Obama: tight noose on bin Laden as good as capture ("whether he is technically alive or not")

[bigtree]

Jan. 14, 2009

In an interview that aired tonight on CBS, President-elect Barack Obama, even as he called al Qaeda the biggest threat to national security, took a more measured approach.

"I think that we have to so weaken his infrastructure that, whether he is technically alive or not, he is so pinned down that he cannot function," Obama said.

"My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him. But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives then we will meet our goal of protecting America . . . And I'm confident that we can keep them on the run and ensure that they cannot train terrorists to attack our homeland."

In a recording released today on an Islamist website, bin Laden described Obama as the heir to President Bush's failed policies and said he would "inherit a long guerrilla war against a patient, stubborn adversary" and warned that al Qaeda would open "more fronts."

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/01/obama_tight_noo.html


"I think it is a top priority for us to stamp out al-Qaeda once and for all," Obama told 60 Minutes in November.

"And I think capturing or killing bin Laden is a critical aspect of stamping out al-Qaeda. He is not just a symbol; he's also the operational leader of an organization that is planning attacks against U.S. targets."
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/trudy_rubin/20081123_Worldview__Obama_needs_to_focus_on_more_than_just_bin_Laden.html?text=reg&c=y


related:

Biden tells Obama Afghanistan war will get worse
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlEwGEJtiJYWb6WLWWQ4RfLX7eIwD95N7LQ80

[deaniac21]

1. Hedge those bets.

[TheKentuckian]

6. That's what the smart money does.

nt

[burythehatchet]

13. exactly. Its safe.

:puke:

[mucifer]

2. oy vey.

[shadowknows69]

3. Just find a random corpse and put an end to "Boogeyman" politics please?

Can we start acting like an adult species here one of these days? Huh?

[stillcool]

4. Yes indeedy...

"There was no corner of the known world where some interest was not alleged to be in danger or under actual attack. If the interests were not Roman, they were those of Rome's allies; and if Rome had no allies, the allies would be invented. When it was utterly impossible to contrive such an interest --why, then it was the national honor that had been insulted. The fight was always invested with an aura of legality. Rome was always being attacked by evil-minded neighbours...The whole world was pervaded by a host of enemies, it was manifestly Rome's duty to guard against their indubitably aggressive designs."
Joseph Schumpteter, Imperialism and Social Classes, 1919

Zbigniew Brzezinski’s Game Plan (1986) and The Grand Chessboard (1997) present global views almost wholly based on Mackinder’s concepts
New York Council on Foreign Relations Foreign Affairs article by Brzezinski from September/October 1997:
"Eurasia is home to most of the world's politically assertive and dynamic states. All the historical pretenders to global power originated in Eurasia. The world's most populous aspirants to regional hegemony, China and India, are in Eurasia, as are all the potential political or economic challengers to American primacy. After the United States, the next six largest economies and military spenders are there, as are all but one of the world's overt nuclear powers, and all but one of the covert ones. Eurasia accounts for 75 percent of the world's population, 60 percent of its GNP, and 75 percent of its energy resources. Collectively, Eurasia's potential power overshadows even America's.
Eurasia is the world's axial supercontinent. A power that dominated Eurasia would exercise decisive influence over two of the world's three most economically productive regions, Western Europe and East Asia. A glance at the map also suggests that a country dominant in Eurasia would almost automatically control the Middle East and Africa. With Eurasia now serving as the decisive geopolitical chessboard, it no longer suffices to fashion one policy for Europe and another for Asia. What happens with the distribution of power on the Eurasian landmass will be of decisive importance to America's global primacy

"A victorious Roman general, when he entered the city, amid all the head-turning splendor of a `Triumph,' had behind him on the chariot a slave who whispered into his ear that he was mortal. When our statesmen are in conversation with the defeated enemy, some airy cherub should whisper to them from time to time this saying: Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; Who rules the World-Island commands the World."
- Sir Halford Mackinder, 1919

Colin Gray : "By far the most influential geopolitical concept for Anglo-American statecraft has been the idea of a Eurasian `heartland,' and then the complementary idea-as-policy of containing the heartland power of the day within, not to, Eurasia. From Harry S Truman to George Bush, the overarching vision of US national security was explicitly geopolitical and directly traceable to the heartland theory of Mackinder. . . . Mackinder's relevance to the containment of a heartland-occupying Soviet Union in the cold war was so apparent as to approach the status of a cliché."

[merwin]

5. He probably said that because he just got the briefing that Osama isn't alive.

:evilgrin:

[shadowknows69]

7. Without a doubt, or the card with his address in the Cayman's and his cell

For when they need another tape.

[bdamomma]

8. Didn't Bhutto say in her interview that Bin Laden was dead.

the man is dead.

[bigtree]

9. technically?

. . . or not?

[Ani Yun Wiya]

11. Some points to consider.

1. The Sheik is alive and well.
2. For at least eighteen years, the intelligence, military, police and other agencies of some thirteen countries have not been successful in their quest to capture this fellow and same goes for the Russians and the US in actual combat.
3. A US $25M (or was that $50M) "reward" has no value where this soul is welcome and the blathering of a "new" American president with the same old game plan and ideas is worth even less.
4. The U.S. is not the primary enemy or primary target.
5. The Sheik is not and has never been a "partner" of the Bush family or the republican party.

And last but not least

6. For all intents "Al Qaida" was rolled up in early 1990 with all but a handful of these volunteers in the defense of Afghanistan remaining there. To continue use of this term is indeed a fallacy and belies the usual Western ignorance.

[bigtree]

12. I'm not making up a new term

. . . those folks who identify and associate themselves with al-Qaeda are going to be typecast along with the rest of the thugs and their terror elite. They may well have 'rolled up' in 1990, but we'll be fighting their specters as long as our government and military insist on spending resources and rhetoric, and manpower on their 'war on terror'.

[Occam Bandage]

10. Smart man. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Osama should just say "Mission Accomplished" and retire.

Having brought America to her knees by involving her two unwinnable wars and bankrupting her.

[bigtree]

15. depends on if he finds another player in the WH

Any heightened U.S. military aggression in the region will serve to keep the numbers of young men and women aligned against the U.S. and inclined to violent resistance against our military, our interests, and allies growing.