Key al Qaeda militant killed in U.S. airstrike

[Fair&Balanced]

It is interesting that Obama set out a clear policy towards Pakistan when he was campaigning in 07 and said:

“I understand that (Pakistan) 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-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.”

For which his challengers jumped all over his ass:

“Sen. John McCain of Arizona, close to clinching the GOP nomination, called Sen. Barack Obama ‘naive’ today and…blasted him for advocating a bombing of Al Qaeda hide-outs in Pakistan,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Sarah Palin’s pointed criticism of Barack Obama’s foreign policy agenda Tuesday morning included a swipe at Obama’s stated commitment to strike at terrorists inside Pakistan’s borders if they are in the sights of the American military.

“Senator Obama has also advocated sending our U.S. military into Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government,” Palin said. “Invading the sovereign territory of a troubled partner in the war against terrorism.”

http://firedoglake.com/2011/05/02/in...s-in-pakistan/

It is also interesting to note that Bush did not authorize strikes into Pakistan w/o prior Pakistani approval until 08, given that he had diverted so many of the resources to Iraq, where there was no terrorist threat to the US.

Presidents deserve credit for broad policy decisions that work and deserve the blame when those policies fail.