Bin Laden not goal of Bush, Rumsfeld
For Republicans to claim any credit at all for Bush in getting Osama bin Laden is patently absurd.
Bush said on Aug. 11, 2006, that he was “truly not concerned about bin Laden,” and was not spending much time thinking about him.
Bin Laden had fled to the mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001 where he was cornered. American special forces were prepared to take him out when Rumsfeld, “one of the worst Secretaries of Defense in our country’s history” (Sen. John McCain), called them off. His goal was not to get bin Laden.
Subsequently when the Taliban was on the run and new government was established, Rumsfeld reduced the forces which accomplished this and sent them to Iraq. As a consequence, the Taliban returned, resulting in the war continuing for all this time. The loss of life and disaster for our economy and country is indefensible.