Bush Isn't Even Trying To Catch Bin Laden

There are no words to express how furious this makes me. There is nothing I can say about this that would satisfy my outrage. I am speechless.

Did The White House Miss A Chance To Catch OBL Again?

By: Nicole Belle on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 12:14 PM - PDT

[...]I’d think that it would be in the public’s interest to know how well we are going after known enemies before they create even more in Iran, wouldn’t you?

Col. David Hunt (ret.) on FOXNews.com (I’m citing the relevant portion if you don’t want to give them the hits):

Besides, these things are of little consequence when you realize how we missed, squandered, screwed up, made a mess of and were massively risk adverse - again - when we did not kill Usama bin Laden in Afghanistan just two short months ago.

We know, with a 70 percent level of certainty - which is huge in the world of intelligence - that in August of 2007, bin Laden was in a convoy headed south from Tora Bora. We had his butt, on camera, on satellite. We were listening to his conversations. We had the world’s best hunters/killers - Seal Team 6 - nearby. We had the world class Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating with the CIA and other agencies. We had unmanned drones overhead with missiles on their wings; we had the best Air Force on the planet, begging to drop one on the terrorist. We had him in our sights; we had done it. Nice job again guys - now, pull the damn trigger.

Unbelievably, and in my opinion, criminally, we did not kill Usama bin Laden.

You cannot make this crap up; truth is always stranger and more telling than fiction. Our government, the current administration and yes, our military leaders included, failed to kill bin Laden for no other reason than incompetence.

The current “boneheads” in charge will tell you all day long that we are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan to stop terrorists there so they do not come here. Nice talk, how about - just for a moment - acting like you mean what you say? You know walk the walk. These incidents, where we displayed a total lack of guts, like the one in August, are just too prevalent. The United States of America’s political and military leadership has, on at least three separate occasions, chosen not capture or kill bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahri. We have allowed Pakistan to become a safe haven for Al Qaeda. We have allowed Al Qaeda to reconstitute, partially because of money they (Al Qaeda in Iraq) have been sending to Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

2007 September 11

It's six years after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Does your president know where Osama bin Laden is?

Seriously, it's been SIX YEARS!

Why has Bush been unable to capture him? Only a complete and utter failure of a president and human being could have failed to do so. Either that or Bush doesn't want to capture him. It may be that Bush prefers bin Laden to remain free to be a continuous distraction from Bush's horrific presidency and unconstitutional actions.

The victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and our country deserve better.

Justice For 9/11?

So this happened:

Al-Qaida No. 3 Says He Planned 9/11

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed portrayed himself to a U.S. military tribunal as al-Qaida's most ambitious operational planner, taking responsibility for planning and supporting 31 terrorist attacks, topped by 9/11, according to an account of his confession.

[...]"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement read Saturday during a Combatant Status Review Tribunal at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mohammed's confession was read by a member of the U.S. military who is serving as his personal representative.

[...]The military barred reporters or other independent observers from the sessions for the 14 operatives and is limiting the information it provides about them, arguing that it wants to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information.

Legal experts have criticized the U.S. decision, and The Associated Press filed a letter of protest, arguing that it would be "an unconstitutional mistake to close the proceedings in their entirety."

I do not believe that anyone doubts that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is guilty of being a terrorist and guilty of planning and supporting terrorist acts that include 9/11. That is why the Bush administration's decision to try him in secret is all the more confusing.

There was no need to torture him and try him in secret without legal representation and without habeas corpus. They could have conducted a completely open, fair, and legal trial under the presumption of innocence and still have convicted him.

What good is "justice" if we commit injustice in seeking it? What good is it to fight terrorism if we intentionlly or unintentionally use terrorist tactics like torture, starting wars based on false premises, or killing innocent civilians in the process?

I think that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is an evil man and deserves to be punished for his crimes, but not at the price of our humanity. I try hard to be a good person based on my Christian beliefs and to not be a hypocrite. That is why I feel that this "confession" by Mohammed is a bittersweet event. Bush is not a good Christian and he is a hypocrite, and I have lost all trust in him and his administration to be morally upstanding in their prosecution of Mohammed or any "enemy combatant". To them the ends justify the means no matter how evil or unethical the means are.

How do we know this confession wasn't obtained through torture and coercion? The Bush administration has given us no reason to trust them; they have lied or been wrong about everything.

The "end" of Mohammed being punished for his crimes holds a far lesser value if the means to that end include evils like torture, secret trials, and unconstitutional behavior. If Bush and his administration were doing what is right, they would have no need to hide their works, but they know that what they are doing is wrong, and that is why they feel the need to hide what they are doing.

By the way, while we are on the topic of seeking justice, it has been FIVE AND A HALF YEARS since 9/11, and Osama bin Laden has not been captured.