After 9/11 Bush Wanted To Get Bin Laden
2001: After Attacks Bush Wanted Him “Dead or Alive.” “We will win the war and there will be costs,” President Bush said shortly after the attacks. He said that he wanted Osama bin Laden “dead or alive.” [Associated Press, 9/15/01; Associated Press, 9/17/01]
Then For The Next 5 Years, He Wasn’t “Concerned” About The 9/11 Mastermind
2002: Bush: “Not That Concerned” About Bin Laden. In a news conference, President Bush was asked about Osama bin Laden. “I don’t know where he is. I-I’ll repeat what I said. I am truly not that concerned about him.” [White House Press Conference, 3/13/02]
2005: Bush “Hardly Ever Utters” Osama Bin Laden’s Name. “The White House has sought to play down the significance of bin Laden to the global anti-terror battle. As a result, Bush hardly ever utters the name of the man he.repeatedly promised would be caught.” [Associated Press, 3/3/05]
- 2005: Bush “Rarely Mentions” Osama Bin Laden. CBS News reported that “Three-and-a-half years after 9/11.Osama bin Laden remains at large and dangerous. President Bush rarely mentions him anymore.” ABC News reported on the President’s comments that the US is keeping pressure on bin Laden, stating bluntly that “That’s another way of saying the United States is not finding bin Laden.” [CBS, 3/3/05; ABC, 3/3/05]
2006: CIA Closed Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden. The Central Intelligence Agency closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants. The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded in late 2005 and its analysts were reassigned. Michael Scheuer, a former senior CIA official who was the first head of the unit, said the move reflected a mistaken view within the agency that bin Laden was no longer the threat he once was. “This will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda,” he said. “These days at the agency, bin Laden and Al Qaeda appear to be treated merely as first among equals.” [MSNBC; New York Times, 7/4/06]
2006: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Stumbled When Asked About Osama Bin Laden’s Priority Level. When asked by Wolf Blitzer if Osama Bin Laden was his “top priority, in terms of America’s most wanted” criminal, Gonzales replied, “There are a lot of very important people that we want to prosecute.” [CNN Situation Room, 9/5/06]
Now, With The Election Two Months Away, Bush Uses Bin Laden For Political Gain
Yet, In A Speech This Week, Bush Mentioned Bin Laden 17 Times. [White House Transcripts, 9/8/06, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060905-4.html]
