Treeman, He was spotted on a drone, and according to the use of drones, they are neutral aircraft. Part of the agreement of using these is they are not allowed to attack. They had to actually wait till they got a man-flown craft to take him out.
The Predator is now Stinger AAM and Hellfire-qualified, so I guess they're not neutral anymore... Anyway, where is this 'agreement' that they're neutral? I'm hearing that we actually combat tested the Hellfire version over there...
Just following up with the wish of us all. With the Taliban coming out with the letter supposedly from bin laden today; I'm wandering why he just didn't come out with another one of his videos? Could the letter be a forgery? Could he really be dead? Could the US media just not want to show any video of him? Any thoughts? Doc did you come across any other 411?
Donald Rumsfeld stated that it was a low-level CIA operative who was controling the drone, saw the convoy, and couldn't get permission to fire. This, also, was in the 'first days' of the war, before it was made clear that killing Omar was one of the goals.
I've come across nothing else of him, but then as others in this thread have said, it could all be a ploy to make us think he's dead. Also, one reason for not video taping anything is the fact that perhaps the US can spot such electrical signals? I don't know. I'm not sure where the one-eyed bandit fellow and that other clown - the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan are video taping their stuff, though. The other question I could raise, if anyone else wants to respond, is : "If he's dead, why wouldn't the Taliban just say 'hey, the dude's dead, you can let up now!'". At that point they could either produce his body (if there's anything left) or at least lie and say he's dead when he's not. They've done neither.
I don't agree on a couple of fronts. 1) we haven't been able to get rid of the mob, drug lords, foreign nationals’ spy, etc. in our own country, what makes you think we can erase clandestine purposeful (as diabolically misguided not with standing) guerilla and traditional war experienced terrorists living in other countries. The Soviets and Israelis with their military much closer and with intelligence agents having a whole lot more leeway (torture, assassination) in methods couldn’t do it. I am not saying we should try, but the best we can realistically hope for is to limit their spread, not stop them. 2) I don’t think Bin Laden and his higher ups fear death any more than most generals and colonels do. They probably know they only have a few months left to live whether from western or ME attacks. I do think they believe their movement is more effective if they live longer while masterminding new attacks while foot soldiers may die however, but what other military operations don’t go by the same principal.
The problem in getting rid of mob, drug lords and foreign national's spies is that if they are in our counrty we have to give them due process. The constition protects these people. Bin Laden is not in the U.S., so he has no protection except the cave he's hiding in.
Some might not like my methodology. I would not question bin Laden were he to be caught. I would simply put a gun to his head and pull the trigger. I would do it right in front of his highest Lieutenants, who are apparently close to his entourage at all times and would likely be caught. Atef and Al Zawahiri, to be specific. I would immediately execute Osama right in front of them to send them the message: I'm serious, and you'd better talk. Thay have all the knowledge of operations anyway. Osama doesn't even know where any of his operatives are, much less what they're going to do. Only Atef knows that. I would then bring out a large, well-muscled man who would be introduced to Atef as 'Sergei'. I would inform him that 'Sergei' is a former Spetznatz man who was once tortured by Afghans. He learned a particular interrogation technique that involved razor blades and plasma resupply... If that didn't work I'd stick a hot poker up his ass. 1000 degrees. We've got over 1,000 people detained right now. Some of them are certainly innocent, but some of them we know are connected. I say we throw away the book on those we know are connected. Any middle eastern man we caught with a box-cutter and a flight manual should get a hot poker. We let 14 Algerians in two waves (coincidentally, it followed the exact same pattern as the 14 Syrians two weeks earlier) enter in DFW, who are now all enrolled in flight training school in Tyler, Tx. There are sis ME men wandering around with plans for a Florida nuclear reactor and the Alaskan pipeling, and the FBI is scrambling to find them. The INS doesn't seem to realize that we're at war. Neither does the Bush administration. Ashcroft on Tuesday came out and said that he'd detain anyone who expressed support for the 9/11 culprits, and repatriate those on visas who didn't cooperate. That was the first press conference I have ever seen that was sparked by righteous anger, as well as a desire to actually do the right thing. Ashcroft's action went in vain, though. Apparently the Administration is not content with 6,000 dead Americans. The FBI and INS will continue their policy of nondiscrimination: all valid visas will be processed, and no one will be unduly harassed... Meaning that if 6 foreign nationals with plans for a nuclear reactor facility - and how to destroy it - want to travel within the US, the INS will not stop them. We are just begging for a million dead Americans.
Treeman: "Any middle eastern man we caught with a box-cutter and a flight manual should get a hot poker. " I think this thread is over.........Yet your ignorance is far from it...
OK, then why has the Soviet Union, current Russia, and China not been able to get rid of organized crime nor terrorists? Is it because of their citizens civil rights/protections and because their government intellegence and military forces are soft as well? Maybe it is a more difficult problem than simply suspending the BoR and acting completely ruthless towards them. When you don't know where your enemy is, or even who your enemy is, even trying Orwellian survellience and control methods may not be enough. I'd like to not see us go there in that effort however.
The ban on assassinations is also an executive order (Ford I think) and has multiple layers of loopholes (at least that's what the last Administrations lawyers -cruise missles and Reagan's Admin -Libya - said. As such Bush could change the Executive Order or amend it as he pleases. Also, bin laden's family probably means his spouse (s) and children, not his siblings, who are mostly, if not all, far removed from his ideological perspective.
