* Romney says even Jimmy Carter would have given order
* Rejects questions from Obama campaign on bin Laden
By Sam Youngman
PORTSMOUTH, N.H., April 30 (Reuters) – Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Monday he definitely
would have ordered the U.S. military strike that killed al Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden if he had been president.
“Of course,” Romney told reporters after a campaign rally.
“Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order,” he said,
invoking the Democratic president during the Iran hostage crisis
in 1979-80 and the failed rescue mission he ordered.
President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has questioned
whether Romney would have given the order for the U.S. raid in
which U.S. forces killed bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan.
Obama’s campaign released a video last week spotlighting his
decision to approve the raid ahead of the first anniversary of
bin Laden’s death on Tuesday.
The video featured former President Bill Clinton discussing
the responsibility of the commander in chief and included a
caption asking: “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” Obama
adviser Robert Gibbs said on Sunday it was unclear if Romney
would have approved the raid.
Republicans have criticized the White House for trying to
politicize the death of bin Laden, who had escaped a U.S.
manhunt since masterminding the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Republican Senator John McCain, who lost the 2008 election to
Obama, called it “a cheap political attack.”
On Tuesday in New York, Romney will mark the anniversary of
bin Laden’s killing by appearing with former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani and meeting with firefighters.
(Editing by Bill Trott)
