Oh yes, that's what the war in Afghanistan is about, killing brown people. Sure! I mean, the Taliban "aren't exactly feminists", as this exceptionally morally-discerning creature has noted, but it's not like they refused to turn OBL over for trial after he murdered 3000 innocent people from 80 different countries, its not like the Taliban crushed the minds and souls of hundreds of thousands of innocents under a steel fist of barbarism, and defecated, just for good measure, on the treasures of Bamyan. These Taliban, they are misunderstood, and just because they treat cattle better than women, and believe that democracy and tolerance are evil, this doesn't mean we can't negotiate.

I don't think they actually said he died in Afghanistan, but only in an "enemy controlled area", which probably means he was in Pakistan (at least technically).

Operating in Pakistan is pretty iffy. While they are not a StateSponsorOfTerrror (with no explanation why they are exempt) they are allowing local tribal leaders to support OBL and friends.

While Pakistan is allowing use of military power in the case of "hot pursuit" it's a rather dangerous way to run a military campaign. We could be letting Afghanistan secure it's own borders and put diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to let us actually operate in their territory, or we could just let OBL sit in Pakistan.

If we spent our energy getting real intelligence, instead of sending in strike teams and getting the locals all riled up(and closed lipped), we might actually find him.

It's become part of Bush's surge propaganda to equate sectarian insurgent groups in Iraq with Al-Qaeda, especially given OBL's comments in his new video.

"A numerically small but politically significant component of the insurgency is non-Iraqi, mostly in a faction called Al Qaeda-Iraq (AQ-I). Increasingly in 2007, U.S. commanders have seemed to equate AQ-I with the insurgency, even though most of the daily attacks are carried out by Iraqi Sunni insurgents. AQ-I was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a June 7, 2006, U.S. airstrike.

AQ-I has been a U.S. focus from very early on in the war because, according to U.S. commanders in April 2007, it is responsible for about 90% of the suicide bombings against both combatant and civilian targets. AQ-I is discussed in detail in CRS Report RL32217, Iraq and Al Qaeda, by Kenneth Katzman.

In large parts of Anbar Province and now increasingly in parts of other Sunni
provinces, Sunni tribes are trying to limit Al Qaeda’s influence, which they believe is detrimental to their own interests, by cooperating with U.S. counter-insurgency efforts. In other cases, there have been clashes between AQ-I and Iraqi insurgent groups, such as in June 2007 in the Amiriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, apparently representing differences over targets and AQ-I’s reported abuses of Iraqis who do not fully cooperate with AQ-I.

U.S. commanders say they are trying to enlarge this wedge between Sunni insurgents and AQ-I by selectively cooperating with Sunni insurgents - a strategy that is controversial because of the potential of the Sunni Iraqis to later resume fighting U.S. forces and Iraqi Shiites. The strategy is reported to have led to increased tensions between Maliki and the lead U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus."

- CRS Report for Congress : Iraq Post-Saddam Security and Governance.

This of course is perfect for both Bush and OBL.

After years of talking about sectarian violence, Bush can now fear monger that leaving Iraq would create a terrorist state formed of the AlQ's Caliphate, giving him more blank checks to continue the surge and the war. Think January 2009.

While OBL can garner more support from radicals since America's president is giving him such constant praises about military operations in Iraq. Sending political bombshells via videotape in safety somewhere in the area between Pakistan and Afghanistan slowly rebuilding his organization, preparing for more attacks avoiding the attention of the US military and special forces because they are all in Iraq. He even had time to color his beard.

So both are playing into each others objectives at the expense of American and Iraqi lives.

Robert Parry covers this eloquently in Bush-Bin Laden Symbiosis Reborn.

No, I think you're missing my point jonny . My original post was a bit ambiguous, I guess.

I'm referring to the subject of the flap: the OBL vid. AFAIK it's authenticity can't be verified. For all we know, the Chaser's War guys did it, or the DoD, or the CIA, or maybe some elements of al qaeda with a stand in for a dead Osama etc.

Or maybe it's real.

Either way, without any way of knowing who *really* authored the tape, who gives a shit? Maybe I'm just being cynical. <shrug>

maybe some tags of bush,OBL,al queda?

peretz pt 2:

Your path combined with the inherent secrecy of Cheney Administration can only lead to totalitarianism. Your premise and the practice of this Administration depends on my accepting without proof that you know exactly who all of the bad people are. In the cases of SKM and OBL, this is a very simple calculus. However, I contend that you must keep the baseline protections such as the GC even for "unlawful combatants" because there always are those who will be falsely accused, actually innocent, or truly void of any actionable intelligence. And the Bush Administration has shown no great competence in developing reliable intelligence, building nations, or even building solid cases against many of the detainees.

Arar was only guilty of being in the country without papers. For that, a Canadian citizen was deliberately deported not to Canada but to a prison in Syria, an enemy country, a known terrorist haven, and a known human rights offender. You may blame ABC or CBS all you want, but it is a disgraceful series of events. I pray that you are never in the US without the appropriate documentation if the reasoned response from the US government will be to send you to a prison in Syria or the Sudan rather than back to Israel.