Bin Laden Alive

According to reports, it seems he is. But from the looks of things, he may be fairly ill, possibly even having had a stroke. Enhanced image below. Allah has additional analysis and links here.

U.S. authorities now say they have a transcript which they say is aimed at potential suicide bombers who he urges to carry out missions against the West.

Intelligence sources tell ABC News they believe the expected video message from Osama bin Laden is authentic, recently produced and evidence the al Qaeda leader is still alive.

Comments

[Hank]

Just another reminder that the Bush administration has not captured Public Enemy #1 in the War on Terror. Onward to Iran and Syria!

By the way, does Bin Laden use the same make up artist as Fred Thompson?

[chris]

He looks better than Fred! 'Bubbles' should work on propping up her man better.

[nowingker]

I thought he was DEAD, people. That's what you keep saying, he's dead and of no importance. Could it be more wrong information from the war mongerers?

I'm shocked, really shocked.

[Tom]

Billions wasted per week in Iraq, and Osama been Forgotten is still alive and taunting us. Kinda makes you proud to have our boy king bush at the helm, doesn't it? Geez, why you last 27% don't finally wake up is a mystery to me - and everyone else.

[bloodrage bob]

well, no *wonder* they couldn't find osama: he's obviously been hiding out at madam fatima's salon! having his beard dyed; getting manicures; experimenting with bikini waxes. ("you're sure this won't hurt, right?")

could it be that fearsome ol' osama is just another muslim pooftyboy? like arafat? secretly wishing it was *him* playing footsie in that bathroom with larry craig? sure looks that way ..... not that there's anything WRONG with that, of course ....

[Capitalist Infidel]

Look at the excitement from the liberals on this site. Their hero is still alive!

[rwilymz]

"That's what you keep saying, he's dead and of no importance."

What *I* say is he's irrelevant. Haven't addressed his existence yet.

Don't add on. 2+2=4.5 is not "more right", it is "completely wrong".

"Billions wasted per week in Iraq, and Osama been Forgotten is still alive "

Isn't Iraq completely unconnected to "The War Against Terror"?

Seriously, you have to make up your minds. None of this "it is or it isn't based on whether it serves our purposes at the moment" shinola. Pick one.

[chris]

No bin Laden.

No WMDs

4 1/2 years and the goatherders cant be suppressed in Iraq.

You 28%ers are just a bunch of 'deadenders'.

[Brian]

He looks like sh_t. That makes me feel good. The cave has not been good to him.

On the plus side, if he is still alive that means we still have a chance to kill him. But, by the looks of him, we better do it quickly - he does not look long for this world.

[nowingker]

Seriously, you have to make up your minds.
---------------------------------------

My mind is made up and has been for a long time. Invading Iraq was a monumental mistake and waste of American resources that is not going to get the desired result--stable democratic government friendly to the US.

I have not constantly changed the reasons for why we went to war. I never tried to link Hussein with Bin Laden and, like a crafty defense lawyer, fool millions of Americans into thinking that Iraq played any role whatsoever in 9/11.

I never said Iraq had WMD and was a few years away from a mushroom cloud, then had to back away from it and find another set of reasons for the invasions.

I have not constantly changed the parameters of 'success' from mission accomplished to 'turning the tide' from a few hundred rag tag left over soliders to 'terrorists' then 'insurgents' then back to Al Quaeda. I never had to finally back off my statements of success and admit that a military victory would be NO VICTORY and continue to water down every lame benchmark so I could claim success was around the corner and progress was being made.

I didn't fire and/or badmouth every military person who disagreed with me, either publicly or privately. I sure as hell never called my political opponents terrorist sympathizers and traitors.

I never promised the war would cost $50 billion and might be over in as few as months not years.

I didn't invade Iraq and then claim it was the front line in the war on terror all along.

I did not invade Afganistan, then let the mission languish while I was gearing up to invade another country with virtually no ties to Al Quada and no active Al Quaeda cells or members.

I did not say I wanted Osasma dead or alive, then say he was irrelevant and then resurect him every time I needed the boogeyman back to scare the public. I sure as hell never let him get away and continue to serve as a figurehead for Islamic terrorists all over the world. The guy who knocked down the WTC, said f**c you to the United States and walked away laughing his ass off. He's still laughing his ass off.

I did not cozy up to Pakistan while they were taking my money and Bin Laden's money.

That my friend, was all done by the wingers and their fearless feckless leaders.

[rwilymz]

"No WMDs"

Chris, seriously, you can't continue to be making these inane denunciations. Not if you wish to be taken seriously. There's any number of legitimate criticisms to be made, but this isn't one of them.

There ***should have been*** chemical weapons in Iraq. Approximately 6,500 of them. The ones that the UN found between late '91 and late '98, stored in Iraqi warehouses, and hadn't gotten around to incinerating by the time Iraq booted them out of the country.

And if you'll recall, the first thing Blix did when he went back in in late '02 was open up those Iraqi warehouses.

You guessed it: empty.

"No 'WMD'"? Right. But there shoulda been.

Where'd they go?

Remember this also: at least two of the explosive bases for IEDs used in Iraq have been chemical weapon shells. THe chemical agent was simply largely inert.

Remember this as well: chemical weapons have to have rigid climate-controlled storage, otherwise their chemical agent deteriorates more or less quickly. How many more of the manufactured explosive shells used by ex-Ba'athists were chemical munitions?

And do you feel comfortable in the assumption that of the 6,500 **known** Iraqi supply of chemical weapons, they were **all** exposed to heat and humdity thus making their chemical agent as deadly as a 4# sack of flour? How many were transferred to Syria for climate-controlled storage among that set of Ba'athists?

"Invading Iraq was a monumental mistake and waste of American resources that is not going to get the desired result..."

Okay, well, we've been over this before. There is a legitimate case to be made that the scale of military action was excessive and that our "true" aims might have been more easily gotten with a less-involved operation. But again: you aren't told the "true"aims of our foreign policy[-ies]. You are only told what "they" want you to hear.

All of the waffling, and all of the "this, no wait, we meant *that*" is all politics, and politics is the fine art of bullshitting the masses.

You been bullshitted. That wasn't going to be different no matter who was in office, or who *will be* in office.

And it's my rather-more-knowledgeable-than-yours conclusion that we'd have been in roughly this same place had Gore been elected in '00, anyway. About the only that would be different would have been his manner of politicking it. I.e., you would have been bullshitted by a monotonous automaton rather than by a tongue-tied twerp.

[mensablonde]

I've felt for some time now that bin Laden is living quite comfortably in Iran. I've never bought the idea that he is "on the run" and hiding out in some g*d-forsaken cave in the mountains. He wouldn't be the first or only Al Qaeda to be given refuge in Iran. At least one of his sons is there, under so-called "house arrest." Iran may be Shia and bin Laden/Al Qaeda may be Sunni, but they share common enemies: the U.S., and Saudi Arabia.

[nowingker]

And it's my rather-more-knowledgeable-than-yours conclusion that we'd have been in roughly this same place had Gore been elected in '00, anyway.
-----------------------

I give zero as the chance that Gore would have launched a full scale invasion of Iraq. Less than Zero in fact.

But, sure, we would still be cozying up to the Saudies, the Pakistanis, same all talk no action on Israel, but it would be the RIGHT that was screaching about how aweful it was.

I also don't think Gore would have done such a thorough job of usurping all power for the executive branch.

[nowingker]

PS

I can only imagine the screaming and gnashing of teeth that would go on hourly in Wingerworld if god forbid, Al Gore had been elected president and Bin Laden was alive and still running his mouth 7 years later. Rush would talk about it every day, so would O'Reilly, the Right would never shut up about it.

[rwilymz]

"I give zero as the chance that Gore would have launched a full scale invasion of Iraq."

More than likely we would not have. But we *would* likely have gone with something maybe as many as two notches below it. The strategic concern was that we make, as quickly as possible, the **mandatory** US involvement in Iraq moot.

In March 2003 we could not leave Iraq.

Today we can.

The choice to stay in Iraq in 2003 belonged to the UN; the choice to stay in Iraq today belongs with us.

That is a monumentally important factor.

"I can only imagine the screaming and gnashing of teeth that would go on ..."

You won't find me disagreeing. But that's the thing with politics, and the monumentally stupid partisan posturing that goes on regarding it. Large sections of both parties would rather see the US embarrassed than acknowledge that someone from *the wrong party* gets credit for doing something necessary or valuable. Down to the point of denouncing the necessity and value of the thing done.

Extricating ourselves from mandated UN babysitting in Iraq was necessary; it was critical. After 9-11 we simply did not have the luxury of using double-digit %ages of our post-Peace Dividend military forces babysitting petty tyrants.

Democrats know that in '02; they knew it in '03 when they signed up for Iraq with-all-the-trimmings. They even know it now.

They simply aren't **saying** it now, because the folks who are likely to vote for them do not want to hear it; they want to hear the opposite. So guess what the Democrats are saying?

The opposite; duh.

The choice to stay is now ours. There's arguments for:
1] staying, as well as
2] going, as well as
3] going to just across the border, letting Iran and Syria waste **their** money in stabilizing Iraq, and then once one of their proxies wins by obliterating the other proxy, we go back in again and kick more ass, and have only one set of proxy dingbats to fight off while doing it our way.

[pattillmansmom]

George Bush is a miserable failure.

[rwilymz]

People who identify themselves as "so-n-so's mom" or "-dad" are pathetic, my-value-is-defined-by-my-child drips.

That someone would lower himself to be valued through someone *else's* child is worse yet.

But that is simply my value judgment, and probably just as valid and supportible as yours.

[mensablonde]

Just read the transcript. Other than "we're going to keep attacking and killing you" and the call to Islam, it sounds like it could have been written by one of the Kos contributors :)

[Capitalist Infidel]

bin Laden praises Chomsky in the video. Bwahahahahaha!!!!! Liberals and Islamofascists, two peas in a pod.

[Fred Beloit]

rwily writes:

"Seriously, you have to make up your minds. None of this "it is or it isn't based on whether it serves our purposes at the moment" shinola. Pick one."

Exactly, but they never will and in fact they can't. It is like their trying to have it both ways over the WMD intel: Way One, Bush is an evil genius and manipulator who deceived our own intelligence agencies and those of the West into believing Iraq had WMD. Way two, Bush is a dumbbell who can't think and walk at the same time.

[BobInStamford]

Hmm, I thought you 'necks said that OBL was dead? That's right, and the WMD's are in Syria and the brown people are being liberated in Iraq.

Surge on, patriots!

[jj]

Old Osama sure doesn't look like a vigorous warrior guiding the jihad, now does he? That cave life must be a little hard and unpleasant, and constantly looking for a Predator drone obviously didn't do his eye any good, but, on the plus side, he was able to obtain some 'Just for Men'. It's good to see him staying connected to his feminine side.

[Rich Casebolt]

Osama considers Iraq the central front in this war ... and I can understand why; hiding in the mountains so that he doesn't experience a little "local warming" via Hellfire/PredEx, he doesn't get to try and kill Americans anywhere near as much as his friends in Iraq.

To him, Iraq is where the action is ... because where he's at is so far out in the sticks, they roll up the goatpaths at 5:00 PM.

Much as I relish the mental image of his retouched head impaled on a spike of the White House fence for all to see, he can wait ... there are other thugs and fanatics who need some "local warming" before he does.

[mensablonde]

"Hmm, I thought you 'necks said that OBL was dead? That's right, and the WMD's are in Syria and the brown people are being liberated in Iraq. "

1. this "'neck" has never claimed OBL is dead.
2. there is, in fact, strong evidence that WMD's were moved to Syria before the start of the war. choosing to ignore that evidence doesn't invalidate that evidence.
3. the "brown people"???? wtf?

[rwilymz]

"...and the brown people are being liberated in Iraq"

I can't think of anything more liberated than rampant and raging anarchy.

Can you?

Anything short of anarchy is one degree or another of non-liberated governmental control.

Now if, in your inarticulate sneering, you really meant "liberated from *flying bullets*", well, any iron-fisted tyrant can achieve that in a fortnight if he would only choose the Gehngis Khan model of military occupation.

But I'm certain that someone worldly and educated enough to claim "stamford" in a bullshit moniker is already aware of that...