Former President George W. Bush had just tucked into a plate of crab-meat soufflé when he got the call from President Obama that Osama bin Laden was no more.
“I was eating soufflé at Rise restaurant with Laura and two buddies,” Bush recalled. “I excused myself and went home to take the call. Obama simply said, ‘Osama bin Laden is dead.’ ”
After Obama explained his decision to authorize the May 2 raid that killed the al Qaeda founder, Bush said he told Obama, “Good call,” according to ABC News.
“The guy is dead. That is good,” Bush said of bin Laden, but added he was personally “not overjoyed” at the death.
Still, he said, “Osama’s death is a great victory in the war on terror. He was held up as a leader . . . The intelligence services deserve a lot of credit. They built a mosaic of information, piece by piece.”
But Bush, who was bedeviled by bin Laden’s ability to remain hidden during his entire presidency, did not claim any of the credit for himself.
He made his comments Wednesday during a conference for hedge-fund bigwigs in Las Vegas.
Bush said killing bin Laden was done “not out of hatred but to exact judgment.”
He also recounted meeting SEAL Team Six, which executed the bin Laden raid, during a trip to Afghanistan when he was president.
“They are awesome, skilled, talented and brave,” he said. “I said, ‘I hope you have everything you need.’ One guy said, ‘We need your permission to go into Pakistan and kick ass.’ ”
SEAL Team Six killed bin Laden, his son Khalid and two couriers, during the May 2 raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Bush later declined Obama’s invitation to visit Ground Zero during the president’s visit to New York last week.