The stars are beginning to line up...
IMHO-
The capabilities of the next generation hunter/spy drones that are being built and utilized in theater, rival the Starship Enterprise. Extended range and loiter times, greater payloads and more seasoned pilots/operators raise the lethality scale substantially. Plus, the willingness to use these weapons with prejudice inside Pakistan is significant.
Coalition forces have been prosecuting the WOT for almost 7 years, allowing for a timely and now rapid accension up and into the sweet spot of the learning curve, pertaining to the specific art of fighting ‘this kind’ of enemy, on ‘this kind’ of battlefield.
The HUMINT factor is another reason for noticeable acceleration of success. It takes time to develop the pipeline... the ‘infrastructure’ is in place and the ‘product’ is flowing.
All being accomplished in one of the most hostile, remote and rugged pieces of real estate in the world.
Food for thought:
American LEO agencies with personnel numbering in the thousands, were able to apprehend the Unabomber (T.K.) in Montana, only after 17 fruitless years of searching/hunting for the man, due to a tip from his sibling, who happened to recognize the ramblings of his brother, by way of the now infamous published ‘Manifesto’ (of Ted Kaczynski’s.) Who took the time to read the manifesto? I didn’t. The brother did.
A certain amount of chance was involved in the chain of events leading up to the apprehension of T.K..
Eric Rudolph, the Olympic bomber, evaded a 1,000 person FBI task force for 5 years, living on the fringes of the Appalachian mountains, only to be spotted by a rookie LEO that recognized him from a recently viewed BOLO report, as he (E.R.) dug around in a dumpster for food or treasure. Tremendous credit to the rookie LEO.
A certain amount of chance was involved in the chain of events leading up to the apprehension of E.R..
North Carolina is rugged and so is Montana, but both pale in comparison to Pakistan. Far more significant; the geopolitical situations are light years apart.
I posit these two uniquely American apprehensions, to counter the claims from the wobbly left and the doubting Thomases, regarding the criticisms for our inability to capture OBL and other well known henchmen in his organization, after nearly seven years of trying. Hunting for OBL in Pakistan, is a far cry from hunting for two of the FBI’s ten most wanted, here in our own backyard.
Plus, aren’t there literally millions of Muslims in the world, that would take OBL in and provide him with comfort and shelter?
Even with every possible effort; past, present and future, aimed at the capture of OBL, it may well be by sheer galactic chance that America gets the opportunity to turn OBL into fertilizer.
Myself; I prefer he be turned into some kind of swine supplement.
Excellent post.
I've often wondered how the brother happened to read that document, whether he already had some suspicions about Ted at that point, etc. B/c I sure didn't have the slightest interest in reading the "Manifesto" even though I had a couple of points of interest for the case (I had been working in a university office that received rather pointed official warnings about packages right after the Yale bombing that almost killed David Gelernter, I then noticed the few articles that came out occasionally about the case etc.) .... yet despite somewhat more awareness of the matter than the general public, it never even occurred to me to want to read the "Manifesto" when it came out..... "oh, yeah, let's see what some raving psychopath has written for his 'Manifesto'......" NO THANKS, didn't even think about it beyond reading an article that such a manifesto had been published (of course, I had already sworn off the NY Times by that point, so maybe that was why I missed this scintillating piece of enviro-propaganda......)
That was before the web, and nowadays for something like that any of us might be more likely to read something about it simply b/c of easy and instant availability, but still, it seems remarkable that the brother did read the document and did take action.....
nope, didn't occur to me even for a second that I should want to read the thing, yet somehow the brother David (?) did read it and noted similarities with his brother's words and sayings..... the brother must have had some inkling that there was a reason to read it??