Posted on 01/10/2005 10:49:30 AM PST by bamaborn
THE world may be better off if Osama Bin Laden remains at large, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s recently departed executive director.
If the world’s most wanted terrorist is captured or killed, a power struggle among his Al-Qaeda subordinates may trigger a wave of terror attacks, said AB “Buzzy” Krongard, who stepped down six weeks ago as the CIA’s third most senior executive.
“You can make the argument that we’re better off with him (at large),” Krongard said. “Because if something happens to Bin Laden, you might find a lot of people vying for his position and demonstrating how macho they are by unleashing a stream of terror.”
Krongard, a former investment banker who joined the CIA in 1998, said Bin Laden’s role among Islamic militants was changing.
“He’s turning into more of a charismatic leader than a terrorist mastermind,” he said. “Some of his lieutenants are the ones to worry about.”
Krongard, 68, said he viewed Bin Laden “not as a chief executive but more like a venture capitalist”.
He added: “Let’s say you and I want to blow up Trafalgar Square. So we go to Bin Laden. And he’ll say, ‘Well, here’s some money and some passports and if you need weapons, see this guy’.
“I don’t see him keeping his fingers on everything because the lines of communications are just too difficult.”
Several US officials have privately admitted that it may be better to keep Bin Laden pinned down on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than make him a martyr or put him on trial. But Krongard is the most senior figure to acknowledge publicly that his capture might prove counter-productive.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Capture him, force him to eat pork, put him in women's underwear, shave him and then cut his head off. Bury him wrapped in a pig's skin. Sell the video.
This is ridiculous. Power struggles and infighting among your enemies is a good thing. There would be nothing better than the have every terrorist faction vying for leadership. They would wind up killing each other in short order.
I think this weak-kneed thinking is probably why he is no longer at the CIA.
If OBL is dead, that is a plus. We can then divide and conquer. The more aggressive and open the terrorists become, the more we will identify them and kill them.
Utterly stupid. Like saying let Hitler be, just in case things would get worse by taking him out. Head up the hindy reasoning.
"force him to eat pork, put him in women's underwear, shave him and then cut his head off. Bury him wrapped in a pig's skin." I'd go for that if it was done as part of the Super Bowl halftime.
Maybe even use his head for an impromptu soccer game.
It's kind of like saying keep Hitler because Georing might be worse. The defeatist attitude here seems to be that we wont won't be able to get them all so why bother. The longer Bin Laden remains his power the greater the possibility of WMD attack. We cannot allow him to pull the same stunt as Sadaam by saying that he fought the 'great satan' and survived. The whole pyramid needs to be toppled.
By the sounds of this guys logic, I am somehow more comfortable knowing he is Ex CIA.
looks like precisely the kind of thinking that got the CIA into the mess it's in today
no-no, pay-per-view first then to DVD..
I typed bin Laden into the search and did not come up with this article. Sorry for the double post.
I smell a troll.
I agree with you. This is defeatism. We can't find him so our position is its better not to find him.
This is not the guy I want running the war against Bin Ladin.
This is the sort of over-analysis that leads to really bad decisions. Let's just keep it simple. bin Laden needs killin. Bust a couple of caps in his head, take some snaps of the corpse for the Arab press to publish and then dispose of the body in the same manner as Jimmy Hoffa's, so misguided souls cannot make a shrine out of his burial place.
While I always wanted to behead this SOB part of me says the longer he is alive the more of them we can kill...you know damn well the left is going ignoratnly scream that "the war on terror is over" once we kill that schmuck!
That is the lamest attempt at logic I've seen in while!
By contrast, examine what the Palestinians did when the Israelis started knocking off whoever admitted to being their top terrorist:
Terrorist bombings effectively came to a halt!
Power is what garners respect in the region. By attacking the US on such a grand scale and remaining at large for the last 3+ years with some (albeit greatly reduced) degree of operational capability, OBL demonstrates his power and influence to those in the region. This encourages and empowers new recruits.
The successfully implemented policy of 'The squeaky wheel GETS greased' would have a negative impact on recruiting new support -- which demonstrates US power.
It's kinda like how the Feds will let a big time drug dealer remain on the loose so they can further build a case by following him. I wonder if we really now where he is, and we are simply letting things develop so as to catch more rats when they go to feed?
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