CIA kept Reid in loop on bin Laden hunt
by Valerie Berdeski on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 11:19am ·
BY PETER URBAN
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Posted: May 2, 2011 | 10:09 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid received a telephone call at home shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday from President Barack Obama, who was "very somber" with news that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces.
The news did not come as a complete surprise to Reid, the Senate majority leader from Nevada. He had known the basics of U.S. intelligence on the bin Laden hunt through classified briefings from CIA Director Leon Panetta.
"I've been following this with Director Panetta for some time now," Reid said Monday morning as Capitol Hill buzzed with reaction over the culmination of a decade-long tracking of the al-Qaida leader and mastermind of the Sept. 1, 2001, attacks on the United States.
"The president called me and outlined what had taken place," Reid said. "The president was very somber in relating to me what took place."
"This awful man, this man who epitomized evil, has been brought to justice by American forces. His death is our most significant victory in our fight against al Qaeda."
As Reid spoke with reporters outside his office about the bin Laden hunt conducted by U.S. Navy Seals, he said he couldn't help but think of Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Patton, a Navy Seal and graduate of Boulder City High School who was killed June 28, 2005, in Afghanistan.
Patton, 22, was part of a team that was trying to rescue a fellow Seal in a firefight when their helicopter was shot down near Asadabad in Kumar Province. Eight Seals were killed.
"I can't get the young Patton boy out of my mind," said Reid, who attended the officer's funeral.
Reid, who appeared alongside Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he hopes that al-Qaida will not survive the loss of bin Laden.
"I certainly hope that," he said.
But he followed up by saying everyone should be "very cautious with their optimism."
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau reporter Peter Urban at purban@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.
Shane
No comments:
Post a Comment