Greg Sargent: Mitt Romney Undermines his Own Argument about Bin Laden
By Truman Project Staff | 4.30.12
Greg Sargent in The Washington Post – The Plum Line:
Today Mitt Romney was asked whether he would have given the order to launch the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, as Obama did.
“Of course,” Romney said. “Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.”
But by invoking Carter in this fashion, Romney may have effectively undermined his whole argument.
That’s the point that Mike Breen, the vice president of the Truman Project, a progressive national security think tank, made to me in an interesting interview this afternoon.
The rub is that in a sense, Carter did give “that order,” as Romney puts it. In April of 1980, Carter ordered the launch of an American military operation designed to rescue Americans held hostage in Tehran. The mission went horribly awry, of course, killing eight American service-men — a disaster that played a major role in ending Carter’s presidency.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Truman National Security Project or Educational Institute.