Hunt for bin Laden?

The Democrats, and others, are constantly reminding us that the Bush Administration has not captured or killed Osama bin Laden in the five years since the 9/11 attacks. Never mind the fact that the Clinton Administration failed to capture or kill bin Laden for about seven years after the first World Trade Center attack and other attacks around the world. The Democrats point to practically every other action by Bush, especially the Iraq war, as the reason that bin Laden has not been captured or killed.

I wonder too how it can be that the most powerful and most technologically advanced nation on this planet can't find and eliminate this man. But my mind turns to the possibility that there is a reason that he hasn't been eliminated -- other than not being able to find him or not being able to go into Pakistan. Considering what he has done to this country and what he proclaims he will do, it is not likely that Bush would be deterred from pursuing him in Pakistan. He would find a way to convince Musharraf that it is in his best interests to look the other way.

Consider the possibility that Bush doesn't want to eliminate bin Laden -- at least not yet. He may not want to eliminate bin Laden because they have him pinned down and are closely monitoring his communications and activities. And they may have infiltrated his organization. As long as he is isolated in a remote mountainous area his ability to manage his organization is severely limited, especially since he can't use modern communications methods. As long as he is still in charge he won't be replaced. Bush knows that if they eliminate bin Laden someone else will take over and they might not know who or where that person is.

In order to pull this off our government would have to get Musharraf to state forcefully and publicly that he won't allow our military to enter the tribal regions where bin Laden is reported to be hiding. They would occasionally stage a raid based on an anonymous tip and report afterward that the actual target escaped just before the raid. They would occasionally announce that the trail has gone cold. When one of bin Laden's operations is foiled they would announce that they just got a lucky break. They would have to do these kinds of things to make it look like they are working real hard to find and eliminate bin Laden, but not reveal that he is under close surveillance and his closest associates are giving up information -- knowingly or unknowingly. They would continue this surveillance of bin Laden until his organization falls apart or when he attempts to leave the general area.

(Although I believe that the above is possible, it is pure speculation on my part. All that I know about the search for bin Laden is what I get from the media and the internet.)

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