican party..

They were BOTH brilliant in their tactics.. which made it possible for a known and virulent Marxist to win the presidency.. and 60% of the Senate by the way.. a reverse 2010 election..

BUT be advised it was all prepared layed out and executed in a brilliant way.. Glen Beck has exposed much of Soros minions.. but theres many more.. like the entire State department.. Bush did not get rid of all of the leftist lawyers Clinton put in the Justice department.. I wondered at the stupidity of that move.. there are other "TELLS" form Bush.. but this is enough..

[ohioWfan]

Until you address all the FACTS I stated in post #88 regarding the REALITY of why Obama was elected, your posts remain poppycock.

You are basing each one of them on your feelings, which is what all of you pseudo, self exalting uber-cons do on a regular basis.

So, since you choose to ignore reality and spout your bizarre, emotion-based fantasies, I will bid you adieu.

I do hope some day you recover. You've missed an important chapter in American history. Maybe someday you'll get it, but until then......

Oh..... at some point DO read the article at the top of this thread. You may do something frightening like LEARN. It might be a pleasant change for you.

[ohioWfan]

Posting this on a new page just to drive the pseudo-cons, BDS'ers and leftist trolls crazy.....

God BLESS President Bush!

[sickoflibs]

RE :”I love it ...Im “irrational” because I point out that Reagan was a a fallible man just like the rest of us ...and you are defending the proposition that Reagan was a God that Bush wouldnt be able to touch.... You might want to get a shrink or two in your “ REAL CONSERVATIVE” utopia.....I have a feeling you might need one”

Trashing Reagan to prop up GWBush is despicable. Bush couldnt fill Reagan's shadow.

Reagan left office loved and adored, not despised as with your earlier characterization. That is why his VP won the election in 1988. Bush won us Obama and Pelosi in 2006 and 2008. If that is your idea of a success maybe it's time you just vote Democrat and save time.