OBAMA HAS MADE CLEAR THAT HE WILL GO AFTER OSAMA BIN LADEN IN PAKISTAN
Obama: There Are Terrorists Holed Up In The Mountains In Pakistan Who Killed 3,000 Americans And If Musharraf Won’t Act, We Will. Obama said, “I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will.”
[
The War We Need To Win, 8/1/07]
Obama: “I Firmly Believe That If We Know The Whereabouts Of Bin Laden And His Deputies And We Have Exhausted All Other Options, We Must Take Them Out.” Obama wrote in an op-ed, “Relying on Pakistan while we fight the wrong war in Iraq has not worked. Because of that policy, bin Laden and members of his inner circle who bear direct responsibility for the murder of 3,000 Americans are plotting new attacks. If Pakistan cannot or will not take out these high-level terrorist targets and we have actionable intelligence about where they are, then I would take action to protect the American people. I firmly believe that if we know the whereabouts of bin Laden and his deputies and we have exhausted all other options, we must take them out.” [
Globe Gazette op-ed, 8/12/07]
Obama: We Shouldn’t Need Permission To Go After Folks That Killed 3,000 Americans. Obama said, “Sen. McCain and George Bush all suggested that I said something wrong when I said we should be going after bin Laden, in high-value targets, and if we've got him in our sites, we should ask for Pakistan's cooperation, we should ask Pakistan to take him out. But if they don't, we shouldn't need permission to go after folks that killed 3,000 Americans.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/24/08]
Obama: If We Have Actionable Intelligence Against Bin Laden Or Other Key Al Qaeda Officials And Pakistan Won’t Strike Them, We Should. Obama said, “With respect to Pakistan, I never said I would bomb Pakistan. What I said was that if we have actionable intelligence against bin Laden or other key al Qaeda officials, and we -- and Pakistan is unwilling or unable to strike against them, we should. And just several days ago, in fact, this administration did exactly that and took out the third-ranking al Qaeda official.” [Cleveland Presidential Debate, 2/26/08]
Obama Said That Iraq Distracted Us From The Real Battle With Osama Bin Laden In Afghanistan And Pakistan. Obama said, “Instead of working to fix our economy and lift up hardworking families, they've fought to extend a war that's costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars without making us any safer -- a war that has strengthened our enemies and distracted us from the real battle with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” [Michigan Messenger, 6/2/08]
Obama Said The US Would Be Justified In Taking “Unilateral Military Action To Eliminate An Imminent Threat” Against An Individual, Said That Al Qaeda Met His Standard. Obama wrote, “We should start with the premise that the United States, like all sovereign nations, has the unilateral right to defend itself against attack. As such, our campaign to take out Al Qaeda base camps and the Taliban regime that harbored them was entirely justified—and was viewed as legitimate even in most Islamic countries. It may be preferable to have the support of our allies in such military campaigns, but our immediate safety can’t be held hostage to the desire for international consensus; if we have to go it alone, then the American people stand ready to pay any price and bear any burden to protect our country. I would also argue that we have the right to take unilateral military action to eliminate an imminent threat to our security— so long as an imminent threat is understood to be a nation, group, or individual that is actively preparing to strike U.S. targets (or allies with which the United States has mutual defense agreements), and has or will have the means to do so in the immediate future. Al Qaeda qualifies under this standard, and we can and should carry out preemptive strikes against them wherever we can. Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not meet this standard, which is why our invasion was such a strategic blunder. If we are going to act unilaterally, then we had better have the goods on our targets.” [Audacity of Hope, p. 308-209]