Mike Huckabee was right about Pakistan in 2007

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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While the killing of Osama bin Laden has buttressed President Barack Obama’s credibility, it may also serve to help a possible 2012 GOP candidate with limited foreign policy credentials … Mike Huckabee.

In November of 2007, CNN reported,

Sen. John McCain condemned Mike Huckabee Monday for saying that, as president, he would strike at terrorists inside Pakistan’s borders with or without permission from the country’s leadership.

McCain called Huckabee’s comments naïve and said the former Arkansas governor lacks military experience needed to lead.

… On Saturday in South Carolina, Huckabee said if there was an “imminent threat” inside Pakistan, he would take military action there, even if it meant violating Pakistan’s sovereignty under international law.

Obama had previously said he would go into Pakistan if there were actionable intelligence and Pakistan was unwilling to help — a position which was highly controversial within the Democratic primary.

Bin Laden was killed in a compound in Abbottabad, about 60 miles from the capital of Pakistan.

The point, of course, is not to get in a retroactive debate with McCain, but rather to remember that Huckabee correctly understood a long time ago that Pakistan was at the heart of the national security challenge that the U.S. faces.

Matt K. Lewis