Time magazine has a cover ready to go declaring, “Osama bin Laden, Captured.” Four years ago, everybody expected a capture at any time. Now, nobody seems to feel much urgency about the need to see bin Laden on a perp walk or in a body bag, least of all President Bush. There has been incremental and lasting success in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism generally, including hundreds of arrests, but why have we so lowered our expectations for the capture of the mastermind behind Sept. 11? Politics aside, where is the outrage?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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37 Comments
Bin Laden is probably in Pakistan, if we go in there to get him it would likely destabilize that dictatorship (the good kind, according to us) government. I am not thinking that the mess in Iraq has taught the Bush administration that sometimes leaving a stable dictatorship alone is preferable to a civil war in a destabilized middle eastern country, but I am guessing this recognition is keeping us from aggressively seeking UBL at this time.
In other words we have made the moral calculation that a stable Pakistan with it’s nukes, is in our strategic interest over a Pakistan in a civil war – with bin Laden locked up or dead.
If they find Osama amoung the ruins of the earthquake, that is going to be a story.
Capturing the Binnster is not going to help the cause of fighting terrorism one bit. Whether or not he is captured is superfluous. It would do nada. In fact, it would probably increase terrorist acts both here and abroad.Dead is another story.
In practical terms his capture might not mean that much, but it would be a very nice symbolic victory. And if it were to happen in the near future, it could not hurt the president’s approval ratings. For Bush, this might be a good time for this particular “October Surprise”
Whenever I bring up Osama bin Laden is still on the loose, the people I debate with remind me we are taking care of the people who attacked us on 9/11 in Iraq.
For me, I’m outraged. Just tired of looking at thinking individuals who can’t see beyond the spin of the administration.
How can there still be people out there who don’t know who attacked us?
If BinLaden were captured or killed that would take a lot of the wind out of Dubya’s sails for support. For a lot of people getting him equates to the end of the war on terror because we would have the mastermind.
It’s in the administration’s best intersts NOT to get him because they need the boogyman to keep people’s heads down.
The “war on terrorism” is the excuse to do what they’re doing. Everytime I say that a Zionist pops-up and calls me “Hitler”
But it’s stll true that the “war” is a farce.
We are being manipulated as anybody with more than a room-temperature knows.
The unique part of the “war” is that it is self-perpetuating, in that it creates new enemies { or “terrorists” } as the Bush/Sharon cabal likes to call them } as it gose along.
This way in can’t end, which is what they want, or get us all killed in the process.
The cabal doesn’t really think things through or worse, they do.
Im confused ….Aren’t the people cuting of heads and generally causing problems prominently allied with alqueda? isn’t zarqouwi and friends the people we want to kill? Seems to me that the terrorists have thier hands full targeting tough marines with guns instead of innocent civillians…Seems like thats what we would want….Seems like the bush plan is working quite well….”what’s not working?”
SMU1
The truth is we only know what they tell us, but we do know that they lie.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is supposed to be the number 2 man. How could they say that for sure unless they made it up.
They can’t and that’s why they’re in on it and are pulling our chain.
This supposed 1 legged man is every where “they” want him to be, and never forget all the lies we’ve already caught them telling.
The “war” is a farce.
They lie.
Notice how “dr” parrots everything he’s fed and keeps feeding it to us. How would he know?
They lie. And so does he.
Judging how they’ve benefited from 9/11 and Iraq gives off the stench of their lies.
And those so quick to defend the “war” have something else to gain.
Always start with motive and work backwards, especially when they’re so adamant about “knowing” something they could not possibly be privy to.
That’s the give-away.
And bankrupting this country is gaining nothing for us ,but they are lining their pockets and conquering territory.
Now, I’ve tweaked them, listen to them squeal.
The identity of the Iraqi suicide bombers is an interesting subject and I am not sure we know as much about that as would be helpful in the process of analyzing what is going on over there. I am remembering that Robert A. Pape, author of _Dying to Win: The strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism_, said he thought it was about 15% outside of Iraq Arabs (likely those recruited by Zarqawi) – which does that then mean that the remaining 85% are Arab Sunnis?
The majority of those killed in suicide bombings are Iraqi civilians who are seen as folks assisting us – police recruits, etc. I have been plotting with XL the number of Iraqi civilian deaths over the course of the war caused by suicide bombers. I can tell you that it is a pretty steep accelerating curve – does not look like the “last throes” of a resistence movement to me.
There has been recent news that there may be disagreements between bin Ladin and Zarqawi – UBL is supposedly worrying that killing Shi’ite muslims in Iraq will hurt Al Qaeda’s support on the Arab Street. Suicide terrorism is a political/media event in addition to an attack – UBL knows this very well and his errant follower Zarqawi is perhaps giving the big man some headaches. Which, of course, would be a very good thing.
Fallujah was a thriving village in Iraq. Homes centuries old and a market which dated away back.
Then we came.
We dropped tons of bombs and killed thousands. We gave no warning so the “Insurgents” would not flee.
We created such hatred that there still coming sat us and as we kill more they come even harder.
What, the Hell kind of strategy is that? That’s the strategy of creating new enemies to perpetuate this so-called “war.”
We are being lied to again and again and again.
When the war started Al qaeda weren’t in Iraq. Now they are. Doesn’t seem like Bush’s plan to stop terrorism is working. Looks like instead terrorism is spreading with our help to other countries.
Steven
Was the wolf in little Red Riding hood really able to talk to her? It always seemed a bit strange to me that he could speak English, and that she wasn’t able to spot him as being a Wolf without all those questions.
Might that have been Zarqawi wearing a disguise { lots of hair could fool just about anybody }.
Using today’s technology, Zarqawi might have pulled-it-off.
Now, wouldn’t that be something if it was true, you just never know for sure.
Ed,It could be that I dense, but I don’t understand your question or point. Please clarify.
SUM1
Always remember that the CIA/FBI didn’t seem to have any files until they suddenly appeared when they were needed.
Now Bush seems to be attending meeting of al-quaeda, and somehow knows all the players and what rank they hold.
The “war” is a farce.
But soldiers dying isn’t.
Steven
I do not think you are that dense.
I appreciate your confidence, Ed, but I am here to tell you that I am that dense. Are you saying that all news reports are fairy tales? I am hoping that is not true.
For a count on Iraqi civilian deaths see:http://www.iraqbodycount.net/database/bodycount.php
SUM1
Think about where that information is coming from.
Somebody picked four targets.
WTC…Largest concentration of Jewish people { Israel }.
Pentagon….Instrument used to kill Palestinians by the millions.
White House or Congress…..Where the orders came from { plane crashed }.
They did not “attack our Freedoms” as the President lied about and the 9/11 Commission Report backs-up.
He knew he was lying about that and the rest of it.
Steven
The reason that reort could not be acurate is because 1000 lbs. bombs turn people into gas, and bury most under rubble. An acuate count is not possible.
Steven
Propaganda is never all fairy tales, but truth twisted in such a way as to produce a desired result or conclude a predetermined answer.
Osama on trial . . . now that would be interesting.
Saddam on trial is going to be interesting too, which is why you haven’t seen him anywhere close to a microphone.
Who sold him the poison gas? Who bought all the illegal oil and illegally sold him equipment during the sanctions?
Look for a mysterious prison death before the trial date can be set . . .
“They hate for our freedoms” is a lot easier than having to deal with why they really hate us . . .
Ed,I am sure that the body counts from the link I gave above are undercounts. The site searches a number of different reporting services and provides a range – sometimes there is a fairly wide range. To err on the side of being conservative, I have been plotting the lower numbers of the ranges given (just for deaths as a result of suicide attacks) – it is still an impressive curve – and it does not look to be getting better over time – especially if you’re an Iraqi civilian.
Galahad,I would agree. And, “spreading freedom”, is not as easy as spreading manure.
lol….boy did the anti-war handwringers come out today…lol
when the facts diminish your credibility you claim its all a conspiracy of lies….gotta love that! and you think that you are the mainstream? lol
I also like how the body count blames all the deaths from terrorism in iraq on the U.S.
“Doesn’t seem like Bush’s plan to stop terrorism is working. Looks like instead terrorism is spreading with our help to other countries. ” -sum1
On the contrary, We are drawing killers to those who are highly trained and skilled in disposing of them with impressive effeciency.
We have taken the battlefield from our streets to thier streets.
I like that plan!
“We have taken the battlefield from our streets to thier streets.”
I wonder what Britain or Spain would have to say about that…
http://www.theantisam.com
We have to fight the communists in Vietnam. Otherwise we’d be fighting them on the streets of San Francisco.
You live long enough, you hear it all.
Light at the end of the tunnel . . . making progress . . . stay the course . . . don’t let them die in vain.
Hey, DR, how do explain that most Americans want out of Iraq?
Just think of all the democracy we could spread if THE PEOPLE didn’t get in our way!
dr, it sounds to me like the pro war handwringers are the ones doing all the whining. Wat’s the matter? Afraid we’ll put an end to your excellent little war? You sound like a re-read of an old Rush program.
I’m sure we’re gaining in the war on terror. After all, we haven’t had a terrorist attack in America since 9/11. But 9/11 was on Bush’s watch. Let’s see, how many terror attacks did Al Queda launch in America during Clinton’s watch?
dr
your besting lol to death.
Wordsmythe has it right and I have said it before as well.
You don’t catch the bogey man. Therefore, Bin laden will never be caught by this administration or indeed any administration of the same party as this one.
Galahad you bring up a great point. The mass graves are that everyone holds up to show what a bad man saddam was (I’m not saying he isn’t) are a responsibility of ours as well. we gave him the gas, who did we think he was going to use it on?
dr. someday the Iraq war will have to end. Where will all the terrorists in training go then? At the most it is a temporary reprieve to have the fight be over there.since the subject of this blog has to do with the war on terrorism i’d expect to see many posts about the war. There does seem to be more posts pointing out discrepancies in the stories about the war, than posts in all out favor.
ed, i agree for the most part
Galahad,Of course they hate us for our freedom! Our Fearless Leader says so, and He’s correcting that situation with his Patriot Acts! Before long they’ll love us too much to bomb us!
If we the people want to bring our soldiers home, then who in the Hell does the Government think they are?
It’s time for those crazy bastards to shut-up and do as they are told.
We call the shots. Not them.
Sum1, I think when the Iraq war is “over”, it will really just be beginning. Just what we needed…more Islamists with a grudge and time on their hands.