Kim Sengupta: Why Bush's 'dead or alive' posse haven't got their man

[struggle4progress]

Thursday, 7 August 2008

The rumour spread through Kabul with astonishing speed. Osama bin Laden had been injured and captured, or actually killed .... Like previous reports it turned out to be baseless. Seven years after the September 11 attacks on America, Bin Laden remains as elusive as ever ...

But US and British commanders privately admit they are seriously hampered by a lack of intelligence about the whereabouts of the al-Qa'ida leadership. They cannot depend on the ISI, the Pakistani secret service, which is widely perceived to back Islamist terrorists ...

In March 2003, there was credible information that Bin Laden and many of those closest to him were in the Pech Valley in Kunar, the teams hunting al-Qa'ida called for an immediate operation in the area. But by then Bush and Tony Blair had moved the "war on terror" to Iraq and Saddam Hussein was the top prize, not Bin Laden ...

In July 2006, the CIA unit tasked with hunting Bin Laden, codenamed Alec Station, was closed. Iraq was still the main focus of Washington's attention and it was felt resources were needed there ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/kim-sengupta-why-bushs-dead-or-alive-posse-havent-got-their-man-887128.html