The attorney general appeared to be waiting. At a Senate oversight hearing last week, Eric Holder Jr. brushed off a number of questions about the death of Osama bin Laden. But a question from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) gave him an opening.

“And one last point,” Graham said, at the end of his remarks. “There’s a lot of chatter out there about the use of force against bin Laden. Would you agree with me, Mr. Attorney General, that given the intelligence about bin Laden he promised never to be captured alive?”