I’m beginning to think the Bush campaign just can’t think of a good response to the charges that the administration let Osama bin Laden slip through our grasp at Tora Bora.
Kerry hammered away at this last week and Edwards followed up last night.
“[W]e had Osama bin Laden cornered at Tora Bora. We had the 10th Mountain Division up in Uzbekistan available. We had the finest military in the world on the ground. And what did we do? We turned — this is the man who masterminded the greatest mass murder and terrorist attack in American history. And what did the administration decide to do?
They gave the responsibility of capturing and/or killing Saddam — I mean Osama bin Laden to Afghan warlords who, just a few weeks before, had been working with Osama bin Laden.
It’s a serious and entirely accurate charge. Cheney’s response? He didn’t have one — when it was his turn to counter Edwards’ attack, Cheney decided to mischaracterize Kerry’s comments about a “global test” again.
This seems to be part of a pattern. Last Thursday, Kerry made the same charge.
“[W]hen we had Osama bin Laden cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora, 1,000 of his cohorts with him in those mountains. With the American military forces nearby and in the field, we didn’t use the best trained troops in the world to go kill the world’s number one criminal and terrorist.
They outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, who only a week earlier had been on the other side fighting against us, neither of whom trusted each other. That’s the enemy that attacked us. That’s the enemy that was allowed to walk out of those mountains. That’s the enemy that is now in 60 countries, with stronger recruits.
Bush’s response? “I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that.”
This is a vulnerability that the Bush campaign can’t seem to get around.
Alas, I’m afraid many Americans aren’t aware of what happened at Tora Bora. All the more reason for Kerry and Edwards to not let this one go.
Consider, for example, what happened after the first debate.
ABC’s Kate Snow spoke to six voters in Columbus, Ohio. Five of six voters thought Kerry did better. One man said: “I saw a different John Kerry last night. He was composed. He was eloquent.” That same man said Bush looked nervous and that he didn’t address the issues. Another man said Kerry showed Bush had flip flopped on reason for Iraq War. Another man was taken by Kerry’s Tora Bora argument. He was dismayed that Bush never dismissed that and he wants to know: did the US let Bin Laden to slip out [emphasis added]?
That guy wanted to know if it’s true the Bush administration let this happen, and lo and behold, it is true.
If voters aren’t widely aware of this, the Bush campaign literally can’t think of a defense, and it’s the kind of information that voters are anxious to hear more about, it seems like this has to become a standard talking point for KE04 from here on out.