Sen. Scott Brown on Saturday gave credit to President Barack Obama for the killing last Sunday of Osama bin Laden, but he suggested that Obama was simply completing a task that President George W. Bush had prepared for him.

Delivering the GOP response to Obama’s weekly radio address, the Massachusetts Republican said, “Last Sunday night, we heard President Obama deliver the message that Americans have been waiting for since September 11, 2001. It’s a very rare thing when so many people across the world observe the loss of life with something other than regret. But this man, the late Osama bin Laden, had chosen his fate long before in a life filled with cruelty.”

Brown said, “Bin Laden’s killing was the result of coordinated efforts going back many years. It was the dramatic conclusion of patient intelligence gathering begun long before, and the work of a military that is second to none. The operation was a model of sustained, concentrated military action, and the example will not be lost on other terrorists. Any escape they make will be temporary. Any sanctuary they find will be uncovered. Those who harm or threaten the American people will be dealt with, on our terms, however long it takes.

“This was the pledge of President George W. Bush in the days after 9/11, and he kept it in seven years of relentless, decisive action against the al-Qaida network. In the case of bin Laden, it fell to President Obama to give the final order. He did so calmly, swiftly and decisively. It was a fine moment for our commander-in-chief and for our country.”

Brown also suggested that bin Laden’s death should not diminish the resolve of Americans to continue the war in Afghanistan.

“The troop surge of last year has made a difference in Afghanistan, and we can’t surrender those gains to what’s left of the Taliban. Early in the conflict, America and our allies devastated the al-Qaida network in Afghanistan. Yet al-Qaida is still at work, and that is why we need to prepare the Afghan security forces to protect their own people. We must ensure that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for terrorists. … If we’ve learned anything this past week, it’s that our patient commitment to even the hardest objectives will be rewarded.”

Obama, after speaking about bin Laden’s death several times during the week, did not mention it in his radio address, focusing instead on clean energy technologies and speaking from a hybrid transmission factory in Indiana.