A reminder from Senate Dems: Bin Laden is at large

In case you were wondering how long al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden has been at large since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Senate Democrats have an answer. And they are happy to share it.

{mosads}As of Thursday, bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had neither been captured nor killed in the 2,200 days since Sept. 11, 2001. The Senate Democratic message center has added a “bin Laden tick-tock” to information it sends out related to the fight against terrorism.

“In July, the U.S. intelligence community determined that al Qaeda represents the main terrorist threat to the United States,” reads a message accompanying the releases. “Yet instead of focusing on bin Laden, the president is focused on policing an Iraqi civil war. Six years after 9/11, it’s time for us to put our eye back on the ball.”

The communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Rodell Mollineau, said the idea to add the reverse countdown was born in a meeting of Democratic leaders and their senior staff, although he could not recall who first formulated it.

The bin Laden tick-tock, which was first used after al Qaeda recently sent out two videotaped messages from its leader, is supposed to show that “the debate is about more than bringing the troops home,” Mollineau said, adding that “one of the key points that is sometimes lost [in the Iraq debate]” is that resources were pulled from Afghanistan to wage the war against Saddam Hussein.

The device serves as a “daily reminder to not let anyone forget how this started,” the aide added.

Republicans had a different take.

“It’s also been 2,200 days since we have been attacked here at home, which, not coincidentally, is the same length of time that we’ve been on offense against al Qaeda,” the communications director for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Don Stewart, said. “I’m sure that MoveOn — who called for a pacifist response after 9/11 — thinks this gimmick is just hilarious.”

The tick-tock is reminiscent of a strategy that the White House used to put pressure on Congress to pass the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill earlier this year. At the time, the White House press corps opened its daily briefings by reminding reporters how many days had passed since President Bush sent a funding request to Capitol Hill.

However, Mollineau said the tick-tock is not a response to the White House strategy.

“It is a point that needs to be made,” he said, adding that the reverse countdown will probably remain a fixture that will not go away “any time soon.”