Romney: Bin Laden politicization sad

• Tweet

WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he is disappointed at the Obama campaign's politicizing the death of Osama bin Laden.

"I think them taking credit for the right decision is entirely appropriate. I think trying to attack me on that basis is disappointing and the wrong course," Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."

Romney was asked about a new ad in which former President Bill Clinton praised Obama's decision to order the U.S. SEAL raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a year ago. The ad also includes a comment Romney made during his 2008 presidential bid when he said it was "not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."

The issue has moved to the front burner in the political campaign in the days leading up to Tuesday's anniversary of the al-Qaida founder's death.

"Of course the right course was to assassinate, execute Osama bin Laden and that is precisely what happened, and I congratulate the president for doing so. And I am confident and that of course I would have taken exactly the same decision," Romney said.

"There are plenty of differences between President Obama and myself, but let's not make up ones," he said.

During a campaign stop Monday in Rhode Island, Romney said he would have ordered the raid, responding to Democratic hints that he may not have ordered the strike if he were president, based on that 2008 comment, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order," Romney said.