The president's interest in capturing Osama bin Laden has evolved over time. After the al Qaeda leader orchestrated the attacks of 9/11, Bush pledged to get bin Laden "dead or alive." Six months later, after bin Laden proved to be elusive, the president said, "I truly am not that concerned about him."

So it should come as no surprise that the CIA unit dedicated to getting bin Laden is no more.

The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The official response is that there are still plenty of officials responsible to tracking bin Laden and that the terrorist remains a "high priority." But I'm curious, if President Kerry had allowed the CIA to disband the intelligence unit tasked with hunting bin Laden, would conservatives just shrug their shoulders?

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report