The Real Osama bin Laden Question

The key question in the debate between Mitt Romney and the Republicans vs. President Obama and the Democrats isn't whether or not a President, any President, would have given the order to proceed in the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The real question is whether or not the President, any President, would have given prior notice to the Pakistani government, and hence it's security forces.

George Bush and Dick Cheney were of the mind that the United States could not enter Pakistan without first notifying them. Many terror experts believed we could never capture or kill bin Laden if we notified Pakistan. Almost everyone knew bin Laden was in Pakistan and was being protected by some of the Pakistani military.

In a 2008 debate the question was posed to then candidate Obama that if he had actionable intelligence that Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan, would he unilaterally take action? Would he bomb a suspected location or take interventionist action to capture or kill the FBI's most wanted enemy of America without asking permission of the Pakistani Government? Candidate Obama said yes, unequivocally yes. If he knew that bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan, he would order the appropriate action to capture or kill him without notifying Pakistan.

Candidate McCain quickly criticized Candidate Obama as reckless and inexperienced. He ridiculed Obama for threatening to "bomb one of our allies".

Here's the real question to Mitt. Do you agree with McCain and Bush? Would you have notified Pakistan, or worse yet, would you have outsourced the bin Laden killing or capture to the Pakistani military?

That's the real question here.