Jim Geraghty runs the timeline that explodes the following utterance from Barack Obama to CBS News’ Lara Logan – “And first of all, if we hadn’t taken our eye off the ball, we might have caught them (Osama bin Laden, the rest of the Al Qaeda leadership, and the Taliban leadership) before they got into Pakistan and were able to reconstitute themselves.” The Cliff Notes’ version:
Late November-mid December 2001 – The leadership of Al Qaeda/Taliban make their great escape from Tora Bora under the cover of negotiations with the local tribesmen.
March 2002 – The US/UK buildup in Kuwait began.
March 2003 – The US and UK move into Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Do read the whole thing for some bonus coverage on Obama’s acceptance of the current Bush administration policy regarding getting bin Laden and his stammering on a larger unilateral action inside Pakistan.
