Romney: "Of course" I would have attacked bin Laden

Updated 1:37 p.m.

(CBS News) PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Seeking to neutralize one of President Obama's recent arguments, Mitt Romney said on Monday that "of course" he would have ordered military forces to make the 2011 raid that ended with the death of Osama bin Laden.

Asked by a reporter during an appearance here whether he would have gone after the al-Qaida leader, Romney responded: "Of course." He was then asked if he would have given the specific order to kill bin Laden.

"Of course," he said. "Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."

Mr. Obama's reelection team has sought to make an issue of what they consider the president's decisiveness on the issue compared with Romney's. They released a video, "One Chance," last week that opens with former President Clinton talking about the risks Mr. Obama took in authorizing the raid. The video then cuts to a question: "Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?"

Mr. Obama sees his strategy as a vindication of his initial position in 2007 when he declared: If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [then-Pakistani leader] President Musharraf will not act, we will." Both Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and GOP nominee John McCain mocked him for taking such a stance, calling it naive.

In his speech, Romney dinged the president for seeking to turn voters' attention away from the economy.

"Over these last several days, we have seen this president go across the country and bring up all sorts of extraneous items," he said. "Everything he can do to distract from the issue that people care about, which is a stronger economy, creating more enterprises, creating good jobs, and raising incomes. And making sure, therefore, that our kids coming out of college can find a job. That our kids coming out of high school can find a job, and we can be confident that the future for our children is better even than what we've enjoyed."

The former Massachusetts governor also accused the administration of adding too many government officials to enforce regulations, contending they were "just multiplying like proverbial rabbits and making it harder and harder for enterprises to grow and to understand what their future might be." That assertion drew an immediate denial from Mr. Obama's reelection team.

"Mitt Romney continues to distort the truth about President Obama's record of reducing burdensome business regulations," spokeswoman Lis Smith said. "While initiating an overhaul of the regulatory system that cuts red tape and will save businesses $10 billion over the next five years, President Obama has also approved fewer new regulations than President George W. Bush did during the same time period in his term. We're seeing the fruits of this leadership -- over 4 million private sector jobs were created over the last 25 months."

[treii28]

Of course he would have. And the original allegation of the left was that the entire war was poofed up and about oil. Yet now Obama is patting himself on the back for killing the mastermind behind it.
Oh wait, but mastermind behind what exactly? A BBC documentary is now making the claim that Al Qaeda and the story of Bin Laden leading a global terror organization was all smoke and fluff!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cnhxWBq4qM

[occupy_cbs]

biasliberalcbs4: "How many years in the military did Obama serve"?




Missed the entire point like most fox/rush parrots, since willard romney dodged the draft and is a true PNAC NEOCON chickenhawk, whereas there was no draft when Obama turned 18, and he has served for 3 & 1/2 years as Commander in Chief -- the highest level of the military -- and cleaning up the bush PNAC NEOCON's mistakes!

[occupy_cbs]

greco99-2009: "Mitt the Daft-dodger will take any position on any issue. Not a surprise he flip-flopped many times on this one.

Remember Mitt is a failed one term governor who is widely hated in his home state."




Seems that the mittster has hired almost all the bush PNAC NEOCONS back for a re-run of the bush/cheney regime WARmongering show, only for his multi-millionaire cronies in the military-industrial complex.

He's a draft-dodging chickenhawk like most of the republican politicians and all the talking heads on the fox political network!

He will definitely lose the state of MA in 2012.

[greco99-2009]

Mitt is a draft-dodger.

He said each of his sons 'had better things to do than serve' - what a sorry excuse for a leader...

[LVwidow]

He sure is a draft dodger. Mitt went to France claimining to be a minister of the Mormon church for two years to avoid serving during the Vietnam war and he has nerve to say he would have given an order to kill bin Laden? BS. And Mitt runs to NY on the anniversary to be photographed with the firefighters for publicity, yet he claims Obama is politicizing the anniversary! What a guy.

[occupy_cbs]

The mittster is a draft-dodging chickenhawk like most republican politicians!

[greco99-2009]

Mitt the Daft-dodger will take any position on any issue. Not a surprise he flip-flopped many times on this one.

Remember Mitt is a failed one term governor who is widely hated in his home state.

[Ben37221]

For about 8-Yrs, we sent a boy(the GOP) to do a man's job. They failed so badly to the point they started convencing the world that Bin Laden is hiding in a cave. We should have known better after the WMD incident. Finally, we ask a competent man(Obama) to do the job. He got it done. Case close. Now we know who can get the job done. Certainly, not the party that gave us the economic melt down!

[TJphoto]

Just can't seem to shake that Flip-Flop thing you have going can you Mitt? Good Luck in the general election. PS Watch out for the bus.

[Fox_Rush_Zombie]

"Of course," he said. "Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."
***************

How dare this corporate raiding thief compare himself to a great man like President Carter!!? Mittens, you don't amount to a pimple on President Carter's rear end.

[j_mcdonald-2009]

Romney is clearly on record as saying he wouldn't waste resources looking for bin Laden.

So he clearly would not have made the order that Obama did in 2009 to redirect the military to search for bin Laden. And without that order, the opportunity to order bin Laden's capture/killing almost certainly would not have happened. (It certainly never came up for almost 8 years after Bush called off the search.)

Romney, you and your allies can't forcefully in unison mock someone in 2008 for telling the world what they would do and then claim in 2012 that you would have done the same thing. People have memories now. They have youtube. How stupid do you think we are?

[daffaorg]

The Real story of Bin Laden Death / Lies in Bin laden death raid.
Bin Laden died of natural cause. Bin Laden body is worth US$ 10 millions. Islamic culture allows blood money. So the guys (pak military) decided to sell the body for US$ 10 millions. US politicians decided to make a political capital out of Bin Laden dead body. US deputed one chopper to collect the body. The first chopper flown by a Navy Seal flying through the ravines of Hindu Kush mountains in dark night crashed on a plain land not able to land near Bin laden's house. the body was moved to pak airbase and airlifted. The unanswered questions are?

1. The president and his lady secretary watched the muted video, since the lady may get terrorized. Did navy seals went with a gear with no audio. where is the audio.
2. Bin Laden body collected after many hours of death will not bleed. That is why no photo of Bin laden shot and bleeding to death is released.
3. what happened to the body of others who were killed in the raid.
4. Why the doctor who showed off Bin laden did not escape along with the navy seals and this doctor is in custody of Pakistan. It is a common sense for the doctor that his life is in danger and should be the first person to escape to USA. No one has sought asylum in the bin laden project in USA who is protecting a blind Chinese man in US embassy at China.

How come the US society believes such stories with so many holes.

[Fox_Rush_Zombie]

Check out the stunning array of different styles and colors of tinfoil hats at www.birtherboutique.com

[hollywoodjason]

Yes, the answer is in the grassy knoll....

You better get that tin foil hat off your head. It's constricting the blood flow.

Had any alien rectal probes lately?