Republicans — and particularly a series of former Bush administration officials — have been hunting around for an angle of attack on the commando raid on bin Laden headquarters in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The latest is that President Obama was wrong to have bin Laden killed. Instead, he should have captured him and then sent him to Gitmo or tortured him or done whatever to get more intelligence from him. That’s the argument notorious Bush administration lawyer John Yoo made last week.
But a new NBC news poll says 80% of Americans say killing bin Laden was the right decision. Only 11% disagree.
The precise instructions and rules of engagement of the OBL raid have not been made completely clear. It’s worth noting that the rules of engagement apparently made a nominal allowance for a bin Laden surrender, though those same rules of engagement made such an outcome all but impossible. In any case, the same leaks say that the President made clear the outcome he wanted and apparently got.
