Rumsfeld Rips Obama’s Exploitation of bin Laden Killing

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is joining other Republicans in criticizing President Barack Obama for exploiting the one-year anniversary of the Osama bin Laden killing to boost his re-election campaign.

After U.S. SEALs did away with the terrorist kingpin last year, Obama explained to CBS that he wouldn’t release photos of bin Laden to avoid inciting further terrorism. “We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies,” he said. “We don’t need to spike the football.”

But spiking the football is exactly what he is doing now, with his campaign releasing a video ad that trumpets Obama’s decision on bin Laden while suggesting that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney might not have acted to take out the al-Qaida leader, Republicans say.

“The special operators who have every right to ‘spike the football’ are too professional to do so,” Rumsfeld wrote on Twitter. “The White House might follow their lead.”