# Is Osama already captured?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-osama-already-captured/264911>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 18, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-osama-already-captured/264911 "2004-09-18T22:39:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-osama-already-captured/264911/21 "2004-09-20T21:12:33Z")

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> [@clayton\_e](#):
>
> I hope that he is, and I hold onto the bit of hope that he won’t be used as a political tool.

He will be used as a tool, whether he was captured last year, last month, today, a month from now, or the day after the Inagural - regardless if it’s Bush or Kerry that took the oath the day before.

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-osama-already-captured/264911/22 "2004-09-22T02:31:37Z")

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IMO, OBL isn’t going to be captured alive. His death will most likely be rumor until it becomes a generally accepted fact. Any other scenario helps his cause.

A capture by Pakistan, Afghanistan, or the United States will “rally the troops” and turn any trial into a focal point for terrorism. A fight to the death will make him a martyr.

Quiet and forgotten is the goal of all concerned.

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**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-osama-already-captured/264911/23 "2004-09-22T17:47:34Z")

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> [@Magiver](#):
>
> Quiet and forgotten is the goal of all concerned.

Excellent point. I wonder if he may be known to be dead but it is expedient to keep this quiet. A dead person can be seen as a martyr, a quiet unheard unavailable person as a coward.

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**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-osama-already-captured/264911/24 "2004-09-22T18:01:36Z")

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If we had captured Osama, Bush woulda done a photo-op of himself, wearing a cowboy hat, roping bin Laden with a lasso, giving a big smile and thumb’s up. With a red, white, & blue kerchief.

Hell, that’d make a great cover for _Time_.

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-osama-already-captured/264911/25 "2004-09-23T01:56:11Z")

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> [@Bippy the Beardless](#):
>
> Excellent point. I wonder if he may be known to be dead but it is expedient to keep this quiet. A dead person can be seen as a martyr, a quiet unheard unavailable person as a coward.

I meant to add another thought. If his remains are found after-the-fact then he will still appear as a martyr to some. But he will also be perceived as broken and defeated in the eyes of history. Finding a couple of bones scattered around a cave is not the glorified end of a warrior.

He will be as you said, a coward hiding in the dark.

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