CNN asks: Where's Osama bin Laden?

[Scriptable]

Where in the world is Osama bin Laden?

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS...sama.binladen/

Where's Osama bin Laden?

HELMAND, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Eight years after September 11, the "war on terror" has gone the way of the dodo. And President Obama talks instead about a war against al Qaeda and its allies.

What, then, of al Qaeda's enigmatic leader, Osama bin Laden, who has vanished like a wisp of smoke? And does he even matter now?

The U.S. government hadn't had a solid lead on al Qaeda's leader since the battle of Tora Bora in winter 2001. Although there are informed hypotheses that today he is in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on the Afghan border, perhaps in one of the more northerly areas such as Bajaur, these are essentially guesses, not "actionable" intelligence.

A longtime American counterterrorism analyst explained to me, "There is very limited collection on him personally."

That's intelligence community shorthand for the fact that the usual avenues of "collection" on a target such as bin Laden are yielding little or no information about him. Those avenues typically include signal intercepts of phone calls and e-mails, as well as human intelligence from spies.

Given the hundreds of billions of dollars that the "war on terror" has consumed, the failure to capture or kill al Qaeda's leader is one of its signal failures.

Does it even matter whether bin Laden is found?

Continued...

[hulaku]

The report answers the question itself

The situation is further complicated by the fact that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are almost certainly hiding out in the tribal areas of Pakistan, on the Afghan border.

Arthur Keller, a CIA officer who ran a spy network in Pakistan's tribal areas in 2006, told me the problems of working in the region: "It's an incredibly remote area. They're hiding in a sea of people that are very xenophobic of outsiders, so it's a very, very tough nut to crack."

An additional factor operating in bin Laden's favor is the personal popularity he has long enjoyed in Pakistan. Three years after the September 11 attacks, for instance, a Pew poll found that al Qaeda's leader had a 65 percent favorability rating among Pakistanis.

Also this

By early 2008, the Bush administration had tired of the Pakistani government's unwillingness or inability to take out al Qaeda's leaders, and in July, the president authorized Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults in the tribal regions without the permission of the Pakistani government.

But in the face of the intense Pakistani opposition to American boots on the ground, the Bush administration chose to rely instead on drones to target suspected al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Bush ordered the CIA to expand its attacks with Predator and Reaper drones.

After this think about who benefits the most as long as Bin Laden or Zawahiri are alive/ hiding/ fate unknown.

[davey]

Tribal areas, where he has been for a long time now. Can't imagine that he is anywhere else.

[seraosha]

He hasn't been caught yet.

[dlat83]

He's selling cars in Jersey.

[LineDoggie]

Skeletal remains in a Tora Bora Cave, hugging a goats skeleton

[grenadier07]

He's working the register at the Marathon down the street from my house. Yeah it would be nice to see the guy caught or killed but does anyone in this world really think that the war would magically come to an end once he's out of the picture?

[davey]

He's selling cars in Jersey.

Yes. Working the same shift as Elvis Presley.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

Meh. I have a hard time listening to CNN and it's reporters complain about this. If they knew where he was, they wouldn't tell us - they'd let us continue to spend billions and complain about it. Oh, they'd interview him and jack up their advertising revenues, but they'd let their countrymen continue to spend money and risk their lives.

Personally, I think the guy is dead anyway.

[deagle]

Meh. I have a hard time listening to CNN and it's reporters complain about this. If they knew where he was, they wouldn't tell us - they'd let us continue to spend billions and complain about it. Oh, they'd interview him and jack up their advertising revenues, but they'd let their countrymen continue to spend money and risk their lives.

Personally, I think the guy is dead anyway.

its hard to say he's dead, didn't that FSOB send out a video clip during the 9/11 Anniversary ? (unless he pre-made those tapes, to be released every anniversary to give the illusion he's still alive).

I''m not sure i heard any govt agency confirm/deny he's alive. and if they can't do that, how can we expect to find him ?

the FSOB outlasted the previous Bush administration, just hope he doesn't outlast this one.

[AroundTheCorner]

Hanging out in Saudi Arabia under fake name, making money with his constuction company.

[rgjbloke]

Well I hope the B#######ds dead and rotting in hell.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

its hard to say he's dead, didn't that FSOB send out a video clip during the 9/11 Anniversary ? (unless he pre-made those tapes, to be released every anniversary to give the illusion he's still alive).

I''m not sure i heard any govt agency confirm/deny he's alive. and if they can't do that, how can we expect to find him ?

the FSOB outlasted the previous Bush administration, just hope he doesn't outlast this one.

I don't think there's been any good video of him since the invasion. There have been plenty of audio tapes -but those are worthless. The way I see it, he's far more valuable to us as a live, uniquely scary bogeyman than as just another dead idiot in a funny hat. Even if we knew he was dead, the odds are that national leadership would keep it quiet, IMO.

As far as confirmation -it would be very easy for him to confirm that he's alive - he'd just have to march into a friendly TV station and do a local talk show "Hi you're on the air with Osama Bin Laden...". Since we all know how much he likes to waive that admonishing finger of knowledge on camera, and he's been completely absent... I'm pretty sure he's dead.

[AL-Khalid]

The report answers the question itself


Also this


After this think about who benefits the most as long as Bin Laden or Zawahiri are alive/ hiding/ fate unknown.

Yeah sure. You indians are so energetic when it comes to blame pakistan.

[wicked_hind]

Yeah sure. You indians are so energetic when it comes to blame pakistan.

Come on guys, let's not turn this into another India/Pakistan fisticuffs. Everything is speculation on his whereabouts, regardless if we say he's dead, or if he's alive and hiding in the tribal regions or if he's in the Tora Bora. The reality is that none of us have the slightest clue as to where he's at, and we'll never know until we either capture him or find his remains and identify him by his DNA.