Executive Session

EXECUTIVE SESSION

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I wish to add my kudos to Senator Reed and Senator Whitehouse from Rhode Island for their persistence and their success today in getting a fine person to the bench.

I also thank my Republican colleagues, those who voted for cloture. Maybe that will help break some of the logjams here. I think it is very meaningful to us on this side of the aisle for that to happen. It should happen, of course, but the fact that it did happen maybe says something--that this is a day, after what happened over in Pakistan, that we can come together. It is meaningful.

I thank Senator McConnell as well. He had his strong views, but obviously we know the respect his colleagues have for him and thank him as well for understanding that there will be differing views within both sides of the aisle as well as on both sides of the aisle.

DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN

I rise to speak on a different subject today, and that is about what happened in Pakistan and the aftermath.

First, of course, the killing of Osama bin Laden, the evil mastermind of the world's bloodiest terrorist organization, was a thunderous strike for justice for the thousands of my fellow New Yorkers and citizens from all over the world who were murdered on 9/11. It took almost a decade, but the world's most-wanted terrorist finally met his fate 4 days ago. New York's heart is still broken from the tragedy of 9/11, but at least this brings some measure of closure and consolation to the families and victims.

When I spoke to the families, one of the things that they said galled them almost every day when they woke up was that their father or mother, brother or sister, son or daughter, husband or wife was gone and bin Laden still lived. That kind of galling knowledge is no longer in their hearts and minds because bin Laden, at least, has met his deserved fate.

We owe a massive debt of gratitude to our military. They have done an amazing job. I sat in on the briefings. Your jaw drops at their professionalism, their excellence, their sacrifice, their courage, their dedication--unbelievable.

That is also true of our civilian intelligence. The CIA, led by Leon Panetta, should be incredibly proud. We know they are. It is an agency that gets too little of the acclaim their accomplishments deserve.

Finally, the job President Obama did should not be forgotten. His steely courage, his quiet courage was incredible. All one had to do was look at some of the films from the Situation Room and learn a little bit of the history to know what an amazing feat this was for our President. He could have taken the easy way out, in a certain sense. He didn't. The easy way out probably would have been an air bombardment, but we never would have known certainly that bin Laden is gone, and there might have been--probably would have been many unnecessary civilian casualties. The President chose the right path.

I want to say something about this President. He is not a chest thumper.

He is not somebody who involves himself in a lot of rhetorical flourishes. He is serious, he is focused, he is factually driven. But let no one mistake the fact that he is fact-driven and often quietly contemplative for a lack of steel or a lack of courage or a lack of strength. This incident showed the true strength of the man. His speech Sunday night--modest but forceful, proud but understated--was President Obama. There has been a lot of talk of lack of determination or taking a side or focus. I think the people who do that mistake the President's steel--often low key, often fact-based, often without chest thumping or big slogans--for a lack of strength. They are so wrong. The actions show it. I think every American, regardless of political party, regardless of political attitude and conviction and ideology, should be proud of our military and of our country but also of our President.

I want to say one more thing about this. I read today's newspapers, and there was a great deal of talk about how some of the facts that were reported in the early moments after this great victory were not exactly correct. There is certainly reason to correct facts, and they certainly are news, but they should not displace the importance of what happened. For critics to dwell on the early discrepancies and over-exaggerate their importance would be an injustice to the magnitude of what really happened. It is only 2 days after we learned early Monday morning of what happened, and all of a sudden, it seems, oh, they messed up this or they didn't do that right or this and that. There were discrepancies and they should be made public, but to dwell on them, to listen to the morning news shows or to look at the headlines blaring, may have us miss the main point, which is that a superb, professional, well-practiced, and almost flawless military mission and civilian accompaniment got rid of the greatest terrorist in the world.

Let's keep our priorities straight. Let's acknowledge, let's find the facts and watch as they come out, let's make sure some of the early comments that were not right are corrected, but let's not let that in any way detract from the greatness and magnitude of what happened. Our focus should be on the successful mission and on the message it sends to the world, which is, to those who would test the resolve of the people of the United States of America: Do not doubt our resolve. If you do us harm, we will find you, we will mete out justice, and we will prevail. That is where our focus should be and should stay.

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