I have given this question some serious thought. With the exodus of people leaving Afghanistan to enter Pakistan, why couldnt he be able to slip by, unnoticed? If he were to shave his beard and cut his hair, put on some Groucho glasses or whatever, isn’t it possible that he’s not even there any longer?
As an aside, what proof did we have that he was ever there to begin with, other than what a few foreign dignitaries had said? Obviously the man is smart, smart enought to recruit thousands of soldiers to fight in a holy war on land that he is not even native to. Could he be in some other place other than we HE claims to be?
Well the boarders to Iran and Pakistan are very poorly defined so he could probably leave via those routes up north the Russians still guard the boarders heavily so little chance of that. But he could easily escape , i mean he could have just had a look alike do that last interview and had everything else prerecorded (when afganistan was a safe place for him to be in). So yes he could and with his $400 million he could have some facial surgery to look completely different.
I expect he could escape to another country, at least temporarily. It’s an interesting question, what will OBL do? Try to escape to another country? Hide in a cave? Commit suicide? Be killed or captured?
There hasn’t been this much world drama about the fate of a ‘bad guy’ since Hitler.
I don’t know… Darth Vader’s story was pretty dramatic.
They mentioned on NBC news last night that it was a major concern he could escape Afghanistan, either by walking across the border or by helicopter flying under radar coverage.
I wonder, though, if people are jumping the gun. Just because the Taliban has fled from its previous positions does not mean we’re going finish them off quickly. (I hope we do, but…) Afghanistan isn’t a tiny country–there are lots of places to hide and conduct guerilla warfare from. News reports may tell us the Northern Alliance controls half the country, but that doesn’t mean there are no Taliban forces in hiding there… But I guess that’s another debate.
I suppose it’s technically possible he was never there, but I’ve got to think if he wasn’t, the Taliban would have said “he’s not here” instead of “you can’t have him” to prevent being attacked. Then again, logic doesn’t seem to be their strong suit…
