Arab News wonders why (if the controversial report is indeed correct) George W. Bush would want to bomb Al Jazeera….and asks about the whereabouts of let’s-kill-’em-all-you-know-who:
It doesn’t surprise me that George Bush had a plan to bomb the Doha headquarters of the pesky Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera back into the desert age. What shocks me is that he hasn’t sent Al-Jazeera a thank you note after his re-election last year in November.
A victory that became comfortable after the results were in, obscures how close the contest was. For a couple of hours on polling day, the opinion pundits and television channels were preparing for a John Kerry presidency, and liberal gloating over the demise of Bush ended only around noon. Democrats are now convinced that the critical factor that swung the election away from Kerry was the sudden and very mysterious appearance of an Osama Bin Laden tape promising the usual death and destruction of America. It focused American minds wonderfully on all the potential horrors vital to the Bush cause; it was the kind of nightmare image that his most loyal ad gurus could not have paid enough money for. Where did the tape materialize? The usual route. Address of origin: Officially unknown. Address of destination: Al-Jazeera. Impact: On all those little suburban homes in Ohio and Iowa that swung the vote away from war hero Kerry to war President Bush.
Do we sense a bit of a belief in a conspiracy theory here? Yeah, some Americans have also talked about this in the same manner….but the bottom line is not one shred of evidence has come out that this was something that came from anyone other than ObL.
But here’s the kicker in this Arab News piece:
Three years before 9/11, in 1998, Nawaz Sharif, the then prime minister of Pakistan, told Bill Clinton that Bin Laden was on dialysis, and it was only a matter of time before he went the way of all flesh. It’s been a long time, particularly for one with such weakened flesh. Dialysis can keep you going for decades, but what it does do is make you very vulnerable as well. I am not talking only about physical vulnerability. It is very difficult to be on dialysis and hide, when the world’s eyes are trained on you. Dialysis reduces mobility. It demands constant attention to medical apparatus, and presumably competent doctors.
Does Bin Laden run such a brilliant, foolproof operation that there are no leaks despite such huge vulnerabilities? Can he survive, with such basic needs, on a lonely mountaintop? Or is he ensconced in some urban jungle? Since there are no urban jungles in Afghanistan (Kabul is at best an urban corpse), he must be in an urban jungle in Pakistan. Is Karachi a good place to look for him? We heard a few days ago one of his deputies saying that he was alive and leading the holy war. If he is alive, why hasn’t he been arrested?
There is something going on that does not quite add up.
Al-Jazeera has broken any number of stories. Why doesn’t it break the biggest story of all: Where is Bin Laden?
Indeed, reasonable people would have to wonder where the hell (a suitable word) IS he? Here are some of the theories if you read what’s being suggested in the press, editorials and on weblogs (you are free to offer your own in comments):
- Still hiding. Modern technology may do wonders but it is still possible to elude the searchers, even with all kinds of electronic and satillite surveillance. For instance, he could be holed up in an inaccessible area of Pakistan, somewhere in the mountains, and only use couriers to get his messages and orders out.
- The U.S. government knows where he is but is waiting to pounce at an appropriate minute, when it can leave nothing to chance.
- The U.S. government knows where he is but doesn’t want to catch him because it leaves open using the war on terror to justify policies (moderate conspiracy theory).
- The U.S. government has known where he is all along but didn’t act so it could make a slew of changes in civil liberties and foreign policy using bin Laden and terrorism as an excuse (advanced conspiracy theory).
- Bin Laden is as dead as Michael Jackson’s pop career.
- Bin Laden has shaved his beard and works under a new identity at a 7 Eleven in L.A. or as a bartender in Fresno.
Our view? Perhaps you will call us Pollyanna (or some other things) but we do believe it is Number 1.
Technology can’t solve all problems. Human intelligence is what will lead to the capture of bin Ladin — if he isn’t already off the face of the earth and burning in you-know-where by now, surrounded by virgins who look like Adolf Hitler.