One chronologist has just noted that it has been exactly 1,800 days since George W. Bush said he would get Osama bin Laden.
What got in the way of Bush’s plan? Two things — Dick Cheney and Iraq.
Had Bush stayed on track, shut down bin Laden and gotten to work on redressing some of the bubbling grievances in the Middle East, the world might look substantially different today.
A few things.
First, remember this New York Times placed op-ad, “Uncle oSAMa Wants You!” that ran in the New York Times just before the invasion of Iraq? It’s worth remembering.
Second, tomorrow night — Wednesday — catch my colleague Peter Bergen‘s brilliant two hour CNN special, “In the Footsteps of bin Laden.”
It airs at 9 pm and 12 midnight eastern time. Christiane Amanpour narrates the thought-provoking and educational documentary. Peter Bergen’s book that inspired this film production is The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader.
For those who did not catch it, Ezra Klein did a nice job in this Los Angeles Times oped building on a previous blogpost here on TWN.
More soon.
— Steve Clemons
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