Carl Levin is partially correct about Afghanistan

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has released a report detailing the United State’s failure to capture Osama Bin Laden in December of 2001. At the time, Bin Laden was reportedly in Tora Bora, and the U.S. had a good chance of capturing him. It’s certainly disappointing to know the U.S. was that close to capturing Bin Laden, but failed. Senator Cal Levin said there was a“good chance we would not have forces or need to have forces there (Afghanistan)” if Bin Laden was captured.

Senator Levin is right about the opportunity that was missed. If Osama Bin Laden had been captured, we might have had most of our soldiers out of Afghanistan. What I find interesting is that Carl Levin and his colleagues in the Democratic party are seizing on this report, yet they seem to conveniently ignore some missed opportunities that were even more damaging.

The first attack on the World Trade Center, the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, the African Embassy bombings, the Battle of Mogadishu, and the Khobar Tower bombing all occurred during Bill Clinton’s Presidency. Clinton made a few half-hearted attempts to go after Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, but nothing substantial. How many more acts of terrorism was Bill Clinton waiting for before he launched a full-scale military operation?

In sum, Carl Levin is right. If Osama had been captured in Tora Bora back in December of 2001, our involvement in Afghanistan could have been finished long ago. Of course, this wouldn’t have been an issue if Bill Clinton had gone after Osama Bin Laden more aggressively. Not only would we probably not be in Afghanistan, but 9/11 might have never happened.