Funny you should make that statement because I heard a report this morning which said that the supposed CIA conclusion about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden was reported to C.I.N. in Florida and the commander was quoted as saying:"bin Laden IS,WHERE HE IS and we're going to get him! Now, I meditated on that short response a bit this morning and I'm lead to the conclusion that the U.S. does know where he is! What do you think?
Hmm. Time will tell on this one but it is fun to screw the networks. Noone else is biting are they.
Re #46: It seems that US intelligence, by the time December rolled around, had to be extremely attuned to OBL's whereabouts. We kept on getting affirmative statements from the gov't that we knew where he had been a couple days ago, or a week ago. Those staements are not inconsistent with the fact that we also knew where he was currently.
My guess is that we know where he is, and -- as you point out -- are truthfully saying "we'll get him." But we dont want to "get him" or announce that he has been gotten for several reasons: 1) to protect sources who are giving or have given information; 2) to keep track of where he goes and who he meets, for intelligence purposes; 3) to keep the focus on the bigger picture, which is the long and exhausting war we still have to fight; 4) to lull him into a sense of security; 5) and to be able to interrogate him without distraction when we do get him.
Other than the propaganda value, there presently does not seem to be a good reason to let people know what we know about OBL, or even to capture him, until we have exhausted the avenues served by having him "at large."
What I find interesting, is that OBL, or OBL's people, seem to have decided the same thing. They see no profit in clarifying the circumstances. From their pov, news of his death would be a great propaganda loss. And news (with proof) of his life removes a purported doubt we might have. From their pov, better to leave us in the dark.
My own hope about the matter is that he is alive, that we extract every last bit of information from him when he is captured, and that we later announce he was discovered dead in a latrine, where he had been dumped by unknown individuals and had drowned in the sewage.