A reminder from Senate Dems: Bin Laden is at large
By Klaus Marre
September 21, 2007
In case you were wondering how long al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden has been at large since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Senate Democrats have an answer. And they are happy to share it.
As of Thursday, bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had neither been captured nor killed in the 2,200 days since Sept. 11, 2001. The Senate Democratic message center has added a “bin Laden tick-tock” to information it sends out related to the fight against terrorism.
“In July, the U.S. intelligence community determined that al Qaeda represents the main terrorist threat to the United States,” reads a message accompanying the releases. “Yet instead of focusing on bin Laden, the president is focused on policing an Iraqi civil war. Six years after 9/11, it’s time for us to put our eye back on the ball.”
The communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Rodell Mollineau, said the idea to add the reverse countdown was born in a meeting of Democratic leaders and their senior staff, although he could not recall who first formulated it.
The bin Laden tick-tock, which was first used after al Qaeda recently sent out two videotaped messages from its leader, is supposed to show that “the debate is about more than bringing the troops home,” Mollineau said, adding that “one of the key points that is sometimes lost
” is that resources were pulled from Afghanistan to wage the war against Saddam Hussein.
The device serves as a “daily reminder to not let anyone forget how this started,” the aide added.
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