U.S. general optimistic about bin Laden capture

[rodbarnett]

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. military's top general in Afghanistan expressed optimism on Tuesday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar would be captured this year.

At a ceremony marking the shift of the U.S. headquarters in Afghanistan to Kabul, Lieutenant-General David Barno gave the most optimistic assessment yet by a U.S. commander on prospects for capturing bin Laden, the world's most wanted man.

"Their day has ended and this year will decisively sound the death knell of their movements in Afghanistan," Barno said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL56510.htm

[southpaw72]

1. anyone else wonder

... if ObL is right now sitting in jail in afghanistan, and is going to be "captured" sometime in October?

[truebrit71]

2. I would be surprised if he WASN'T....

..the rethuglicans just can't help themsleves...EVERYTHING is a potential photo-op....

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

6. October Surprise

The army has basically leaked the capture or cornering of Binladen three times now. They obviously cannot say it openly. Thanks to our troops for catching him - I look forward to a public trials with names named.

[bahrbearian]

15. He might not even know that he is a prisoner.

Someone may have sold him already and waiting for UPS to pick him up for delivery.

[lovedems]

3. I was channel surfing last night and listened to Leno "bash bu$h"

in his Leno style. He said OBL would appear in "the first week of November wink, wink".

He also quoted David Kay, "I don't want people to confuse bu$h with intelligence" (obviously in the pre-war intelligence).

Huge laughs and cheers from the audience. I was surprisingly shocked to hear Leno even remotely joke about his beloved republicans. I guess he will do anything for a laugh.

[Hand]

4. My, my...

Another rat deserts the sinking ship. You will undoubtedly be shocked--shocked!--to learn that Leno's just another whore. Who wouldda thunk it?

:puke:

[Virginian]

14. Mavis Leno is a Dem. Jay tries to stay "neutral"?

Since his wife is known to be a Democrat, I think he leans over backwards to try to still appear neutral.

IMHO I think he is more interested in laughs than politics, I have never heard of his being politically active. Does anyone have anything more solid on this?

[JailForBush]

5. The best evidence that Osama is already in custody is the

repeated boasts that he'll soon be apprehended. I wouldn't think they'd be quick to make such boasts if they risked being made to look foolish when their claims don't materialize.

[DoctorMyEyes]

7. I agree completely!

No one bothered mentioning Bin Laden for months and months - now he's "all the rage".

Plus - A German paper reported that he was captured on Jan 22. The white house denied it - and it's been "all Osam all the time" ever since.

[lancdem]

12. The question I have is

if they wait until before the election, it'll be obvious they had him for months and trotted him out for maximum political benefit. Won't that backfire?

[Betty]

13. It will backfire with those of us

who already know what a crock of shit this (and everything else connected with this mis-administration ) is. But there are many many gullible and stupid people out there, how else do we explain that still around half the country want the shithead re-"elected"? They will accept the "capture" of bin laden as a completely new development.

[abelenkpe]

18. Do you have a link

to the report in a German newspaper? Which paper was it? Perhaps we should send the article to Real Time with Bill Maher since he is reading newspaper articles to the president each week? I wish Bill Maher would use some meatier articles, like ones on layoffs or the loss of overtime, but this one on Osama having been caught would be interesting as well. Dontcha think?

[SquireJons]

22. You give them too much credit

Despite what everybody here says, I don't think they have either Osama, or the blind crippled mullah. We're talking about the military here. The can't help themselves. In fact, the more trouble they're in, the more they boast. It's a reflex action.

The important part of the story for me was them saying the command center was being shifted to Kabul. It is widely, but quietly known that the US and NATO only control the city of Kabul. That's it. It's just like when the US only had control of Saigon- and only during the day. This is so much a replay of Vietnam it's like a bad movie.

Now our soldiers are dying at a clip of over one a day, for 6 months straight. How sad. Can someone please explain how this madness is 'supporting our soldiers'?

When did I fall asleep and wake up in the middle of Orwell's 1984?
Oh well, I'm off to the Hate Rally...

[Aidoneus]

23. I disagree.. it's the best evidence that they don't have a fucking clue

it'll be a hint that they are closing in on the sheikh when the army starts losing and/or killing 50 people a day. Assuming he's still alive or even in the area, he will be residing in a place where America and its mercenary lackey armies (of the puppets Karzai & Busharraf) fear to tred, surrounded by heavily armed beards who would not let him go without a struggle.

a little bit of aimless bluster from time to time helps to keep the dogs at bay, for a little bit anyway.. some other things need to be cooked up to work as distractions from the failures on more frequent occasion.

[markses]

8. Two aces in the hole, two on the flop

And a whole lotta nothing from the other bettors. I'd be optimistic too...:eyes:

[tlcandie]

9. They've known his whereabouts all the time just like Saddam ..

they flaunt them to the public when it suits THEIR timing and not before.

Surprised? Hell no! Sickened? YES! They couldn't bring him out before or we couldn't have invaded and demolished Iraq!

[Sagan]

10. Yep, you nailed it...

If they had gotten OBL before Iraq, it would have been a lot harder for the Chimpistas to sell their oil grab.

[frylock]

11. probably designing his "hideout" as we speak..

with new and improved SpiderHole™.

[htuttle]

16. I'm going to take a contrarian position on this

Unlike so many others, I don't think they already have him. I think this is a bluff, like so many other times.

I just don't think that the Bush Admin could keep it a secret if they had him. Bush is a far worse liar than most people think. Given his current down position in the polls, I don't think either him or Rove could manage to resist springing Osama out ASAP after they capture him (well, maybe keeping him from Saturday til Monday morning for the news cycle, but no longer than that).

I think they'll bluff that they are 'hot on his trail' as long as possible, all the while hoping that they get lucky.

When you really look at their actions, and disregard the media spin, the Bush administration isn't nearly as 'slick' as they initially seem to be. The big advantage they have is that the media are in their pocket, not that they are skilled politicians by any means.

[Teaser]

17. A successfully concealed capture

Would require a *huge* amount of control. Can the Bush administration be sure that everyone involved in the capture is 100% dedicated to seeing them re-elected?

I don't think this level of control is possible. Somebody would leak it.

[eridani]

19. A freezer locker is easy to conceal

They probably don't have him alive yet, but it's much easier to conceal a corpse.

[K.B.]

20. Binny is already caught

Some european news paper reported weeks ago some story about Binny being captured and this'll play out just like Saddam's "Capture".

Long about October some military type will stand up and say "We got him..." and Bush will be on the tube 30 seconds later telling about how he personally went to Afghanistan to wrestle Binny for the fate of the free world and how he won and God came down in person to referee the match..

Oh yeah. This is a set up.

No military officer with half a brain is going to say 'we are "SURE" we'll get him' unless they already had him.

[atreides1]

21. This Is Just Like....

1. The check's in the mail.

2. We are winning the war in Vietnam.

3. We will destroy the allies on the beaches(WWII).

4. We will capture OBL by October.

Which one is true?

[daleo]

24. I wonder if 'getting him' would amount to much by now for Bush

It has been over two years, going on three, with a whole other war in between. People might object to having their strings pulled in this way, and vote against Bush anyway (assuming they are allowed to).

[Lori Price CLG]

25. Since Osama likely freelances for Carlyle Group...

Rumsfeld/Rove can easily schedule his 'capture' for maximum publicity. My thought is that bin Laden will be 'captured' sometime after the GOP convention in New York and before the Diebold s-election in November.

-Lori Price