It is worth noting that Usama bin Ladin is not the same as al Qaeda. This is not a police investigastion prosecuting an arrest warrant.
He is obviously highly constrained in his actions, and at least for the past three and a half years has been impotent in the US. As he explained in a video, he's lost 15 times as many fighters in Iraq as the US has.
We'd love to nail him, personally, as his leadership role in al Qaeda has been large. We almost got Zarqawi last week -- and came within perhaps ten seconds of him. We did get his personal computer (with lots of data and pictures, including recent photos of his operatives and himself) and a big chunk of cash which he can no longer use.
The house of Saud has finally been pressured into real cooperation on al Qaeda; ironic considering their role in funding it. At least when we were helping the mujahideen, it was against the Soviet Union, and long before the survivors turned to Islamic terrorism. The Saudis have been balancing their need for US cash with their need for internal support (and thus "looking the other way" on the funding). We are changing this balance against al Qaeda.
So far, so good.
Amusingly, UBL has become weak enough that he's had to recently assert "I'm with Zarqawi" to retain relevence. But we remember, and bin Ladin is living in fear. As well he should.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 05:34 am (UTC)He is obviously highly constrained in his actions, and at least for the past three and a half years has been impotent in the US. As he explained in a video, he's lost 15 times as many fighters in Iraq as the US has.
We'd love to nail him, personally, as his leadership role in al Qaeda has been large. We almost got Zarqawi last week -- and came within perhaps ten seconds of him. We did get his personal computer (with lots of data and pictures, including recent photos of his operatives and himself) and a big chunk of cash which he can no longer use.
The house of Saud has finally been pressured into real cooperation on al Qaeda; ironic considering their role in funding it. At least when we were helping the mujahideen, it was against the Soviet Union, and long before the survivors turned to Islamic terrorism. The Saudis have been balancing their need for US cash with their need for internal support (and thus "looking the other way" on the funding). We are changing this balance against al Qaeda.
So far, so good.
Amusingly, UBL has become weak enough that he's had to recently assert "I'm with Zarqawi" to retain relevence. But we remember, and bin Ladin is living in fear. As well he should.
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 12:44 pm (UTC)ahhh revisionism...
no subject
Date: 2005-05-08 12:17 pm (UTC)