Bin Laden's losing bet

Asia Times ^ | Jan 14, 2004 | Stephen Blank

[Forgiven_Sinner]

An excellent analysis of the war on terror. I'm looking forward to seeing this published in the NY Times. ;)

[expatpat]

One other area where Bin Laden has lost ground, not mentioned in this article, is that he has pi55ed off the Saudi government and is under strong attack there, finally.

[yooper]

bin-Laden is dead. Has been for 2+ years. Dust don't rust, and it sure as hell don't speak......

[Trickyguy]

Why oh why oh why cannot people admit the fact that bin Laden is dead? A megalomaniac who hasn't been seen for two years? Give me a break. He's a pile of crushed bones under several hundred tons of mountain rock.

[Cindy]

OPINION: Bin Laden deader that old dirt, but his evil spirit of hate lives on. A "message" from "Bin Laden" usually indicates an attack is coming. Saad bin Laden Al-Zawahiri (sp) are most likely in Iran.

[Cindy]

CORRECTION: Saad Bin Laden AND Al Zawahiri

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

worth the read ping ..........

[Flyer]

So what if we are making the world a safer place? I still won't vote for Bush if gets the illegal aliens to go home in three years gives the illegal amnesty.

[expatpat]

Yes, I agree -- I think he was either wiped out in one of those big bombing attacks around Tora Bora, or is very sick. Otherwise we would have seen video of him, to rally the demented 'troops'. I probably should have said 'Al-Qaeda' rather than 'Bin Laden'.

[swarthyguy]

Good piece. Should be colorful spring in the badlands and the cities of Pakistan this spring.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Wasn't there a report from November or December 2001 that a Special Ops team saw Bin Laden go into a cave complex in Southern Afghanistan and called in an air strike on the target? If I recall correctly, this sighting was so credible that multiple bombing runs were made on the target, reducing the area to rubble. A few days later, the CIA intercepted an Al Qaeda communication indicating that Osama was either dead or critically injured.

Did this really happen or am I just having wishful dreams?

[Dog Gone]

Bush not only declared war on the terrorists, but he's winning it. That's something no Democrat would do.

He's been remarkably successful, as this article points out, but I'd guess about 10% of Freepers would rather see a Democrat be President next year.

Strange.

[Letitring]

Enjoyed this, thanks.

[From The Deer Stand]

No doubt about it! I'm with you on this one. Osama is history, and has been for some time.

[pragmatic_asian]

He's also pissed off Pervez by trying to kill him twice already. Pervez now actually has to choose between really fighting terrorism or supporting the extremists in his country. I'm thinking a dictator like him would choose to live.

[RoseofTexas]

HELL NO! W all the way, come rain or shine! 100 FT of snow wouldn't keep me from the voting booth!! NO WAY NO HOW!

[Last Dakotan]

but I'd guess about 10% of Freepers would rather see a Democrat be President...

Naw, its just that 10% of Bush's decisions are really boneheaded.

[Dog Gone]

Perhaps, but I've been around here awhile. 10% of Freepers won't vote for any Republican, at least at the Presidential level. Who will you vote for?

[Billthedrill]

I've been struggling to find a parallel for this behavior pattern by the (possibly late) Osama bin Laden. It is the notion that a specific society is in such a state that a single horrific event will provide the seed crystal for a major revolution in either that society or the others around it. It is the self-flattery of the megalomaniac, not on the scale of a Hitler or a Lenin or Trotsky, or even a Marat or a Castro or a Lumumba, but on a much more petty, futile and ultimately self-destructive level, that of a small-time criminal who's shooting straight for the front pages.

Charles Manson.

There seems to me to be the same level of self-delusion, self-aggrandizement, self-everything. Osama wanted to be nothing less than the Caliph of a revolutionary Islam, and fully expected that the common people would rise up, throw off their current ruling class, and flock to his banner. And, in addition, that the United States would rage impotently and do nothing but drop bombs from a safe distance.

I do not think he intended to bring the WTC down, only cause a spectacular explosion, not that he wouldn't (and the event, didn't) greet such an outcome with glee. But even so, no one who had read of Pearl Harbor should be forgiven the illusion that the Americans won't fight if prodded that way and at that level. That it was an underestimation made before, and by smarter people than bin Laden, does not excuse it. It was a massive miscalculation that truly did change the world, but not in the way intended.

At some point his adherents and fellow-travelers are hoping that the United States will go back to sleep, and that they will be able to resume business as usual. That hope is fading, and it should, because we're not done yet.

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Yep -you are right. bin Laden has been dead for 2+ years now.

MY QUESTION: Why does the CIA keep him alive? Every tape that comes out, the CIA says that it is bin Laden, witness the one just last week. Meanwhile, I remember last year when one "new bin Laden tape" came out, people that actually KNEW bin Laden said it was not him. They quickly were never heard from again. And the CIA says it's bin Laden.

WHY?

Ok- hate to answer my own question. I am all for keeping the bogey man alive and all - but he's DEAD!

Gotta go, there is a knock at my door, maybe the FBI using the Patriot Act on me or something....