Posted on 03/19/2006 3:18:30 PM PST by SevenMinusOne
The reality because of the region (Pak/Aghan border region) where UBL and others escaped to....time was/is on their side in the short run.
However we are slowly and systematically encircling them. There has been an ongoing, dirty and fierce little war being waged within the Afghan / Pak border going on 2 years now. This has paid many dividends.
The Pak border region is simply so vast, lawless and a complete logistical nightmare to operate in.....that time was on UBL's side.
But we'll get him one of these days.
Though without question there have been a number of people within both the Mil HQ and Civ HQ's who have not been willing to be aggressive enough. JAGs and the stat wargamers are another group that is constantly causing us to be less then completely effective.
Assuming that Bin Laden wouldn't rely on satellite or cell phones because they'd be traceable, can anyone speculate on what type of communications he might be using.
Ledeen shoudnt be trusted on anything
Yeah, "Bin Laden" is now somebody else.
Remember that video tape that came out with him speaking? I forget all the dates, but I looked it up a while back and found a web site that did a fade between the tape and an earlier video still. It was obviously a different person - very different bone structure in the face. The funny thing was, this website claimed the tape was a Bush/CIA production ! See, that's the thing. Both sides prefer to "keep him alive".
They can probably rerun the story next year too.
Anti-Bin Laden biological Sarcasm Torpedo ARMED. FIRE!!
Let's hope he settles on using carrier pigeons. He can always get bird flu.
Cheers!
He's a travelin' man, makes a lot of stops all over the world. But in every port he owns the heart of at least one lovely sheep.
As for websites photo-shopping vid's and pictures to suggest this or that....that is immaterial as far as I am concerned.
Somone has been importing crow droppings from the Tora Bora area.
Most likely for use as fertilizer.
Nope, he is very much alive and we have the tip of the spear risking their lives trying to track him down. They deserve our respect and support in their efforts.
UBL remains alive just as Zarqawi does in Iraq (where we have over 130,000 + U.S. soldiers hunting for him for well over 3 years).....UBL remains alive just has does Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and another 3-5 HVTs we are after in the Afghan/Pak border region.
But we'll get'em. Each and every one of them.
This only illustrates the usefulness of "keeping him alive". We want to pursue the Al Qaida leadership and it's a lot simpler just to say we are hunting Bin Laden.
As for websites photo-shopping vid's and pictures to suggest this or that....that is immaterial as far as I am concerned.
Do you mean, "so what if that wasn't him on the videotape, even though the CIA said it was him." ?
Otherwise every little jihadi we catch would have the OBL multi-DVD set of AK-47 waving,Anti-Bush spouting giberish.
He was their greatest recruiter.
The "Sheik" is shite or is really,really messed up.
Where in my post did I denigrate the US troops or their mission????
This is just a silly armchair type philosophy that holds little to no water. We are fighting a WOT...the public are very much aware of this fact. The notion that once we get UBL most will think the WOT is over....is just nonsense.
The reality is those that support the WOT understand it is bigger then solely UBL....and those that don't support the WOT....won't support it if UBL is dead or alive anyway.
Do you mean, "so what if that wasn't him on the videotape, even though the CIA said it was him." ?
No, what I mean is those within our CIA know much more then what some silly website is suggesting or not suggesting. Those within our Mil HQ's know a great deal more then whatever is being speculated.
Just as Zawahiri, Mullah Omar, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and another 2 or 3 HVTs who's names you most likely wouldn't be aware of are still alive....so is UBL. Eking out his survival in the Pak border regions.
UBL was never one to put out a lot of propaganda videos. This is simply a myth (much like the myth that he has a severe and life threatening kidney disease). The reality is the first few videos that everyone saw of UBL soon after Sept 11th....were not put out by him or al-Qeada ...they were recovered by U.S. soldiers and then released to the press.
UBL is much more concerned with staying alive then with putting out video's.....With that said, he still has put out a number of audio's and videos over the past 4 years.....and likely more then what has made their way to the MSM (it is curious that many seem to think that every communication via couriers that UBL sends out....has made its way to its final intended destination??).
My bet is that we have captured a lot of Jihadi media throughout the moslem world and the West.
If OBL was alive and well,They would have captured videos and DVD's of the guy.
AlJeezera would be running the OBL marathon series everynight.
They would be showing OBL "live" from allover the Moslem world trying to show the nutjobs that the US was nothing but a Paper Tiger.
IMHO
This is the argument that the Imperial Tailor knows more than some ruffian. The analogy is exact.
Just as Zawahiri, Mullah Omar, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and another 2 or 3 HVTs who's names you most likely wouldn't be aware of are still alive....so is UBL. Eking out his survival in the Pak border regions.
The basis for this knowledge seems to me paradoxical. On the TV documentaries, they say that he escaped Tora Bora under our noses. But who knew this was happening? I guess we didn't ! We were pulling out all stops to get him. It seems to me a presumption that he was among some group reported after the fact as having been seen escaping.
The argument against his survival is basically the contrast between his media presence before ( extensive ) and after ( fraudulent or nonexistent. ) I'm not saying I have to be right, but as long as I'm an independent thinking entity, I have to go with what I see.
Well here you are relying on a myth. UBL was never one to put out a lot of videos. In fact he put out relatively very few (ever). Much like the myth that UBL is suffering from severe kidney disease (a myth that was debunked back in the late 90's by several OGAs).
UBL has in fact put out more video's and audios in the years since 2002...then he ever did prior. Another reality is the first videos showing UBL after 9-11...were not put out by him nor al-Qeada....but they were videos released by the U.S. military after recovering them in an Op.
And trust me our Mil HQ's and those working with the CIA SAD know much more then any silly website talking about UBL photo comparisons.
Who says we haven't? Do you honestly think the U.S. Military releases all Intel it has on UBL and other HVT's?
Additionally you aren't seeing that UBL is more concerned with staying alive...then with putting out propaganda videos...and secondly...by him staying alive...he is a much bigger propaganda piece then any video ever could be.
Every time someone states that OBL must be dead, we only have to remember Eric Rudolph. There were numerous opinions that he must have been dead, with the harsh winter we had here in these mountains, but he ended up living right near town (Murphy NC). He was basically scavenging behind where I used to work. It's pretty busy for this area where he was crossing, and where he was foraging. Yet, he went uncaught all those years.
We're searching for OBL in a much more hostile area, in unfamiliar terrain. It will be a matter of time, but I believe we'll get him. I don't want him dead. I want him shackled and unmartyred, paraded into custody by our troops who've fought long and hard for us.
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