If a satellite can read a license plate.....

[thedutchguy]

This is what osama looks like from a satelite......................

[Chopper]

Now....draw me a picture of Muhammad. Put him in a dildo hat.......I dare you

[BritVX]

If true, that's more a comment on bureaucracy than a sign of Americans not wanting to get him. I'm a combat arms Soldier...not a mere trigger puller, but a commissioned officer, even... You practically need a lawyer present to let my joes fire. You're looking at a VERY big deal if you're talking about firing main gun rounds downrange. I'm not griping. It's the nature of the beast. Can't have it both ways.

I'm not sure about bureaucracy as not wanting to create a marter, I think alive he's a very powerful person but dead he'd be the biggest thing in the Muslim world. I think someone said in another thread the Muslim equivalent of Jesus. A rock and a hard place really.

[Dare2Dream]

^ The biggest failure was to let him get away when he was stuck in Tora Bora, al-Qaida was decimated and widely hated at that time, and the US had much more support worldwide. At that time, it was a complete failure at the highest levels not to send in troops instead of relying upon the untrained thugs of the Northern Alliance.

Unfortunately, now the US is considered an occupier in Iraq and Afghanistan and the resulting anti-Americanism has given al-Qaida extremist a new lease of life with a new rallying cry.

[spaceCADETzoom]

I'm not sure about bureaucracy as not wanting to create a marter, I think alive he's a very powerful person but dead he'd be the biggest thing in the Muslim world. I think someone said in another thread the Muslim equivalent of Jesus. A rock and a hard place really.

You put too much "big picture" decision making in the hands of boots on the ground. It just doesn't happen that way. Big picture for us revolves around "winning hearts and minds"...if that. Even here, that's the realm of field grades and up. Company grade Officers and senior NCOs are tied by reining in joes for the "big picture" of stabilization of the immediate neighborhood--"hearts and minds" stuff that is closer to a cop-on-the-beat of a 19th century city block. THe big picture you're talking about is politician-level stuff. And even there, I am skeptical anyone's thinking about that. There's a fine line between conspiracy theory and policy analysis based on conjecture.

End of the day, supposing we took the story to be true, and there were huge big picture decision making process in play (i'm VERY skeptical of both), the decision of making a martyr versus catching the most wanted man on the planet is a weighted one. No policy hack (even one in this administration) would possibly pass up the chance to "get him".

My bureaucracy comment was that there are a lot of chiefs (as opposed to indians) when a high profile target like OBL shows up. Add a million-fold bureaucratic mess that springs up when talking about international forces intermingling as per your yet-to-be-cited anecdote... The amount of decision makers in that process is simply staggering. It wouldn't be a question of whether or not anyone wanted OBL--every single link in that chain does--but by the time that chain is pulled by the handler...that dog is gone. Targets like Saddam are caught by initiative at the ground level...

[BritVX]

Hey Space,

Thanks for giving me a more detailed explanation of your comment I now see the point you were making and it's more than likely true but don't get me wrong, I wasn't suggesting conspiracy just the fact that the idea of martyrdom might might have been a consideration in the decision making process. I'm not big on conspiracy theories,always too easy to create and almost impossible to dispel.