Pursuing bin Laden

Well-dressed elderly man
hooked to oxygen tank
holds up La Jolla bank.

President Obama says we will never give up our pursuit of al-Qaeda. This would be a noble enterprise…if we had any idea where al-Qaeda is (are), or any idea where Osama bin Laden is. In recent days I have seen reports that actually confess we do not have any idea where bin Laden is. There are also reports that there is (are) no al-Qaeda in Iraq or Afghanistan. There may be some in Pakistan, maybe some in Somalia, perhaps Yemen, and who knows where else we might find some, perhaps the Waldorf-Astoria or the Ritz-Carleton. I believe this whole enterprise is little more than chasing our tail. First of all, there really aren’t that many al-Qaeda to begin with, and if they are increasing, as they no doubt are, they are probably increasing because we are constantly chasing them and trying to kill them. Second, al-Qaeda terrorism is fundamentally a criminal problem, not a military one. We do not really need thousands upon thousands of soldiers to fight al-Qaeda, especially when we don’t even know where they are. Third, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are not one and the same. I strongly believe that if we got out of Afghanistan the Afghan people would themselves get rid of al-Qaeda (after all, who wants to live with a bunch of terrorists in their midst). At one point the Taliban offered to turn over some al-Qaeda, including Osama himself, but apparently Dick the Slimy and his dummy turned them down. I don’t know positively if this is true, but I have read it on more than one occasion and I rather suspect it is true. Why would they have turned down such an offer? I believe it was because they truly want a never-ending war (how else will the military/industrial/political complex continue their war profiteering?). And besides, don’t forget they wanted (and probably still do) a pipeline through Afghanistan, bypassing Russia.

As far as Osama bin Laden goes, the more time goes by, the more I am convinced we never had any intention of capturing or killing such a valuable “ally.” We know that bin Laden was a CIA agent during the Russian/Afghanistan war. Although I am not much on conspiracy theories, I suspect he may still be a CIA asset. Whether he is or not, he is surely an asset, because without him we would have little excuse for being in Afghanistan. And remember, Bush played on his threat to us constantly as one means of keeping us in fear and himself in office, using fear as an excuse for doing all kinds of illegal and unconstitutional things. For years we were told that Osama was in Pakistan, way back in the rugged territory just over the border from Afghanistan. I always wondered why, if they knew where he was, we couldn’t capture or kill him (after all, we have the greatest marine corps, army, and air force in the world). To me, the excuse that he was hidden there and protected by warlords was kind of weak. Now it has recently been admitted they don’t know where he is (I guess you should live in fear as he might turn out to be your next-door neighbor). Wherever he is, with all his money, several wives and umpteen children, I don’t believe he is hiding in a cave somewhere. I wonder if the truth about all this will ever be known. Somehow, I doubt it.

I guess the Glenn Beck hate-fest did manage to bring out a lot of people. I saw somewhere there must have been bodies in the six figures. I haven’t as yet seen many details but I suspect many were there simply because they hate Obama and many others were there because they were there… where some kind of event was taking place. I think I would be pretty confident to assume they were there for many different reasons, not because they all were merely protesting health care reform. In other words, there were loonies of all kinds, including some who actually listen to and believe Glenn Beck. I confess it does not please me to know there are people who actually follow Beck, a pathetic little twerp who is at best a hatemonger and at worst a genuine lunatic.

LKBIQ:
Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Friedrich Nietzsche

TILT:
Muskrats can swim under water for as long as 15 minutes.