# OBL thread #97,256: Why did it take so long to find him? + Poll: did you think he was already dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138 "2011-05-08T06:07:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/1 "2011-05-08T06:07:17Z")
I mean in no way to belittle the efforts of the CIA, the military, and the White House. Great effort all around. But I still find it amusing that in a day and age where you can find most people in about 10 seconds by Googling them that it took almost 10 _years_ to track down the most wanted man in the world, who turned out to be chilling in what was basically Middle Eastern suburbia. It just goes to show that our government isn’t nearly as omnipotent nor omnipresent as it sometimes seems. Now for the poll part. I honestly thought he was probably already dead, or if he wasn’t, we would never hear about his death like this (i.e. in a way that was clearly confirmed). There would always be some doubt, and Al-Qaeda would continue to maintain that he was alive even if he wasn’t. As it turns out, [even Al-Qaeda has admitted](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/121430513.html) that the news is true. So that comes as a surprise for me. What about you? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/2 "2011-05-08T06:17:20Z")
I always assumed he’d did of renal failure eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/3 "2011-05-08T06:21:03Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I always assumed he’d did of renal failure eventually. Well, the question isn’t so much whether he would have ever died, but would we have ever _known_ with a high degree of certainty that he was dead (without waiting until he would have been about 110 where we could pretty safely assume it). ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/4 "2011-05-08T06:33:33Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Well, the question isn’t so much whether he would have ever died, but would we have ever _known_ with a high degree of certainty that he was dead (without waiting until he would have been about 110 where we could pretty safely assume it). By eventually I meant already. :smack: i.e., I was mildly surprised he was still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/5 "2011-05-08T07:57:38Z")
I thought he’d probably died in some hideout some time ago and been secretly buried. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/6 "2011-05-08T08:31:45Z")
I thought he’d have died somewhere in the desert and his followers would never reveal this information. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/7 "2011-05-08T09:09:30Z")
I didn’t really assume he had died a long time ago, but I did assume him dead. It actually took me a bit to make the jump when I heard the news. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obl-thread-97-256-why-did-it-take-so-long-to-find-him-poll-did-you-think-he-was-already-dead/581138/8 "2011-05-08T16:33:49Z")
I was pretty sure he was still alive. He sent out audios & videos every few months. While they could have been faked if he’d already died in secret, I think that with enough people wanting to discredit his words, soon enough that fakery would have been found out. I expected him to die of old age or ill health, or for us to do the \*massive airstrike on cave complex \*thing some day and declare him dead after he hadn’t been heard from for a few months. Something this neat & clean was far from my most likely scenario.