Clarke: "We're going to catch Bin Laden."

[yankeedem]

"We're going to catch bin Laden. I have no doubt about that. In the next few months, he'll be found dead or alive. But it's two years too late because during those two years, al-Qaeda has morphed into a hydra-headed organization, independent cells like the organization that did the attack in Madrid."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4608698/

Do you think he is foreshadowing October suprise? Do you think he may have advanced knowledge? He probably can't let it out now, because he would be discredited by the "liberal media"(ha ha). Do you think this was his way of leaking the info?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. He may be foreshadowing

or he may have a trust on our armed forces that the Commander in Thief does not

[Malva Zebrina]

2. Many people have voiced that opinion

that suddenly Bin Laden will make an appearance dead or alive, right around election time. It does not take a genius to figure that out, knowing the current bunch of stage managers and urban legend promoters in the Bush regime.

[LoZoccolo]

8. In the meantime, place your bets here!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1275642

[SarahB]

10. I think so, but it won't be enough

"It's (still) the economy stupid".

[hang a left]

11. I think that the one thing that will trump the economy will be 9/11

And it's Not like they have economy going for them.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

3. No..its in the book...

...and in his remakrs.

Clarke was really impressed by the intel capabilties of the Predator, and he mentioned we are transfering Predators (and other intel asetts) from Iraq to Afghanistan to look for bin Laden. So I think that now the focus is off of Iraq they are going to really try to find bin Laden.

If you havnt read the book one thing to keep in mind about Clarke is that he is quite hawkish, probably alot more to the "right" on the use of force and covert ops than, I suspect, the average DUer. Think the George Cloony character in "The Peascmaker" (well, maybe not that unorthodox)......

[patricia92243]

4. It sure seemed to me that he knows something. But since he can't "prove"

it, he had better not say anything.

Plus if the poor guy has any sense at all, he's scared stiff. And he has PLENTY of sense!

[kentuck]

5. They are just now focusing on bin Laden...

They were focusing on Saddam and Iraq before. I think htey will capture him also, but as Clarke says, it is too late now, it has turned into a hydra-headed organization...

[Karenina]

15. One tiny point it is clear that Americans do NOT grok...

Al Quiada is an IDEA, NOT an organization.

[ultramega]

25. too optimistic

They think it is the capital of Iraq.

[leftofthedial]

6. he said that we have sent the people who found Saddam

to Afghanistan, where he believes they should have been for two years instead of being sent after Saddam. He said these people (some sort of special forces team?) are very good.

[hang a left]

7. I suspect that he is trying to defuse the impact of springing

Bin Laden from his vacation somewhere by basically stating that Bin Laden now does not matter. It is too late. IMO, and I am gonna get flamed for this, this is a conspiracy to keep the Al Queda myth alive and to keep us fighting a mythical enemy forever until the complete and utter destruction of the US.

It is all part of the plan. Kerry comes in to save the day and refocus our efforts on fighting the real enemy. I predict a MIHOP terrorist attack on American soil, or a Gulf of Tonkin type of incident to incite American angst. I have been thinking about this since Clarke's testimony on Wednesday. I am foiling on the idea that this attack will take place before *Bush is out of office, so that he can implement and escalate our involvement in whatever part of the globe our conquest takes us. Bushwad will be voted out and "poor" John Kerry will be left with the mess *Bush made. At least I expect that is how it will be spun. Kerry will have an excuse to carry on the goals of the Elite, but, on a new and improved path.

But don't mind me I don foil for every occasion.

[robertpaulsen]

12. Interesting conspiracy theory...

but I'm not sure I follow it. You think MIHOP will occur before the election, but Bush will be voted out of office. You really think the BFEE would allow the election to occur if MIHOP is the October Surprise? Why would Kerry then impliment the directives of the PNAC? Does Skull and Bones control the PNAC? Whose tail is wagging whose dog here?

[hang a left]

13. No I don't think that it will wait until October.

Most likely it will be the beginning of the summer. THis will allow the current admin to deliver the final blows before Kerry takes over the shift. This will give Kerry all kinds of wiggle room. I also don't believe that the PNAC agenda is theirs alone. I think there are alot of subplots in the great conspiracy.

I am just foiling out loud. Don't pay any attention to me.

[megatherium]

16. Not being too big on LIHOP/MIHOP,

I'm going to guess that al Qaeda (who are an independent bunch actually) will attempt to do to the US what the Moroccan cell did to Spain: stage an attack to affect the outcome of an election. So I think October is the most likely time for a major US attack. I think al Qaeda would be making a mistake if it tried that -- the American people would be as likely to rally around Bush as to vote him out. And the voters in Spain weren't capitulating to terror, instead they were reacting to the lies of their government.

[robertpaulsen]

21. "I think al Qaeda would be making a mistake if it tried that"

A mistake for who: al Qaeda or the American people? Bush has done everything Osama could want to incite Arabs against America. If al Qaeda truly believed an October attack would rally the country around Bush (it happened after 9/11) they wouldn't hesitate putting the man in office with Iran and Syria next on his list of countries to invade. The better to perpetuate the "Crusade", IMHO.

[Soup Bean]

23. Kind of what I've been thinking.

HA! America ITSELF winds up being the "New World Order". Makes you wonder if the United States has been hijacked just like Germany was in the first part of the 20th Century to further their corporatist goals?

I know all about Ocaam's Razor and all that, but sometimes a conspriracy IS a conspriracy. Too many dots being linked together.

Boy, this would all make a great movie....:)

[mouse7]

9. This is the one point I disagree with Clarke on

Clarke gives too much credit I believe to the American who was running the special ops teams that have been credited for capturing Saddam.

US special ops team did not capture Saddam. The Kurds captured Saddam. The Kurds had Saddam for days before they found a that drop spot hole to toss Saddam into to leave him for US troops.

There are no Kurd allies in Afghanistan, just self-interested warlords. The US has not and will not get accurate intel from the Afghan warlords. Ben Laden will not be caugt without that. We simply don't have enough troops there to canvass every cave in the Afghan countryside. The Afghans have been hiding their leaders from enemies for 30 years. The US is not as good at search operations as the Soviets were. The Soviets were brutal. They would kill and torture Afghan rebels to get what they wanted. We for the most part won't, as there are much greater numbers of Euro troops in Afghanistan that would be witnesses to it.

[dkf]

14. Seems to me like Clarke is setting it up so catching Bin Laden is

something that should be expected and should have been done long ago, instead of a triumph for Bush & Co.

The guy seems to be a master of the game. More dangerous to Bush than the CIA?

Bush pissed off the wrong bunch and Clarke is probably getting madder and madder with each attack against him.

[newsguyatl]

17. this man is brilliant

he is doing/saying EXACTLY what the dems had BETTER say (and say soon) before bushco. does pull osama out... buffering this suprise by already countering it and saying "but it's two years too late." i've been wondering when in the hell the dems were gonna start doin' this...

funny it's taken a "republican" to start this brilliant meme.

[jumptheshadow]

18. Perhaps some of the Dems have known what was coming?

Certainly Wesley Clark has been making the same major points as Richard Clarke for some time. Clarke is now fleshing out the details, and with great credibility because he's not associated with any political campaign.

[Catherine Vincent]

19. Yep, that is true. But remember Madeline Albright mentioned

it but in a different way. She had to come back later and say she was joking. I don't think she was joking.

[hang a left]

20. It is just tooooooooo perfect. If you know what I mean.

I am not quite sure what to think of this Mr. Clarke. Sure seems like a continuation of the all out assault on this administration, and I am suspicious.

[Gloria]

22. Today he said it would be by this summer.....

he said previously it would be in the next few months....

It seems he thinks it will be before the GOP convention...I wonder if it will be AFTER the Democratic convention, in between them. So, the Dems are already scattered, their big media event is gone....and then Osama is caught.

Perhaps the Dems will start mentioning this...Clark already has basically said the same thing and he's also mentioned the political timing of a Saddam trial.
If our side starts repeating this, the public may be inoculated to it....I sure hope so. But any sort of bounce, if timed correctly, could be just enough to carry it for Bush....

[maggrwaggr]

24. c'mon, they'll "find" OBL during the Dem convention

I mean, what better time?

[Supormom]

26. I agree with you on this point.

They will need something really big to steal the spotlight from the Democratic convention.