Bush's Bin Laden Craving

Whitlock writes: "Officials with the CIA and the U.S. military said they began shifting resources out of Afghanistan in early 2002 and still haven't recovered from that mistake.

"'Iraq was a fundamental wrong turn. That was the most strategically negative action that was taken,' said John O. Brennan, a former deputy executive director of the CIA and a former chief of the National Counterterrorism Center. 'The collective effort in the government required to go after an individual like bin Laden -- the Iraq campaign consumed that.'

"The Bush administration tried to reinvigorate the flagging hunt for bin Laden early last year by redeploying Predator drones, intelligence officers and Special Forces units to Pakistan and Afghanistan. But by then, U.S. counterterrorism officials said, the war in Iraq had already given bin Laden and his core command precious time to regroup and solidify their new base of operations in northwestern Pakistan."

And the Iraq diversion wasn't the only problem. Bush also apparently chose poorly when it came to both his basic strategy in the region -- and his allies.

"Pakistani officials said that if the U.S. government had really wanted to rout al-Qaeda, it should have tried harder to modernize Pakistan's impoverished tribal belt, instead of targeting it with missiles. . . .

"J. Cofer Black, director of the CIA's counterterrorism center from 1999 to 2002, was a key player in the hunt for al-Qaeda and well known in Washington for his give-no-quarter approach. 'When we're through with them, they will have flies walking across their eyeballs,' he told Bush shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"In an interview last month, however, Black echoed concerns expressed by other officials that the U.S. government had paid too little attention to the 'hearts and minds' of people living along the Afghan-Pakistani border, many of whom have reinforced their allegiance to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

"'This may sound strange coming from a flies-on-the-eyeballs guy, but the most important thing is support and aid to local leaders and the population,' Black said. 'If you don't have that, you can put in all the divisions you want, and it won't matter.'"

And, Whitlock notes: "For seven years, the hunt for bin Laden hinged on the proposition that the U.S. government had a reliable partner in Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, who resigned under pressure last month.

"But even some Pakistanis said the U.S. government was naive to think that Musharraf or his generals would do much to find bin Laden."

Bush's Words

It's worth just a quick look at how Bush has talked about bin Laden -- or avoided talking about him -- over the years. First there was the bluster, of course. Then silence.

In a March 2002 news conference, Bush was asked by Kelly Wallace of CNN why he so rarely mentioned bin Laden anymore. "You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you," Bush said. "I truly am not that concerned about him."